PICTURES: 1960s style pub opens inside Doncaster area dementia care home

Residents at the Dearne Valley Care Centre can now down glasses of beer and whisky in their very own private pub which has been designed to look like a 1960s style boozer.

The bar has been fitted out with replica beer pumps, drip trays and other pub memorabilia and is aimed at helping people with dementia.

Bar 35 at the centre in Bolton upon Dearne has been created in the style of a miners’ welfare club, where many residents spent happyhours in their younger years and is designed in a retro style to encourage residents to reminisce about their past.

The bar was officially opened by manager Josie McFarlane earlier this month with a pie and pea supper with entertainment by singer and guitarist Bob Humble, whose wife Diane is a resident at the home.

Events including beetle drives, dominoes, cards games and a tea dance are planned at the bar, which will open round the clock on request.

Residents are able to order up to two drinks a day from a range including prosecco, beer, whisky, wine and sherry bought with the proceeds of fundraising events.

The alcohol is kept safely stored in another area and brought in to the bar by staff when residents place their orders.

The home has 34 bedrooms and Bar 35 has been named to complete the sequence.

Mrs McFarlane said the opening of the bar was linked to the home’s adoption of the Bee Inspired programme for dementia care which includes improving the environment for residents with memory loss.

“We are close to the former mining communities of Bolton upon Dearne and Goldthorpe where the social life revolved around the miners’ welfare clubs, said Mrs McFarlane.

“The Bee Inspired programme recommends creating an environment which people with dementia can relate to and setting up a bar in the home will prompt residents to remember nights out they used to enjoy years ago.

“We have decorated it with 1960s’ style wallpaper and have pictures of mines and other memorabilia from that era.

“The opening night was a huge success and residents who were able to join in had a lovely time and all looked so happy. They are already asking when we can do something similar again.”

She said residents’ families were being encouraged to join them for visits to the private bar.

She added: "Having our own bar on the premises is the ideal thing for residents who want to enjoy the feeling of a night out with their visitors within the safety of their home.”

Among guests at the opening night was former deputy manager Jamie Drake who was involved in planning the bar. He has moved to manage another home in the St Philip’s Care group, Ditton Priors Care Home, Shropshire, but returned to Dearne Valley to join in the celebrations.