Pub manager Nikki and her team at The Navigation Inn marked the pub’s first birthday in December.

Nikki, who has been manager at the pub near Birmingham since opening day, heads a team of 50 full- and part-time staff.

When Wetherspoon spent £2.59 million developing the pub on the site of the former Navigation Inn – a community pub with a long local history – extensive and sympathetic renovation work stripped the building back to its original part-Victorian interior and exterior.

More contemporary elements were also added to the building, including an extension to the stable block outbuilding, with a roof light, and two gardens created to provide a welcoming space for locals and visitors alike.

As well as catering for customers’ comfort, the pub’s staff are provided for with excellent facilities behind the scenes.

There is a main staff room, with dining area, desk space, heating and air-conditioning, changing rooms and toilet facilities.

In addition, staff have their own garden. The pebbled space at the rear of the building provides an outside area for relaxing during a break from work.

Wetherspoon’s founder and chairman, Tim Martin, said: “This must be the only staff room in the UK, anywhere, in any business, where staff have their own garden.”

Pub manager Nikki added: “We have a great team at the pub, who have worked well together and helped to establish the pub already in the local community.

“It is essential, during work breaks, that team members should be able to relax in comfortable surroundings – and the staff facilities, including the garden, are excellent.”