Thirty officers swoop on the Garage Arms

Rather than go out for a drink the 51-year-old transformed the double garage in his back garden into a local hostelry for his close friends – with draught Carling on offer at around 1.20 a pint.

Steelworks maintenance man Mr Wilkinson did not think he was breaking the law with everyone chipping in to share the cost.

His wife Kerry, once a pub licensee herself, agreed too.

But a complaint from an aggrieved pub landlord led to police co-ordinating an undercover raid, and swooping on the pebble-dashed garage with customs men and council licensing officials.

Witnesses claimed that up to 30 people from various law enforcement agencies took part in the raid in a quiet cul de sac in the South Yorkshire village of Blacker Hill.

Mr Wilkinson was arrested on suspicion of selling alcohol without a licence, and taken to the police headquarters in the town while officers questioned three men, who were caught downing pints of lager at the bar – nicknamed The Shed.

Police, some of them armed with tasers and pepper sprays, spent almost an hour searching the house for financial records and cash.

The couple accused police of over-reacting, and insisted yesterday they had done nothing wrong as they entertained their friends on the patio at the back of the semi.

Mr Wilkinson said: "I'm not making any money out of this – I don't sell anything at all, it's just a case of me and my friends clubbing together to buy a barrel, and then drinking it.

"We don't have strangers turning up in the back garden, it's just a few of us, who have been close for years.

"There's no official opening hours as such, we just get together at the garage when I've finished work in the afternoon or at weekends, and have a few pints.

"You mark it down every time you have a drink, and then everyone settles up once it's time to buy another barrel and the beer's all gone.

"It normally works out around 1.20 for a pint of Carling, which is cheap enough, but we pay tax on every barrel, and there's nothing underhand going on."

Mr Wilkinson said he had been shocked by the scale of the joint operation.

"There were 30 people there with policemen, community support officers, Customs and Excise men and licensing officials from the council just about filling the back garden.

"We had a riot van in the street, one from the crime investigation unit and another carrying the anti-social behaviour team. Some of the police were carrying tasers and pepper sprays – the only thing that was

missing was the force helicopter."

His wife, 37, said: "We're a hard working couple with three children, and we're not the kind to go round breaking the law.

"I think the police and the customs went totally over the top.

"It's really annoying because the police didn't even show up when we had a burglary at the house a couple of years ago – yet all these people can turn up over a few blokes sharing a barrel of lager.

"If the police had told us to close down we'd have done so straight away, but they didn't say a thing so we've carried on. We're waiting now to see what the licensing people have to say."

Police said that a man had been arrested on suspicion of selling alcohol without a licence, and released on bail.

Three other men at the house had been allowed to go free.

An officer confirmed: "We've had a complaint from a local licensee, who isn't happy, and also general complaints from locals."

Staff at a nearby pub – The Royal Oak – said they were aware that a licensee elsewhere had complained to the police.

A woman working at the bar added: "It's not us, but you can understand a licensee not being happy.

"It's hard enough for a pub to make a living these days without things like this going on."

Camra chief in lather over soap pub

The closure of a soap opera pub could be avoided if the Government had not scrapped plans for community ownership, a spokesman for Camra has said.

The pub famous for being the "Woolpack" in Emmerdale will close when its tenants leave. The pubused in external shots for the ITV soap, is tied to Enterprise Inns.

It is believed that tenant Nichola McGrath is struggling against inflated rents and high beer prices. Camra chief executive Mike Benner has criticised a Government announcement to get rid of community-owned pubs