A dad who built a traditional Greek taverna in his back garden has transformed it into a pop-up restaurant and Christmas market - to raise money for needy families this winter.

Panikos Panayiotou, 45, spent £17,500 constructing the DIY eatery at his home in Walsall, West Mids., which can cater for 200 customers a night.

He has welcomed diners from across the world each summer after creating a slice of the Mediterranean in the industrial heartlands of the Black Country.

But this winter he has transformed his suburban semi-detached property into a pop-up Christmas restaurant complete with festive market stalls.

Diners at the Lakis Greek Taverna were treated to a festive menu as well as authentic Greek Cypriot cuisine all prepared in a traditional clay oven.

There was also street food and festive drinks served from the family's driveway as well as Christmas games, a tombola, raffle and craft stalls.

Panikos was raising money as his charity prepared to help feed 600 families in need this Christmas by distributing food parcels in Birmingham on December 20.

After opening for a few weeks each summer, he saw huge demand for a winter event, which also sold out last Saturday (13/12).

He said: "This is the first time I have opened for Christmas and it was down to the demand we're seeing for our annual Christmas feed where we distribute food packages.

"It's sort of a man cave that's turned into a restaurant when we pop it up.

"We had the whole garden decked out with lights and a Christmas market with stalls selling toys and all sorts.

"But obviously most people come for the food - we kept a traditional Greek menu with some festive treats in there too.

"It has been a big success, we were sold out.We usually fit more in but the market took up the outdoors space and you don't want people sitting out in the cold with heaters anyway.

"We're trying to raise as much money as possible to help feed families in need at this time of year as we've seen the numbers of people grow dramatically.

"Last year we helped feed 120 families but this year there's 600 who have been referred to us by the Children's Centre and the Children's Trust.

"So you're looking at potentially over 2,500 people we're trying to help feed so we obviously need the money for that.

"We set up at Rookery School in the Handsworth area of Birmingham as a free supermarket and social workers and the Children's Trust come in to collect for people.

"But we are also raising money for a little girl called Foxx who is five and has cancer. We try to raise money for various good causes.

"We hope to be able to do a Christmas event again but next time be open for longer so we can welcome more people.

"It's all about gathering in the festive spirit within the community but also tackling the growing crisis of food poverty."

The restaurant - which is also fully licensed - has attracted visitors from as far away as the USA and gets booked up two months in advance

Painkos said: "We've had people from Scotland and even from America coming over to visit little old Walsall, it's incredible really.

"Luckily the neighbours don't mind, they are fantastic on both sides.

"We usually do a street lunch for the locals. They’re great and they love that we’re raising for local causes. We’ve got a lot of support from our local area.”

Panikos decided to construct his 80ft sqm restaurant in memory of his late father Lakis who died from small cell lung cancer in 2012.

Fish and chip shop owner Lakis had started to build his own taverna at his house in his village in Cyprus but passed away before it could be completed.

Panikos said he wanted to honour his dad's memory by finishing the job he was unable to.

The taverna took two months to build and since 2014, he has raised £68,000 for local charities and helping the homeless.

Panikos, a sports development manager, added: "I built it in memory of my father who passed away from cancer.

"He tried to start it, he half built a restaurant in his garden but passed away before it could be finished.

"Our traditions are to have a relationship with your loved ones in the afterlife, so you do good deeds in memory of them.

"And this is what we do here every year, this is for him.

"My father always wanted to run a traditional Greek taverna from his home and so it's a way of keeping his memory alive and raising much-needed money for charity."

The restaurant only serves up freshly home-made, traditional food - prepared by Michelle and a volunteer chef who works at a Marriott hotel as a day job.

He added: "Since starting as a pop up we have grown to be a an established third sector organisation that runs a series of projects and fundraisers

“When we started we didn’t expect to be doing it for this long. I want to get to 20 years if we can and help a lot of people along the way.

"We believe in the power of food and heritage to bring people together and create a positive change."