Britain’s highest pub featured in Waitrose Christmas ad

Britain’s highest pub, where drinkers have been snowed in at 1,752 feet some 50 times since 2005, has landed a starring role in this year’s Waitrose Christmas advert.

Tan Hill Inn near Richmond in the Yorkshire Dales. Credit: Waitrose

At 528m above sea level, the remote Tan Hill Inn, near Richmond in the Yorkshire Dales, is the highest pub in the British Isles, and provides a wintery backdrop for this year’s Waitrose Christmas campaign.

The building itself dates to the 17th century and during the 18th century was used as a hostelry by workers digging coal pits.

According to the pub’s website, the last mine on Tan Hill closed in 1929, although the pub was able to remain open due to the custom of local farmers and the dawn of the motor car.

The Tan Hill Inn, on sunnier days

“The building is unusual for its isolation, but it used to be surrounded by miners’ cottages, until these were demolished after the closure of the mines in the 1920s,” it said.

Due to the pub’s location, it is prone to snowstorms, with visitors regularly snowed in – a reported 50 times since 2005. In 2009, revellers celebrating New Year’s Eve at the pub were unable to leave for three days due to snow.

Centred on the spirit of community, Waitrose’s Christmas advert shows a snowstorm hitting the area as locals gather for a drink at the Inn on Christmas morning, forcing them to come together for an unexpected lunch.

The 90 second film, filmed in black and white, was created by adam&eveDDB, the same agency behind John Lewis’s Moz the Monster campaign, and “aims to reconnect people with the emotions of Christmas”.

The ad’s soundtrack is Carol Of The Bells by composer Mykola Leontovych, with the track rearranged by musician and composer Guy Farley.