Guests snowed in together for five days at Britain’s highest pub have swapped phone numbers and vowed to keep in touch.
Freddie Swift, 39, was traveling with his partner, boss and friends when he became stuck at the Tan Hill Inn located in North Yorkshire, which is 1,732 ft above sea level.
They were part of a group of 23 guests and six staff members who were stuck at the pub for five days.
The staff, who had been at the pub since New Year’s Eve, remained trapped alongside two remaining guests until Thursday, when another shift was finally able to relieve them.
Relieved workers included the inn’s housekeeper, Babs Phillips, 51, who missed the birth of her new granddaughter Amelia, and barmaid Kelly Dunn, 42, who missed her daughter’s 18th birthday.
“It was nice being stuck and snowed in, back to reality, there’s people everywhere in London,” Swift said. “It was a great experience and a great adventure, but obviously we do need to get back to reality at some point, but it was a bit of a shock to be honest.”
Swift said the escape on Tuesday came with barely any notice as guests were told to be ready to make a speedy exit.
“The chef told us we would have a little window where we could be rescued and get out, there were going to be farmers coming up on a snowplow but they didn’t know what time,” Swift added.
“We just had to be ready, we had to pack our suitcases and be ready to go when they got there because they weren’t going to wait, it was kind of like ‘get in your car and go now,’ and that was the case.
“My partner, Nathan, was in the shower at the time and I was like ‘you need to get out of the shower now, we’re going.’”
Once they were on the road, the exit was anything but speedy.
It took bar guests an hour to travel the seven-mile journey from the pub to the A66 road.
“It’s so bendy and windy and obviously underneath the snow there’s ice, so we just had to take it really slowly and be careful, and just follow the tractor really,” Swift remembered. “All you could see was white fields, the visibility was better because the sun was out, but all you could see was white fields.
Swift is glad he can finally eat something different.
“There were only certain things when you’re trying to work your way through the menu, it’s nice to have a chicken fajita or some noodles,” Swift said. “We went through most of the starters, we had Yorkshire puddings which is one of their specialties, fish and chips, all the typical pub classics, working through that menu being there for four days.”
“It’s been a long and hard week for my staff and I’d like to echo the praise for them from the guests who were snowed in with them,” owner of the Tan Hill Inn Andrew Hields said.
“The inn’s isolation throws up unique problems, not just from the weather, and you have to be a special sort of person to work there.”
The owner said staff worked their daily duties while making sure the 23 visitors felt comfortable.
“These traditions date back to a time when the Tan Hill door was never closed on a traveler in bad weather. It’s not something we are going to start doing now,” Hields said.
