"The place where everyone knows your face" because you're snowed in together. Bar guests and bar staff alike became trapped in a pub for five days after getting snowed in together.
But the story actually took a heartwarming twist with many of them becoming friends by the end of it. They even swapped numbers by the end of it. In total, 23 guests and six staff members became trapped at the Tan Hill Inn in the United Kingdom. 39-year-old Freddi Swift visited the pub with his boss, partner, and friends when they became stuck.
"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."
After five days of being trapped, they had a small window to escape the pub.
"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.'"
Trapped In A Pub
Swift told his partner to be ready. He explained, "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.'"
The bar patrons ended up leaving the pub but faced dangerous road conditions. It was a slow crawl out.
"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.
The best thing about leaving the pub was getting away from all that stereotypical bar food.
"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."
Meanwhile, the owner also weighed in on everyone getting trapped.
"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. 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."
