Snow traps 38 people at Britain’s highest pub

Pubgoers found themselves on a longer trip than planned after visiting the highest pub in Britain amid yellow weather warnings due to snow.

Nearly 40 people – 32 customers and six staff – are snowed in at Tan Hill Inn, North Yorkshire, which sits 1,732ft above sea level.

They’ve been there since Saturday night when temperatures dropped to -10°C and several airports grounded flights due to heavy snow.

‘On a lonely hill high in the Yorkshire Dales’, as the 17th century pub describes its surroundings, snow fell so thick, customers couldn’t leave.

‘I think it’s hilarious’, said Paul Wright, from Australia’s Northern Territory, where temperatures are 36°C and an excessive heat warning is in place.

‘Driving through Scotland and York, the amount of snow we’ve seen covering everything is unbelievable, we can’t believe how white everything is.’

Paul, 52, and his wife Naomi were supposed to make it to London for a West End production of Harry Potter by now.

Instead, they’ve been sat playing cards and board games with others hauled up in the isolated pub, which has seven guest rooms.

Paul said: ‘There’s a lovely group of people here, the people that run this place are so warm and welcoming and friendly.

‘The poor staff that are here were all meant to go out the other day, they’ve had to stay because they’re snowed in, and these guys are working from like five-thirty and six in the morning through to 11 at night.

‘I’m sitting at the window at the moment watching one of them shovel snow off the steps so people can walk outside.’

Manager David Rowell, 43, said: ‘Staff are a little tired, but other than that it’s all right. The staff that are currently here, this is day seven for them working here. This [Monday] will be their third day stuck.

‘I’ve managed to avoid snow-ins in the past, but it’s caught up with us eventually, so it’s my turn this time.

‘We have three real fires, and obviously we run off a generator so the heating is on ‘constant’ at the moment.’

Tan Hill Inn has been snowed-in before. For four days, 61 people were trapped with an Oasis tribute band when Storm Arwen made the roads impassable with heavy snow and fallen power lines in November 2021.

In 2010 and 2013, blizzards trapped punters there for five days. But this time guests might not have to wait so long.

The Met Office has issued a new yellow weather warning for snow across much of the UK for tonight on Tuesday. Snow is expected to persist in the south until Wednesday.

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