Revellers' 'ultimate lock in'
2010-01-04 14:34
London - Some 60 revellers were forced to drink beer and play cards for three days after they became stranded in a British pub cut off by snowstorms on New Year's Eve.
The guests had booked in to celebrate the new year at the Tan Hill Inn, England's highest pub, standing 518m above sea level, in the northern Yorkshire Dales.
But the heavy, relentless snowstorms that have swept through parts of Britain trapped them inside, unable to get to their cars and leaving the roads home impassable.
"There was a lovely, community atmosphere despite the fact nobody could get home," said landlord Tracy Daly.
"I suppose there are worse places to be snowed in than a pub."
A gritter and snowplough finally broke through the seven-foot snow drifts that had sealed off the hotel on Sunday, ending the revelry, dubbed Britain's longest-running New Year's Eve party by newspapers on Monday.
Daly, 45, said she, her husband and two staff had kept the guests entertained and fed, and offered rooms for a knockdown price of $16, per night.
"We had the rule that the bar could only open at 17:00, the guests were all very well behaved though," she said.
The landlady added: "The guests were lovely, we were pretty under-staffed and they kept giving us breaks so we didn't get too tired."
Nathan Martin, 26, one of a group from Leeds University cross-country club stuck in the pub, described the experience in the Guardian newspaper as the "ultimate lock in".
- SAPA