These 61 Oasis tribute band fans who were stranded for 3 days in snow at Britain's highest pub came in as strangers but left as friends....

Tribune Web Desk

Chandigarh, December 3

For three days in a row, many fans of Oasis were stranded beneath the snow inside a 17th century British pub, after they turned up there for a tribute concert.

They had come to The Tan Hill Inn, the highest pub in the United Kingdom, to see the tribute band Noasis, reports abc.net.au.news.  

As the show kicked off on Friday night, the snow was already coming in thick and fast from the oncoming storm Arwen.

Cars in the parking lot were trapped but, even if they could get into the driver's seat, police had closed all the roads.

Arwen is the worst storm to hit the UK in 60 years, business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said.

Tens of thousands of people across Britain were left without power for a night as Storm Arwen brought strong winds that gusted up to nearly 100 miles per hour (160 kph) parts of the country.

Gusts of 98 mph hit Brizlee Wood in Northumberland, north-eastern England, according to the Met Office.

"Many roads remain closed so please only travel if absolutely necessary," it said on Twitter.

More than 55,000 customers in the Northumberland, County Durham and Tyne and Wear areas experienced power cuts, the Northern Powergrid said. Engineers were also working to restore supplies in Scotland and southern England.

Back at the inn, staff found sleeping spots for all 61 people and the few dogs that were caught up in the lock-in.

Those who were meant to be in tents outside ended up on the floor of the pub.

"We always find a bed somewhere, somehow when snowed in," the inn said.

Tan Hill Inn is not unfamiliar to being snowed in at its high-altitude location in Yorkshire, which is closer to the Scottish border than to London.

It even re-enacted a similar scenario for a Christmas ad for British supermarket Waitrose back in 2017.

With a well-stocked kitchen and bar, they were prepared to wait it out until the snowplough arrived in the morning

Soon news of the Oasis fans locked-in by the snow storm was picked up by the local paper.

From there it spread to the national British newspapers and TV shows, to news outlets in Europe, China, Argentina, Canada, the United States, New Zealand and Australia.

Landlady Nicola Townsend was in hot demand for interviews, speaking to the media as she sat in front of the pub's fireplace with the locked-in patrons.

"It's been really quite a positive thing to come out of this storm," she told ITV's This Morning.

"People have come here as strangers on Friday night, and on Monday they're leaving as friends"

Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher, when asked what message he had for the band Noasis, tweeted: "I'm actually jealous. I'm always trying to get a lock inn"

I’m actually jealous im always trying to get a lock inn

— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) December 1, 2021

On Facebook, the inn said that there was rumoured interest in making a movie about the event but, at the very least, they would be organising a reunion for next year. With inputs from Reuters

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