Villagers fighting to save their historic local pub, which once served Winston Churchill and Cold War Spies, are making efforts to bridge generational divides to boost their campaign.
The Elm Tree Inn, located in the Dorset village of Langton Herring, has been a hub of community life since opening its doors in the early 18th century. Over its 300-year history, the pub has welcomed a diverse array of patrons, from World War II heroes to local villagers.
However, after centuries of trading, the pub closed in 2023, spurring a determined group of locals to launch a campaign to bring it into community ownership.
Since its launch in April 2023, the “Friends of the Elm Tree” campaign has raised half of the £650,000 needed to purchase the pub through donations and £1 shares purchased by investors. But with £300,000 still to go, the group is appealing to younger generations, including Gen Z, to invest in their mission.
In a TikTok clip that has garnered over 100,000 likes, members of the group made a playful plea: “Be an Elm Tree stan and help these boomers save their pub.”
The video opens with two villagers lamenting the pub’s closure, saying: “We’re feeling salty about our village pub closing down. We were shook when we found out it might be knocked down - along with its rich 400-year history.”
The clip highlights the pub’s charm and history, noting its significance as a social hub and its storied past. They jokingly describe it as the perfect spot to “crochet with the besties” or meet your “next situationship.”
One villager recalls the 1950s, when locals noticed “something sus” happening at the pub, leading to the unravelling of the infamous Portland spy ring.
Dorset residents Harry Houghton and his lover Ethel Gee, members of the Russian spy network, were regular patrons of the Elm Tree Inn. They would sit in the pub’s snug, awaiting calls from their KGB handler to exchange information about the nearby Portland naval base.
The pub’s links to espionage aren’t its only claim to fame. During World War II, the Elm Tree Inn welcomed legendary figures such as Barnes Wallis, the inventor of the “bouncing bomb.” Wallis and Winston Churchill are said to have spent time there while Wallis conducted secret bomb trials nearby. Their visits, shrouded in secrecy, were deemed a matter of national security.
“The pub really was the centre of the village’s social milieux,” said Alun Cooper, vice president of the Friends of the Elm Tree Inn, in an interview with The Independent.
He warned of the consequences if the campaign fails: “The worst-case scenario is that the pub is knocked down and developed into housing. There are plenty of stories of communities who lose their pub, and it never reopens. It’s a real loss to the social cohesion of the community.”
The Friends of the Elm Tree hope their efforts will either secure the pub for community ownership or attract a buyer committed to reopening it. “If someone came in and said they’ll run it instead, that’s fine with us—we just want to see the pub open,” Cooper said.
To find out more about the campaign click here and to find out how you can donate or buy shares, click here.
