'The Old Oak' is a special place. Not only is it the last pub standing, but it's also the only remaining public space where people can meet in a once thriving mining community that has now fallen on hard times after 30 years of decline.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:02 For you.
00:04 All right, lads?
00:06 How come they're getting all that stuff?
00:08 I've lost everything.
00:09 I've left the war zone.
00:11 She's taking your photo there.
00:12 You better delete that photo.
00:14 They're just kids, man.
00:15 Let them get in their house and get settled, man.
00:18 I'm really sorry that happened.
00:19 Can I say I'm surprised at the other stuff
00:21 that come out within the pub?
00:22 This has become a dumping ground, lads.
00:26 We've been in this village all our lives.
00:28 And we're supposed to share it with that lot.
00:30 We don't even know them.
00:32 Thank you for your kindness when we arrived.
00:35 I really appreciate it.
00:37 My name is Yara, by the way.
00:38 What's yours?
00:39 Tommy Joe Ballantine.
00:42 Do you mind me asking?
00:44 Are you all right?
00:47 When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a photographer
00:50 and travel the world.
00:53 If you've got a moment, you'll come back to the pub with me.
00:56 I wanted to show you the photographs in here.
01:00 A whole way of life, just gone forever.
01:03 When you eat together, you stick together.
01:06 My mother always said that.
01:07 Some of the locals are struggling, too.
01:13 Everywhere's closed.
01:14 Even the school's gone.
01:16 We can't even look after our own.
01:17 Just going from bad to worse, isn't it?
01:21 Imagine if all the families mix and start to eat together.
01:26 If you eat together, you stick together.
01:29 God, what?
01:30 God, what?
01:33 The village, the old oak.
01:35 We need this.
01:37 It's like a bloody refugee camp.
01:39 What's your motto?
01:40 [INTERPOSING VOICES]
01:43 It's not charity.
01:44 This is solidarity.
01:46 This is about we do something together.
01:50 It takes a strength to build something new.
01:55 It takes a strength to build something beautiful.
01:57 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:02 Shukran.
02:04 Do you know what shukran means?
02:05 It means thank you.
02:06 Shukran.
02:07 Shukran.
02:09 (whooshing)