Boomers and Gen Z join forces on TikTok to raise £600,000 to save local pub

A group of villagers have defied the odds and raised over £600,000 to save their local pub after a generation-bending TikTok campaign.

Older residents of Langton Herring in Dorset joined forces with their younger counterparts to create a series of videos in which ‘Boomers’ (older villagers) talked about their pub using Generation Z slang.

The viral videos, created by the Friends of Elm Tree Inn community group, saw residents ‘spill the tea’ about the ‘delulu’ plans to shut down the pub, and ‘rizz’ people up to save it by donating to the cause.

Each video has been liked hundreds of thousands of times, and the campaign has seen cash flood in from more than 30 countries, with Americans particularly keen.

Since the campaign was launched, the Friends of Elm Tree group has raised £520,000 in donations, which is enough to buy and reopen the Elm Tree Inn. A bid will be made on Monday, with further fund-raising and loans making up the balance.

Villager Nick Carroll said: ‘They see rural idyll England, a country pub with a history.’

Sir Barnes Wallis drank and stayed at the Elm Tree while his bouncing bomb, used in the Dambusters raid in the Second World War, was being tested nearby.

And that’s why they’re the G.O.A.T.