As far as crowdfunding campaigns go, Sarah de Warren’s innovative short video that aimed to raise funds to reopen The Elm Tree pub in the pretty Dorset village of Langton Herring had noble intentions. The 17th-century hostelry boasts an impressive history, including being a secret rendezvous for Russian spies during the Cold War, and the home of the invention of the bouncing bomb. But for de Warren, who grew up in the village, it was simply an integral part of this small community that was at risk of being lost.
“I got my first job washing dishes there when I was 13,” she tells me. “We don’t have a shop here – it’s the only establishment in the village. It’s the place we would all go and do the pub quiz – it’s just a staple.”
After changing hands several times, the pub was no longer a viable business and had to close its doors in November 2023. At this point, the local community realised how central it was to village life.
While the villagers managed to raise a significant sum of money in an effort to save the pub, they were still far off their target; de Warren quickly realised that a new tactic was required. “Mum and Dad were doing their own fundraisers – playing music at the church and selling jams and stuff – but I realised that wasn’t going to be enough,” she recalls. “So, I thought let’s try some silly videos and have some fun with it – and that was the birth of the project.”
