Remembering Everest TV advert at Tan Hill Inn 40 years on

When you think of TV adverts, your mind might go back to the Everest double-glazing ad filmed at the Tan Hill Inn in Richmond with Ted Moult “keeping the gales off the ales”.

But 40 years on from the advert, it has now been remembered by the person behind it, revealing that it might never have happened at all were it not for "a moment of inspiration born out of desperation."

The Everest advert (Image: TAN HILL INN)

Neil Hanson had just become owner of Tan Hill, now world-famous as Britain's highest pub, but back then, only known to locals and regular visitors.

"Buying the inn took every penny we had," Neil says remembering the time.

"We had no money left for repairs, but the windows were rotten, letting in water and howling draughts.

"I was watching an Everest ad on TV one night when a thought suddenly struck me: Why were their ads always about soundproofing when most of us don’t live near airports or busy roads, but we all have to deal with the British weather?

The Tan Hill Inn in Richmond (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

"So I wrote to them, suggesting an ad featuring the wild, woolly and windy inn in Britain.

"I never really expected a reply, but to my delight, Everest came, liked what they saw and gave us some new windows before filming the ad that made Tan Hill famous."

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Twenty years later, Channel 4 viewers still voted it one of their favourite ads of all time.

Neil, now an author and after-dinner speaker, is celebrating the anniversary in The Barn at Tan Hill at 6 pm this Sunday (March 10) where he’s hosting a charity event in support of Martin House Children’s Hospice.

Tickets are £10 and as well as Neil’s humorous tales of Tan Hill there is of course a showing of that iconic Everest ad, together with a film of the 1984 Tan Hill show.