Charlie’s Bar Enniskillen Christmas Ad: The Viral Video That Beat John Lewis

Charlie’s Bar Christmas ad: quick facts

Who made it: Charlie’s Bar, a family-run pub in Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh.
When: November 2023.
The song: Birdy’s version of “People Help the People”, originally by Cherry Ghost.
The cast: a local amateur actor, plus a young couple and their dog who are regulars at the bar.
Views: more than six million, with viewers around the world calling it better than that year’s John Lewis ad.
Since then: a new ad every Christmas, about grief in 2024 and about carers in 2025.

Every November, the big UK retailers spend millions on their Christmas adverts. In 2023, a small family pub in Enniskillen made one on a shoestring budget, and it beat them all.

Have the tissues ready.

The story in the ad

An elderly man lays flowers on his late wife’s grave. Then he walks through the streets of Enniskillen in the cold, nodding and saying hello to people who hurry past without seeing him. He goes into Charlie’s Bar and sits on his own.

Then a small, friendly dog wanders over to him. The dog’s young owners follow, and before long the three of them are sharing a Christmas drink and a laugh. That’s it. No celebrities, no special effects, no product. Just an old man who, for one evening, isn’t alone.

Why it hit so hard

The ad works because it’s true. Pub manager Una Burns said the idea came from what the staff had seen over the years in the bar, and that they simply “wanted people to feel something” when they watched it.

Christmas is a joyful time for many people, but for anyone who has lost a partner, or lives alone, it can be the loneliest time of the year. The ad says that quietly, without preaching, and then offers a small, simple answer: a bit of company.

And Charlie’s meant it. When they posted the ad, the bar told followers it would be open on Christmas Day, and that anyone spending the day alone should drop in for a chat.

“Better than John Lewis”

The video spread from Fermanagh to the rest of the world in days. It racked up hundreds of thousands of views on the pub’s own Facebook and Instagram, then millions more as it was shared, eventually passing six million views. It was covered by the BBC and CNN, and comment after comment said the same thing: this little pub had made a better Christmas ad than John Lewis.

Part of the charm is that it’s so clearly homemade. The old man is a local amateur actor, and the couple and their dog are regulars at the bar. It looks like Enniskillen because it is Enniskillen.

A Christmas tradition is born

Charlie’s Bar didn’t stop at one. In 2024 they released a second ad, about grief, which drew more than 900,000 views, and in 2025 they released another, shining a light on unseen carers. Each one has the same feel: small-town, gentle and honest, with a message about looking out for one another.

Visit Charlie’s Bar

Charlie’s Bar is in the centre of Enniskillen, the main town of Co. Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, an island town surrounded by Lough Erne. If you’re passing through, stop in. And if you know someone who’ll be on their own this Christmas, maybe give them a call.