Watch how The White Hart Inn is dazzling Hartlepool residents with its festive display

The White Hart Inn, in Hart Village, has decked its halls with thousands of lights, baubles and life-size decorations just in time for the holiday season.

This is the first time the pub has seen a Christmas display since Sean Drinkel opened the inn in 2020 and it has already seen hundreds of admirers flocking to its doors to see the decorations in person.

Sean said: “I wanted to cheer the village up. We have had a crap couple of years.”

The display was put together by TCL Homes and Interiors over four days and features two life-size nutcrackers, Santa’s sleigh and a reindeer.

For residents, the pub decorations have been a warm welcome at a time of increasing economic instability.

One resident said “you have made not only your village happy but the whole of Hartlepool too,” with another describing the decorations as “sheer magic”.

Sean said: “We have been getting different people coming to the pub from all over the place.”

He added: “I’m just bewildered by it all. I didn’t think it would go as far as it has.”

Jamie Kenley, who produced a promotional video for the pub, said: “I thought it looked like a cool pub when I drove past so I approached them and here we are.”

He said: “It’s just such a fantastic idea.”

Even more decorations were planned for the display until recent rises in energy costs.

The display is expected to remain until the first week of January 2023.