In a Northeast England village hollowed out by closed mines, the last open pub becomes the flashpoint for who gets to belong.
What is The Old Oak about?
The Old Oak centers on the final surviving pub in a village where the mines have shut, jobs have vanished, and cheap, empty houses have turned the area into a landing point for arriving Syrian refugees. As newcomers settle among residents who feel left behind by decades of decline, tensions build around the pub itself, one of the few remaining shared spaces in a community that has lost almost everything else. The film traces how old resentments, economic hardship, and the arrival of people fleeing war collide in a small physical space, and how the choices made inside that pub end up carrying weight far beyond its walls. It's a portrait of a place at a breaking point, told through the people who still show up at the bar every day.
About the cast
Dave Turner leads as the pub's owner, caught between his regulars and the new arrivals settling into the village, with Ebla Mari playing a key role among the Syrian refugee characters navigating an unfamiliar and often unwelcoming community. Claire Rodgerson, Trevor Fox, Chris McGlade, Col Tait, Jordan Louis, and Joe Armstrong fill out the ensemble of villagers whose daily lives revolve around the pub.
Context & significance
Directed by Ken Loach, The Old Oak is a 2023 co-production between Belgium, France, and the United Kingdom, continuing the director's long-standing focus on working-class communities under economic strain. Set against the backdrop of mine closures in Northeast England and the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the same period, the film sits within social-realist drama, using a single local institution to examine how a community responds when scarcity meets displacement.
Watching The Old Oak on Ktime
The Old Oak streams on K-Time with a free account login, and no separate payment is required to read this page or explore the catalogue. It's available with Persian dubbing and Persian subtitles, giving Farsi-speaking viewers full access to a drama built on dialogue and community tension without losing anything in translation.