The Old Oak - Screening and discussion

Venue: The Circle | 6 Market St, Newport, NP20 1FU
Date: 05/02/2026
Doors: 18:30 Close: 21:30
Entry: Pay what you can

Set in a struggling post-industrial town in the North East of England, The Old Oak centres on the last remaining pub in the area, a fragile social hub holding together a fractured community. When Syrian refugees are rehoused locally, long-standing tensions rise as residents face unemployment, austerity, and the erosion of shared spaces.

Pub landlord TJ Ballantyne finds himself caught between anger, fear, and the possibility of renewed connection. Through an unexpected friendship with Yara, a young Syrian woman documenting her new surroundings through photography, the film quietly asks whether empathy and collective action can still exist in a society shaped by economic abandonment.

Running at 113 minutes, The Old Oak is deeply human, unsentimental, and urgent film about class, migration, and the power of shared meals and conversations. As Loach’s final statement, it offers not nostalgia, but a challenge: what kind of community do we choose to be?

After the screening, audiences are warmly invited to stay for an optional post-film chat at Circle Screening, to reflect together on the film’s themes and relevance today.