Following the huge success of their 2023 Christmas video, it is safe to say everybody is waiting in anticipation to see what Charlie's Bar does this year.

Their viral hit, which raised more than £20,000 for local charities last year, is about to have a sequel due to be released on Friday, November 29 at 7pm.

Following their video in 2023, which gained fame across the world and was even recognised by Christmas advert specialist, John Lewis, pulled on the heartstrings as it showed and elderly man walking through the town alone until he enters the bar and is joined by a young couple.

This year, Una Burns, manager at Charlie's Bar, admitted that she did not know if there would be a second advert but wanted to "spread some Christmas cheer and a positive message" once more.

"I was so torn to be honest. Up until October, I didn’t think we were going to put anything out," Una explained.

"I was a bit concerned that it's so hard to follow last year's but then the other side of me, I thought we have got a good platform there and if it can be used in some way to spread some Christmas cheer and a positive message it made sense to put something out."

While not giving too much away about the plot for this year's video, Una did admit that they have taken inspiration from last year's success: "It's in that similar theme. Where last year's focus, the fact that Christmas can be a really happy and a really joyous time for a lot of people but I suppose we in hospitality can see the other side of that, particularly on Christmas Day.

"It can be a really tough time for some people and that for me was really important, this year's ad still reflects that Christmas can be a really tough time for people and you see that coming through.

"In a similar way to last year, there's a message that we'd hope people will take away when they watch the advert."

Una said there are no expectations with this year's release, she just wants people to view it with a fresh pair of eyes and not compare it to last year's.

There will be no big release or premiere, Charlie's will be releasing it on their socials and see where it goes from there.

But the anticipation of a new advert has been great.

"We are following some big names. There's been some lovely adverts already released by the big players. It's great to just have the anticipation and the interest.

"We had somebody ring the bar from Cork last week asking if we were releasing an advert. We had two Italians in on Saturday asking. We had a German in who actually brought us a newspaper [article] the Saturday before.

"Just to even have that interest is lovely even just hearing peoples' stories and why last year's resonated with them. We are hoping this year's resonates on a different level."

And Una added that the interest shows the role a pub has in today's society, as well as the power of social media: "It shows the role that a pub still has to play and its not just a drinking pub and I know that on our social media, we would have people contacting us and interacting with us that maybe will never enter our doors.

"That advert or things we have put up has touched them in some way or helped them through a difficult time.

"To be in that position, it really shows the power of social media now and the good it can do.