Nestled in the woods of Vettelschloss, near the bustling city of is a corner of Germany that at first glance, could be mistaken for a busy high street. The Little Britain Inn, run by Gary Blackburn and his wife Monika, is a dizzyingly England enclave in this rural part of Germany, populated by not only three full size iconic red double decker buses, but a tank repainted as a peace memorial, a shrine to the late Princess Diana, and everything else British you could possibly imagine. It’s a bar and now a wildly popular hotel that serves up full English breakfasts, and some of the best fish and chips money can buy - but it all started out as a way for Gary to side step the council.
He told the Star the British Inn was never part of his plan at all - he just needed a place to store He acquired the tank, alongside some other parts of his British memorabilia collection, during Brexit as he was worried relations may fail so spectacularly that these items would become difficult to come by. But the council was not happy with him keeping the tank in his back garden, as it was part of a nearby nature reserve. Unwilling to part with it, Gary instead decided to buy out the neighbouring hotel, move the tank over 300 metres, where a different authority was in charge, and paint a massive union jack on it, as well as white doves.
He says the tank is a monument to peace - and he refuses to let the council make him get rid of it. “My father always said improvise, adapt and overcome,” he t.