Students dressed as Gandalf on pub crawl meet Burnley’s Ian McKellen

22-year-old student, Ben Coyles, was dressed as Lord of the Rings character Gandalf for his birthday pub crawl in Bristol, on April 13.

Little did he know that he would end up bumping into the Burnley-born actor who played Gandalf in the movies, Sir Ian McKellen.

In the video, which has been viewed more than 3.5million times on video sharing platform TikTok, Ben can be seen posing for a picture and chatting with the legendary actor.

Scarlet Learmonth, who posted the video and was on the pub crawl, said: “It was such a shock but also a beautiful and magical moment.

“I am so unbelievably happy for Ben and to be part of this exciting occurrence.”

The 21-year-old said she is in “utter shock” at the reaction it has received on TikTok.

She said: “I posted the video just to share with my friends, with no expectations… I never anticipated the extent of attention but I am just so pleased to be able to share such a magical experience.”

Scarlet said it’s an experience that Ben and his girlfriend, Angel, deserved as they have recently been raising money for MND and ME, a charity that supports people with Motor Neurone Disease.

Ben Coyles met Sir Ian McKellen on a pub crawl (Image: TikTok/@scarletlearmonth)

Felix Spencer was also there to experience the moment.

He said: “We were on the penultimate pub on the pub crawl and, as we’re walking there, someone comes up behind me and asks if he’d like our Gandalf to meet the real Gandalf.

“I assumed it was someone just joking around but when I turn around to talk to him he gestures towards his friend.

“It takes me a while to realise at first but then I see that it is in fact Ian McKellen.

“I only spoke to him briefly but he was very polite and kind and definitely excited to see that people were dressing up as characters from a film he really enjoyed making.”