A group of drunk British lads. Two elderly Spanish women.
One shouted comment Harry Poulton can’t stop telling people about.
The 25-year-old has lived in Benidorm since he was 18.
He moved over after a lads’ holiday and never looked back.
He says he’s seen plenty in his seven years on the strip. This was something else.
‘Bang out of order’
Poulton’s TikTok, which has racked up 23,000 views and over 500 likes, opens with the content creator drawing a line in the sand.
“It’s something I find very embarrassing as a British person living in Spain, specifically Benidorm,” he says.
“I’ve seen it all, from people running down the strip half-naked, drunk people on the beach, you name it. But there’s a line that should not be crossed.”
He then describes the moment that crossed it.
“A group of lads walking back from the strip, presumably a little bit drunk, and there were two quite elderly Spanish women.
And these guys decided to be quite rude, disrespectful and shouted in their direction quite vulgar things.”
His verdict: bang out of order.
‘We’re guests here’
Originally from Brighton, Poulton is careful to stress he doesn’t see himself as a local with the right to call anyone out.
He sees himself as a guest who’s stayed a long time.
“Even though I have the right to live here, it doesn’t make it my country,” he says.
His argument is simple. People on holiday wouldn’t shout at elderly strangers in their own town.
So why do it in someone else’s?
“I understand you’re on holiday and want to have a good time, but why take it out and step too far? The Spanish locals don’t deserve it.”
He says many locals already wish British tourists would go home, and behaviour like this only proves their point.
“Let’s not bring that kind of attention to Benidorm. It’s not necessary. Leave the Spanish alone.”
Why it matters
Benidorm has become one of the most filmed destinations on creator TikTok, and Poulton is part of a small group of British expats turning their lives there into content.
The genre pulls big numbers. Cheap rent videos, sunshine vlogs, fish-in-a-barrel Brit tourist content.
But it comes with a question most creators dodge. What do you owe the place you’ve made your stage?
Poulton’s video is one of the few that takes the question on directly.
The bigger picture
Anti-tourism sentiment across Spain has hardened sharply.
Barcelona residents have squirted holidaymakers with water pistols.
Mass protests have hit the Canaries. Benidorm has dodged the worst of it so far, but the mood is shifting, and creators living locally know what they post either helps or hurts the relationship between visitor and resident.
Poulton has 63,000 followers and a clear position on what they should and shouldn’t be doing on their holidays.
Whether the lads coming off the next easyJet flight are listening is another thing entirely.
