VILLAGERS are battling to save their village pub from its own landlords.

Residents in Childrey near Wantage say Ian and Jane Shaw closed the shutters on the Hatchet last April and have been living inside ever since.

On Saturday husband and wife property consultants Lucy and Michael Joerin held a pop-up pub at the village hall to launch their campaign to fight the closure – Don't Hatchet the Hatchet.

Mrs Joerin said: "Childrey is a really thriving village, we've got a brilliant community here and there are lots of people who are very sociable.

"There are lots of community groups who all used the pub as a meeting place, it was a place to get information about the village and a place to make friends.

"The Greyhound in Letcombe Regis is thriving and we feel we can do the same here – everyone wants it back."

Mrs Joerin said she and others had had meetings with Mr and Mrs Shaw to negotiate reopening the pub but been told 'they have no intention of doing so'.

There was even a movement to raise the money to buy the pub but Mrs Joerin said the Shaws were not interested in selling.

She added: "We just don't really understand what their motivation is: they've just shut the doors and pulled the curtains."

Apart from the fact villagers were gutted to lose the watering hole, Mr and Mrs Shaw are potentially breaching planning law: in order to change the building from a pub to a home they would need planning permission – which they haven't got.

Childrey Parish Council has now put in a formal complaint to planning authority Vale of White Horse District Council along those exact lines.

In a statement the council said: "Childrey Parish Council is totally in support of this great village having a thriving and busy pub; we know how important it is for so many of our residents to have a focal point and meeting place.

"We were saddened when Mr and Mrs Shaw closed the doors last April and are disappointed that the Hatchet has remained closed.

"We are now waiting for the final outcome of our objection to the breach of planning rules. Following this we will endeavour to carry out the wishes of the majority of Childrey parishioners and strive to get the Hatchet open again."

A Vale spokesperson said the council was investigating and added: "If a breach of planning control is identified the council might consider the issue of a formal planning enforcement notice requiring any unauthorised use to cease."

This paper attempted to contacted the Shaws but did not receive a response.