Villagers have started a campaign to turn a closed down pub into a community run business.

A steering committee group in Marcham has applied for a valued community asset order for The Crown pub - which closed in the summer of 2022.

If the application is successful, it means the community would be given time to come up with a bid if the pub was sold.

Vale of White Horse District Council, the planning authority, will decide on the application in the next eight weeks.

Mark Harvie, a steering group member and parish councillor, said: “It gives us a voice. We have first right of refusal on any application. It effectively buys us time.

“The loss of the last remaining pub in the village would be a significant loss. We want to see it reopen. It’s been there for a very long time and has had a grade II listing since 1987.

“We recognise that it does need some development inside. We need to open it up. But the core foundations of the building are in good shape.”

Mr Harvie suggested the building could be used as a meeting space for community groups, for knitting and nattering sessions, and as a milkshake bar run by the ‘Thirsty’ community café.

He said: “Rather than just serving food and drink, it will be combined with community activities.

“This is not going to be a gastropub. This is going to be a pub designed, built, and run for the community. Although, we probably have more experience on one side of the bar than the other.

“Inevitably it has got to be a place where people want to visit and that has something the pub has struggled with since around 2000. We want to turn that around.

“We are convinced that the pub can work as a community venture to make it a success in Marcham.”

The steering group has held a village consultation and hosted a meeting at the Marcham Centre on January 20 which was attended by more than 70 people.

The application has won support from many groups in the village, including the resident’s association, All Saints church, and community café ‘Thirsty’.

Neil Rowe, another member of the steering committee, said: “There is a desire to see the pub re-open. The group is encouraged by the level of interest.

“The group is looking to see what went wrong with the previous ownership. The success level of community run pubs is very high. There’s 250 in the country that are still running and thriving.

“We’re one of the only pubs in Oxfordshire without a thriving pub – so there’s either something wrong with the pub or there’s something wrong with the village.”