A landmark Oxfordshire pub has been taken over with the new owner pledging to transform its fortunes, despite the crippling effects of the recession on the industry.

Mark Greenwood is the new director of the Bear and Ragged Staff at Cumnor which he describes as having “massive potential” during the day and in the evening.

He said: “It is an underperforming business in an area that is just five miles from Oxford, Abingdon and Witney.

“Anyone can be in this pub at almost any time of day and at the same time it is a great countryside location.”

He has spent about £15,000 refurbishing the interior, stripping walls back to the original stonework and exposing traditional beams.

Manchester-born Mr Greenwood has spent most of his career in the Far East, working as a stockbroker in countries such as Dubai and Hong Kong before he invested in bars and restaurants in Thailand.

A single father, he chose to come to Oxford to ensure his daughters Carmel, 16, and 11-year-old Noelle receive a good education.

And once he has revived the fortunes of the Bear and Ragged Staff, he intends to invest in other country pubs to give them a similar facelift.

“I want to apply the principles of service and food I have learned in Bangok,” he said.

Mr Greenwood is deliberately sourcing local food and using the Standlake-based Oxford Wine Company to help stock the wine cellar with Greene King supplying real ales and keg beers.

In time he wants to help support bear-themed charities and introduce a teddy bear’s picnic in the summer in a bid to buck the trend of pub closures in Oxfordshire and across the country.

The building, which dates back to the 13th century and was once the home of the Earl of Leicester in Elizabethan times, became a pub in 1862, but in recent years has had a chequered history with a succession of landlords and a change of owner from Morrells to Greene King.