LANDLORDS have left a Witney town centre pub at the centre of complaints from neighbours over noise.

The Red Lion, in Corn Street, closed last Wednesday after landlord Tom Pauling left the premises with his business partners.

Owner Greene King said it hopes to reopen the pub, a weekly live music venue, “as soon as possible” with new tenants.

Mr Pauling said noise complaints had been one of the reasons they had decided to leave.

West Oxfordshire District Council spokeswoman Carys Davies said seven residents complained about noise from July 2012 to November 2013.

Environmental health officers visited the pub – which has a licence to open to 2am – four times and gave nine householders devices to monitor sound.

She said it issued an abatement notice to the landlords in May last year and the pub added a second acoustic ceiling to the music bar.

In a Facebook message to more than 3,300 followers, the landlords said: “It’s sad to say goodbye but we hope you all enjoyed the ride through bad and great times.

“We will take fantastic memories from the Lion and even better friends. We hope Witney and surrounding areas miss our little dive and find happiness in another place. We will never forget the weekends.

“Goodbye Witney – we love you even if you don’t love us.”

Lesley Semaine, Witney & District Chamber of Commerce chairwoman and landlady of the Royal Oak pub, in High Street, said: “I always find it a shame when it doesn’t work out for people leasing a property.

“I still believe that the breweries are greedy and rents are far too high. When they aren’t privately owned and they pay rates they do tend to be quite steep.”

Tony Goulding, chairman of the Oxford branch of the Campaign For Real Ale (CAMRA), which in-cludes Witney, said: “It turned into a young person’s pub and it didn’t seem to know where it was going.

“It wasn’t exactly our idea of a town centre pub but we would like to see the brewery seize the opportunity to breathe fresh life into it.”

Greene King spokesman Richard Jones said: “Following a meeting with Greene King and the tenants, it was mutually agreed that the tenants would leave the pub to pursue other interests and we would like to wish them well for the future.

“We are looking for a new permanent tenant to run the pub in the long term and we welcome enquiries from anyone local who might be interested.

“We apologise to customers for any inconvenience caused during this temporary closure and hope to have the pub reopen as soon as possible.”

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