THE owners of a pub in Marston have expressed their shock after it was partially destroyed by an arson attack over the weekend.

The Jack Russell, in Salford Road, was half-destroyed in the fire just before midnight on Saturday.

Laqat Ali - who has owned the pub with his brother, Shoqat, since early 2015 - described the incident as ‘disgusting’.

He said: “We’re completely shocked that this has happened. It’s disgusting and shouldn’t have taken place from any point of view.

“We’re just shocked at the fact anybody would do such a thing.”

More than 30 firefighters battled the blaze into the small hours of Sunday morning.

Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service said there were ‘signs that people had recently been inside’.

The attack comes after years of campaigning by locals first to get the pub re-opened, then to get it turned into a community facility.

The pub has stood derelict since it was sold by brewery Greene King in October 2015.

The Ali brothers purchased the building and submitted a planning application this year to transform the site into 16 flats and 19 car parking spaces.

That application was due to be decided by Oxford City Council this week until the application was withdrawn.

Mr Ali said they withdrew the application because officers at Oxford City Council had returned to them and recommended changes too soon to the date it was due to go before committee.

He said he had been looking forward to seeing the application process but that they would have been unable to make the changes in time.

Mr Ali said: “From our perspective, we bought the pub with the intention of turning it into flats, and we spoke to planners at Oxford City Council who said it was a very good idea.

“We came up with a selection of plans and eventually opted to turn it into 16 flats. We had the city council involved right from day one.

“The full application was submitted and then we were told about 10 days before the committee meeting that we would need to do this and this and this but we didn’t have the time. So we had to withdraw the application.”

Mr Ali said he had invited residents belonging to the Save the Jack Russel campaign group to speak with him last year, where he offered to sell them the building for £680,000.

He said: “I’ve told these people to put their money where their mouth is and I asked them not to register it as a community asset.

“But now I’m in it for the long haul.”

Mr Ali said a fresh application would be submitted after making the revisions suggested by the city council.