A PUB that was saved by the community could soon be unrecognisable.

The Ampleforth Arms on Collinwood Road in Risinghurst has been listed for rent by the owners.

In a bid to flog it to somebody new, the owners – Star Pubs and Bars – have promised to pump thousands of pounds into a swish new revamp.

The refurbishment will see the pub change to 'The Risinghurst Arms' with a new bar, new insides, a fresh garden and a food menu.

It comes nearly two years after a community group rallied together to save the pub from becoming another block of flats.

Save the Amp was a group started to resurrect the pub after it was put on the market by the Punch Tavern in 2014.

The team poured hours into getting the building listed as a proper community asset and led an 18-month fight to keep the boozer at least in part, open as a pub.

Several businesses nearby and community members chipped in and bought a share – and the mission ended on a high in 2017 when the plans to demolish it were scrapped by Oxford City Council.

The pub was then sold to the current owners Star Pubs, a division of the Heineken company, in March 2018.

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Save the Amp tried to raise the cash to buy it first, but they managed to secure a short-term lease to revive it instead.

Oxford Mail:

One founding member Lyn Simms, who has been spearheading the plans ever since, said the lease was an ongoing contract and that both parties needed to give three months notice to call it off.

Now out of the blue a sign has been put outside the pub advertising a new lease.

Ms Simms says she doesn't know anything more that what the online advert says, but expects to be open 'for at least another 10 months'.

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A spokesperson for the company said it was always the plan to redevelop the pub and that the group has only secured a short-term lease until they found somebody who could run it for longer.

Explaining that work would probably kick-start in spring, a spokesperson said: "“Star Pubs & Bars plans to invest in The Ampleforth Arms to create a great quality local for the community.

“The plans include renaming it The Risinghurst Arms and introducing some food, with the intention of keeping it very much as a pub and offering a whole range of community events.

“We are currently recruiting for a new operator to invest and work with us on the refurbishment.

“We cannot be exact on timings as we need to find a new operator first, but we hope to be able to begin work in the spring.”

In the online advert the owners explain that a £326,000 boost will be given to the pub in order to drive the 'future vision' of combining the bar area, adding a food menu, making new signs, changing the lighting and re-doing the garden and decking area.

They say: "A planned change of name will create a new identity."

The advert says the annual rent is about £40,000 with an estimated profit of around £41,906.