Villagers have been told they now have six months to save their local pub for the community.

Leanne Charlett was a child when her parents ran the Red Lion in Yarnton for 10 years.

Now the Admiral Taverns hostelry has closed and she is leading a bid to declare it as an asset of community value so that a community group can buy it and run it.

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The Red Lion shut in August after the number of customers fell by half.

Landlady Kerry Osborne, who had been running the pub for six years, said the cost of living was a factor in her decision to leave. 

Now the pub company has put the pub up for sale for £425,000 and Ms Charlett is leading a takeover bid.

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She has set up a steering group and launched a fundraising drive.

Ms Charlett said: "I do think the community is behind us.

"We are waiting for the Plunkett Foundation to take us on and advise us and then we can move forward and eventually start to sell shares.

"We will need a lot of support to raise £425,000 but I do think it is possible.

"A full moratorium period has now been triggered."

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A spokesman for Admiral Taverns said: "Through the Asset of Community Value process, we can confirm that the Red Lion in Yarnton is now within its Full Moratorium Period of six months in which the local community has the time to raise the funds to support an appropriate offer to buy the pub.

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"It wouldn't be suitable for us to comment any further at this stage."

Ms Charlett has launched a steering group for the bid to save the pub for the community, and a gofundme page has also been launched to get the campaign going.

She said on the Save The Red Lion Facebook page: "This group has been set up by myself for the community to share my passion of this place.

"It means a lot to me and when I lived there and I had many happy memories.

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"I'm not going to sugar coat it, I'd love to run it, but it wouldn't be my choice only. This pub needs to be reopened for the community.

"This group was created to focus on the future of The Red Lion Yarnton and not it's past."

There are a number of community-run pubs across Oxfordshire - the most famous is the Lamb & Flag in St Giles.

The community bid to take over the Red Lion is being backed by Oxford CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale).

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About the author 

Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here. 

He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.

His Trade and Tourism newsletter is released every Saturday morning. 

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