Campaigners have one month to buy Oxfordshire village pub

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

The Admiral Taverns hostelry closed and she has been leading a community bid to raise up to £250,000 to buy it.

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Ms Charlett launched the campaign to save The Red Lion earlier this year.

The pub in Cassington Road was registered as an asset of community value and shares are being sold through the Yarnton Community Benefit Society to help raise the funds needed to buy the £425,000 freehold.

The campaign group is aiming to raise £250,000, with the remainder provided by matched funding from the government's Community Ownership Fund.

Ms Charlett said: "The share offer closes on October 9 and then we will see how much we have raised.

"Shares are selling slowly at the moment - we know it's a difficult time for everyone.

"We then have until October 21 and at that point the pub could be sold to another business.

"If we do manage to purchase the pub then our supporters will be part of something that will be here for generations to come."

Ms Charlett said the campaign had enjoyed lots of support but still needed more people to buy shares.

She added that supporters were being asked to buy a minimum of £50 worth of £1 shares.

If the campaign was not successful any money paid for shares would be returned, she added.

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A spokesman for Admiral Taverns said earlier: "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."

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

It reopened in October after closing during the pandemic.

The community interest group running the Lamb & Flag is called the Inklings, named after a group of writers which included fantasy authors CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien.

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

The pub shut a year ago after the number of customers fell by half.

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Property agent Everard Cole is advertising the freehold for The Red Lion and says it is 'in the region of £425,000'.

Dave Richardson, a spokesman for the Oxford branch of real ale group CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale), said: "We wish the community group all the best in their shares offer and grant application, as community ownership is a growing trend which is a win-win for everyone except big pub groups and property developers.

“But if they don’t succeed it isn’t the end for this pub, as we know of a local, independent pub company which is interested and could make it a real success as it has in other towns and villages.

"Whatever happens, Yarnton deserves to have a thriving pub in the village as it had before.”

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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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