An Oxfordshire pub has repainted its sign after villagers complained the design was confusing.

Eagle eyed folk said the newly painted lettering outside The Crown in Marcham looked more like ‘The Crowd’ because of its ‘Saxon’-style font.

The response prompted the pub’s owners Oak Taverns to replace it with a new design over the weekend (September 23 to 24).

READ MORE: Village pub in Oxfordshire reveals when it will reopen

One villager, who lives two minutes away from the pub, said the repainted sign has been a talking point in Marcham. 

The man, who did not wish to be named, said: "The sign was scrubbed off and repainted on again. 

"I did wonder why they had to repaint it completely as the new sign looks very similar to the first attempt. 

"Maybe they could have just embraced The Crowd as a name as there as so many pubs called The Crown. Pardon the pun but it could have stood out from the crowd." 

Simon Collinson, director of the pub company, said he spoke with his signwriter last week and they agreed that clearer lettering was needed

He said: “We had wanted to go for something quite traditional but also a bit different.

“But we looked at it, and saw the comments on social media, and we decided to make it slightly less Saxon and slightly more social media friendly.”

Oxford Mail: The sign outside the Crown in Marcham before the repaint The sign outside the Crown in Marcham before the repaint (Image: Martin Harrow)

Oxford Mail: The sign after the repaintThe sign after the repaint (Image: Contributed)

Villagers had voiced concern over the original sign when images were shared on Facebook.

“The Crowd looks great,” joked Shelley Newton, while Ellie Wright added: “It does look a bit like Crowd, now you mention it.”

But Elizabeth O'Donnell said it was a “massive improvement to how it looked before” and that “you can’t please all of the people, all of the time.”

Kevin Watkins added that he was happy “as long as the Guinness tap works.”

Another householder, who did not wish to be named, said she did not care what the pub was called.

"It just makes such a difference to a village to actually have a pub open so as long as it serves food and drink then it can be called whatever it wants really," she added. 

The Crown has been closed since the summer of 2022 but has undergone a major refurbishment since it was taken over by Oak Taverns in July this year.

It will open its doors to the public for the first time on Thursday.

New posters can be seen in the windows advertising the opening date after operators had originally aimed for "mid-September hopefully".