Witney's General Election campaign has gone into full swing, with a surprise candidate entering the political fray.

Colourful town publican Barry Beadle is standing for Parliament. He is an Independent and hopes to gain at least enough votes to save his deposit.

And it all came about because of bar talk in his pub, The Hollybush in Corn Street.

Mr Beadle said: "We get a lot of young people in and they were saying they didn't vote. It's like a world away to them."

The publican cuts a noteable figure in the town, with his big bushy beard, colourful hats and sandals. He is also well-known among younger people because of his community work with the Libra drugs project in Oxford.

A recent opinion poll, conducted during a nationwide survey, revealed that around 60 per cent of people under the age of 25 are not minded to vote on June 7.

Another pub is featuring in the Witney election campaign as a local interest group. The West Oxfordshire Motor Cycle Action Group seeks to lobby some of the candidates.

They have invited the three main party contenders to their weekly meeting place, The White Hart, Minster Lovell, on Tuesday.

So far there are six candidates: Conservative David Cameron, Labour's Mike Bartlet, Liberal Democrat Gareth Epps, Mark Stevenson of the Green Party, The UK Independence Party's Kenneth Dukes and Independent Mr Beadle.