IT came as something of a shock when, in January this year, the locals at the Plough in Great Haseley were informed by Punch Taverns that their pub was to be sold.

This was especially surprising as the pub had been well supported and busy up until then and would have left the village without a pub for the first time in 800 years.

But the locals were passionate about retaining it as a community asset and an action group was formed to raise funds to buy the property and the Haseley Pub Company was born.

If they were to be successful they would need to raise over £350k to buy the pub, so locals were asked to invest in ‘shares’ of between £500 and £20k. Incredibly £150k was raised in the first two days of the campaign and currently the total exceeds £400k.

After being closed for five weeks, Steve Potts was appointed by Punch as a temporary tenant having run several pubs in West London. Now five months later, Steve is still the landlord, but his tenancy agreement is now with the locals’ company.

Peter Cawdron, who is an investor and also chairman of the management committee, said he feels that small country pubs can only survive if owned and run locally.

For more information about the campaign see the website at ploughpub.com CHRIS HILL Bridge End Dorchester on Thames