THERE has been a pub in Great Haseley for five centuries, and present day villagers were not about to let it close on their watch.

So when The Plough shut in January, the residents of the village, near Thame, set about raising more than £400,000 to buy it for themselves.

Six months on they have achieved their goal and it will be kept open as a village pub, hopefully for centuries to come.

Resident Peter Cawdron, 68, helped set The Haseley Pub Company to help raise the funds.

He said: “We are very pleased to have bought the pub because it’s always worrying when a small village pub comes up for sale. There is not the market for pubs any more and there’s always the worry that it will be converted into a house.

“When The Plough came up for sale there was that concern. It’s the nerve centre of the village and a lot of people drink there.

“A big successful pub will sell, but small village pubs will find it hard, yet they form part of the character of the UK.”

Bruce Seymour-Taylor, who lives opposite the pub, said: “The Plough is an important part of the village. We don’t have a shop so it’s a good meeting place.

“It was essential that we kept the pub open.”

According to English Heritage there has been a pub on the site since the 16th century, while residents say the village has had one for 800 years.

When Mr Cawdron found out that previous owners Punch Taverns were putting the pub up for sale he held a meeting to find out whether his fellow villagers wanted to take action.

He expected only 30 people would turn up but in the end more than 100 worried villagers came to offer their support.

Most of the money was raised in just eight weeks after about 120 people invested their own money – an average of just over £3,300 each.

The people of Great Haseley now plan to take out a bank loan so they can rethatch the pub and build a small restaurant extension.

Mr Cawdron said: “There won’t be profits to start with. It was a question of heart over head. We have got to invest with our hearts, so we won’t make an initial return. The pub has been starved of investment for probably 10 years.”

Since the sale was finalised at the end of May The Plough has been leased to a tenant and is now open again.

A study conducted by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) showed that between September and March Oxfordshire lost seven pubs.