Battle to save Oxfordshire village’s last standing pub

The whole pub site of the Gardiner Arms in Tackley is a registered Asset of Community Value (ACV) with a history of failed applications for planning permission to build houses on part of the site.

In September 2022 the Planning Inspectorate dismissed an appeal against the most recent decision. 

The owner is closing the pub on June 25 but the village, which has a track record of reviving closed rural resources and runs the award-winning village shop and post office, wants to keep it as a pub.

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The corporate owner of the pub is Tackley Ales but the car parks and function room are owned by a separate company, Novello Properties, which the owners of the pub have family ties to.

It has redeveloped pubs in Jericho and other Oxford locations, including the Globe which campaigners fought for two years to save from becoming luxury housing. 

Jeremy Posnansky, a resident of the village and member of the action group trying to buy the pub for the community, said: “It’s such a pity it’s come to this. The village just wants to buy the pub and do it sensibly for a fair price.

“We really want to be able to do a fair and sensible deal, to turn it into a great pub where people want to go, but I admit that it’s quite daunting.

“It’s not in good condition and will need a lot of money spending on it.

“Its level of business has dwindled massively in recent years, so it will need a lot of nurturing to get it up and running successfully again.”

A history of dealings between family companies has divided the site in two with the pub in one corporate ownership and the car park and function room in another corporate ownership.

It means the landlord says he can only sell the pub but can’t sell its car park.

Mr Posnansky said: “It’s frankly bonkers to think that we, or anyone else, would buy the pub without the car park. They must know that.”

The owner of the pub declined to comment when approached by the Oxford Mail.

More than 70 villagers staged a sit-in at the same pub in June 2010 amid fears the pub would be closed down.

This was before Bal Gill, who was 31 at the time, relaunched the pub on behalf of the villagers.