June Update

Since we were last in touch social restrictions have eased a little more around the UK and people have finally been able to enjoy again the special experience of time in a pub with friends and family. Customers have made the most of it and flocked back to their locals - have you tried to book a pub lunch recently? It’s almost impossible without a few weeks’ notice, at least here in West Oxfordshire.

While inconvenient to us punters, this is great news for pubs up and down the country who have been starved of income for such a long time. The sports and social club in the village has managed to open and its customers are being well served, and many people have commented favourably about the newly refurbished Duke of Marlborough on the main road to Woodstock. Unfortunately, this is not the case for our precious White Horse in Stonesfield.

The pub is still closed with no word when it will reopen. We have tried to reach out to the new owner to see what the problem is and whether we can help, as have a number of others in the local area including members of both the Parish and County Councils, but to no avail. This is both sad and worrying as there is little sign of work even to prepare the pub for re-opening. Meanwhile, the grass in the beer garden has grown long and the fabric of the building is showing increasing signs of wear and tear.

So, the need for our campaign to safeguard the long-term future of The White Horse for the benefit of the community continues. 

Here’s what we’ve been up to recently:

Pop-up pub

We had planned to raise a glass together and generate some funds for the new Scout hut by hosting a pop-up pub in the village on Saturday 26 July, but the uncertainty around the government plans for lifting social restrictions meant we have postponed. It’s still something we’re planning to do, and we’ll let you know as soon as it’s rearranged.

Pub tenancy update

Mr Bowers has indicated that he’s struggling to find a tenant. We have offered to use our communication channels to promote any advertising that he has carried out. The pub does not appear to be specifically listed on the usual tenancy websites, so we are waiting for him to share this information with us.

Further purchase offer submitted

The money that you’ve invested or donated is a vital ongoing asset. It’s important that we are able to reiterate an ongoing interest in acquiring the pub as a community asset and your generosity is allowing us to remind Mr Bowers that we are still prepared to purchase the pub. One such offer was sent to him recently.

Local heritage listing

Thanks to the Parish Council the pub has been re-listed as an asset of community value which is great. We have learned there’s also a government scheme that seeks to protect local heritage by ensuring it is considered as part of local decision-making and planning. The scheme is relevant to areas developing a Neighbourhood Plan, such as the one the Stonesfield Parish Council is about to restart. We’ve shared the information with them and hope that while it would only be a small part of the overall plan, they connect to the Heritage and Design project team at West Oxfordshire District Council to ensure the pub’s inclusion in the government scheme. Our thanks go to our new Oxfordshire County Councillor, Andy Graham, for looking into this for us.

Troll on the nextdoor messaging forum

We've unfortunately become the target of a troll on the online forum “nextdoor Stonesfield”. A number of times an individual has posted entirely false accusations about the pub group and has said he is taking out a lawsuit, which is also untrue. It is very sad that someone is trying to damage the reputation of a community organisation, run entirely by volunteers for the good of the community with so much generous support from all of you. His only purpose seems to be to try to destroy our campaign. We continue to report this issue to the site administrators who have been brilliant at taking all such postings down and it is very reassuring how many messages of support we have had from the local community.

Most importantly, we want to assure you that people who have requested to have their shares refunded are getting their money back in full.

Thank you!

We’d like to thank you all again for sticking with us in our continuing campaign to safeguard the long-term future of The White Horse for the benefit of the community.