Middle Barton community relaunches campaign to save beloved 200-year-old village pub

The Grade II-listed Fox Inn was closed in June 2023, when the owner placed it on the market for £495,900.

Despite the efforts of the villagers who have been campaigning and fundraising for the past two years, it has remained closed.

The ‘Save Our Fox’ campaign was able to raise £125,000 and gained support from local celebrity and former EastEnders actor Tamzin Outhwaite.

However, the government funds that the group had applied for were frozen during the general election in 2024.

Now, the group has got back together with fresh plans to purchase the pub and reopen it with a community ownership model.

Richard Brown MBE, who is leading the campaign, said: “The Fox Inn has been closed and empty for over two years now. It is absolutely heartbreaking that such a special building with so much history and fantastic potential has been left to rot like this.

“We know that pubs need to totally reinvent themselves, both in the way they are run and the way they are used. Community pubs have more than a 99 per cent success rate. I believe that our community can ‘Save Our Fox’.”

If successful, the ‘Save Our Fox’ group will purchase the pub from Stonegate, open it as a free house, and also operate a restaurant from the pub.

Working with Crowdfunder.co.uk, they have set their target at £210,000 and are looking for investments of between £100 and £100,000 for the next six weeks.

They are hoping to raise a similar amount through investor loans and raise money by selling merchandise, including t-shirts and bags with the ‘Save Our Fox’ emblem.

Helen Christie, society secretary, explains the opportunity: “Owning Community Shares is not without risk. You may get interest on your investment, but the real return is the knowledge that your investment is working hard for the good of the community every single day.

“We are expecting these shares to move very quickly. It isn’t every day people have a chance to buy a share in a historic Oxfordshire pub and have a say in how it is run.”

For more information about the campaign, visit: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/save-our-fox