Controversial Oxfordshire village pub listed for near £1m

The Horse and Harrow pub in West Hagbourne has been put on the market for £950,000 by Savills, several years after its closure.

Controversially, in April 2024, a planning application for the site was approved by South Oxfordshire District councillors, a decision that came a month after the councillors unanimously went against officers recommendations to approve the conversion.

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As such, the description for its listing states: “Planning granted for the change use of existing public house to provide a three-bed dwelling and a four-bed dwelling as well as the erection of two four-bed dwellings and a five-bed dwelling on the land adjacent.”

After the conversion of the pub was approved in 2024, councillors expressed their sadness at the news.

Ali Gordon-Creed, Green councillor of the Chinnor ward, said: “I feel really sad. We have no choice to get rid of one remaining community building in this village.

South Oxfordshire District Councillor Ali Gordon-Creed (Image: Vale Green Group)

“That is the feedback we’ve had.”

A viability study by estate company Savills from October 2022 found the pub was “unviable” as a business.

It added: “There are better located venues with superior facilities within close proximity.”

After the application to convert the site was initially rejected in March 2024, councillors were given an appeal report and several subsequently changed their minds.

One official said the application now did “actually support the committee in a number of ways”.

He added: “What I did like is I think it only slightly goes in favour of the applicant.

Councillor Ken Arlett (Image: VOWHDC)

“There are 24 conditions – normally a reasonable application might get seven or eight conditions.”

But councillor Ken Arlett, then a Conservative, said: “Nothing really has changed. I understand why it’s come back to us but this hasn’t changed my mind or opinion.

“I think the inspector is wrong and I certainly will not support the officers’ recommendation. I still believe it is a financially viable enterprise if it is run properly.”

Objectors conceded the pub had become an “unwelcome” place.

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A council officer said: “There has been a sharp decline in use of the pub.

“A lot of competition has made it difficult for a pub in a small village.”

Councillor Ed Sadler, of the Chinnor ward, said one thing the appeal report had shed light on was that there was “actually another pub in Upton in walking distance and the community had met there”.

“I think that’s quite telling,” the Liberal Democrat added.