End of the fight for Moreton pub

AFTER a eight year, on-off fight with the local authorities, the current owners of The Royal Oak pub (formerlty Paddy McGinty’s) have won their battle to transform it into a house.

Since the pub closed around nin years, the current owners have lived up-stairs and removed the fixtures and fittings from the public areas downstairs. They have continually maintained that it would not be viable as a business, and submitted several planning applications for change of use to a residence.

Thame Town Council has persistantly opposed the conversion of this once very popular pub, stating that a proper marketing exercise had never been carried out to see if it could be run as a going concern again.

In giving its reasons for the approval, the local planning authority, South Oxfordshire District Council, stated that whilst the terms of the policy CF-1 have not been me in full, in as much as the Royal Oak had not been marketed, it was accepted that it is currently not a commercially viable proposition……not capable of reopening as a pub without costly and extensive refurbishment and re-equipping…lost its customer base, not on a through-route so unable to attract passing trade, local population too small to make it sustainable and because the current uncertain economic climate had “depressed confidence in the licensed trade.”