The residents in Mursley, Milton Keynes, have vowed to keep fighting against the closure of their village pub, The Green Man.

A village staple on Main Street, The Green Man has served the community as a meeting place for more than 60 years.

To the dismay of the residents, it was closed and boarded up in October 2021 – despite residents’ offers to buy the pub, and run it as a community business.

Duncan Jones, Mursley resident and Chairman of the Green Man Community Action Group, said: “We have the financial pledges and support of the whole village for keeping it as a pub and community hub, and money raised early on in the campaign paid for a professional and independent valuation by a Member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors who has undertaken 200 reports on public houses in the last four years. 

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He said: “Our offers were based on his expert recommendations. 

“Rural pubs are closing across the UK at a high level.  There’s been a Green Man pub in one form or another on this site for over 150 years, which makes us even more determined to go on fighting to save our pub for the community.”

Slide the image to see pub before and after it was shut.

Marketing of the pub property as a development opportunity may be misleading, Mr Jones said, because “as an Asset of Community Value, getting a change of use will be particularly difficult, given the strong feelings in the village to keep it as a pub, and the site is not included in the proposed Mursley Neighbourhood Plan as suitable for development.”

Buckingham MP Greg Smith commented the situation: “I will do everything I can to support Mursley residents fighting to save their village pub, The Green Man in Main Street, which has served the local community for more than sixty years.

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“Pubs are the backbone of local communities and hubs, where particularly rural communities, can come together.

 “Since my election I have supported the Long Live the Local campaign and called on the Chancellor to cut beer tax to support pubs in our local communities.

“There are lots of village pubs in Buckinghamshire and they are vital to the local economy as well as having an important role in helping to bring our communities together."