Newly elected Wycombe MP Emma Reynolds has put her support behind a campaign to save the last pub in Loudwater – as locals continue to fight for ownership of the ‘community hub’.

Derehams Inn, on Derehams Lane in Loudwater, just outside High Wycombe, became the subject of an impassioned campaign after new owner Derco Properties Ltd put forward plans to knock it down and build a block of flats in its place last year.

The developer bought it from former owner Graham Sturgess in 2021, who had run Loudwater’s last pub with his wife Maggie since 1998.

Buckinghamshire Council refused the flats proposal last summer – citing the building’s status as an Asset of Community Value among its reasons – but progress has stalled in the months since, despite the now-empty boozer being listed on the market earlier this year.

Lead campaigners Mick Parsons and Richard Smith, who have generated thousands in local pledges towards purchasing it as a community, can now count Wycombe’s first Labour MP Emma Reynolds among their many local champions – a development that, while not game-changing, could reap the benefits of “having friends in high places”.

Emma Reynolds, Mick Parsons and Richard Smith (Image: Emma Reynolds)

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Ms Reynolds, who was elected in July, said she was “keen” to support the initiative and endorse “bringing life back” to the 18th-century structure, describing pubs as “such an important part of our communities”.

Former Tory MP Steve Baker previously worked with Mick and Richard to boost awareness of their cause, highlighting in planning documents the promise made by Derco to Mr Sturgess that the site would continue to be run as a free house – a condition the company failed to meet.

But the owner’s reluctance to communicate with potential buyers about price and the current state of the pub has left the campaign in stasis, with locals keen to save the “community hub” forced to instead play a frustrating “waiting game”.

Mick, 61, chairman of the Derehams Inn Community Group, said: “It’s a real chicken and egg situation – people are willing to help out, but we don’t know how much money we have to raise.

“Other pub groups have put in offers since it went on the market, but they haven’t made progress either. We’d be happy if one of them did take over – we’re willing to run it as a community pub but that’s a last-resort option. We’re fighting to save the Derehams; others are probably more suited to run it.”