BOARDED up and left to decay, punters would be forgiven for thinking the last pint had been pulled at The Nag's Head.

Fast-forward four years and the riverside watering hole is preparing for its Spring Beer Festival - the third since owner Dushan Salwathura set his sights on transforming it.

With a sprawling garden and exterior dappled with hanging baskets, the pub looms over Abingdon Bridge with pride.

This weekend it will house hoards of beer lovers who want a taste of London's finest microbreweries.

Mr Salwathura, who bought the pub in 2012 after two years of closure, said: "It's very much a family event. People come to enjoy a few beers but people don't come just for the drinking. There is live music and food - it's very family-friendly."

The festival is the first of three hosted by The Nag's Head every year, prior to its summer and autumn counterparts.

This time beers from London breweries will be on the sampling list, plus its recently-relaunched wine list.

Mr Salwathura, 41, said: "Lots of couples come and for those who don't want a pint of beer we have the option of sampling our new wines.

"For our beers we tend to go very far out to source them, it's all about giving something that's not available for customers every day. We put a lot of effort and time into sourcing this beer."

He had the enviable task of taste-testing the beers and picking out 25 which will be on offer, plus more than 40 wines and 15 ciders.

Customers can pay £16.50 for 10 tokens, which will buy 10 half pints or five pints. For wine-drinkers one token is worth one 100ml glass of wine.

Mr Salwathura said: "It's a big hit because some wines are extremely expensive - we are selling it for hardly any profit."

Beer lovers can guzzle sample sizes of any beer of choice, ticking them off a list and giving staff feedback on which they'd like to drink more of.

Those fancying a smaller tipple can buy single drinks as usual, with prices fixed at £3 for a pint and £1.85 for a half pint.

For Sri Lankan-born Mr Salwathura, the event is a celebration of his achievements since nursing the pub back to life.

Since its reopening it has been hailed as the winner of Oxford CAMRA's best pub prize three years in a row.

Mr Salwathura said: "It's a huge achievement, to go from what used to be one of the worst pubs in the country all boarded-up."

The father-of-two began his career in the pub industry as a kitchen porter in Germany, at the age of 15.

His pint-pulling was put on hold for an exotic digression from his day job, when he flew to Australia aged 30 to work as a gold miner.

In between adventures he worked as a chef before becoming the proud owner of several pubs, including the Broad Face further along Bridge Street.

After three and a half years he sold it back to the brewery - setting his sights on a bigger project.

He said: "The Nag's Head had been boarded up for nearly two years, sat there unwanted. I saw it as a challenge that I would like to step into. It could have been my neck on the line.

"It was extremely difficult but it's all down to hard work - there's no such thing as luck. It was hard work from me and the people who work here."

Mr Salwathura employs two managers, two junior managers, seven chefs including a head chef, three kitchen porters and 16 bar and wait staff - a figure which is set to sky-rocket to 35 over the next few weeks to meet summer demand.

He added: "We have lots of tourists coming in the summer months, as well as our regulars who come on a weekly basis."

The festival will launch on Friday night with live music from Blue Stormers, then Thickcut and Big Boys Blues Band on Saturday and Claire Jones ensemble on Sunday.

Mr Salwathura hoped the sunny weather forecast will ring true, but pledged that "the party will carry on" regardless.