THE owner of a closed Marston pub that could be transformed into housing has spoken of his shock after racist graffiti was drawn on the building.

Ali Liaqat said he discovered racist language painted across three parts of the Jack Russell pub on Monday, June 22.

It comes after the father-of-one purchased the site last December, hoping to transform the old Salford Road pub into housing.

Mr Liaqat said: “I was obviously shocked that this kind of stuff, in this day and age, in Oxford of all places in the world, still happens. I just couldn’t believe it.

“It’s frustrating to see that these people do exist.”

The Headington resident, who has lived in the city with his family for 33 years, said the former pub site was “almost dying” when he purchased it.

He said it was no longer sustainable as a pub and decided to redevelop the site into social housing.

The city council told him in May he will have to apply for approval to demolish the building.

Residents in Marston then united and launched their Save the Jack Russell Pub campagn hoping to register the building as a community asset and run it as a pub themselves.

Communities can ask councils to register a building as an asset of community value and then have to find funds to buy them from a developer.

The former Marston pub will be listed as a community asset for five years, giving the group the chance to buy it if it goes on the market.

But Mr Liaqat said he has no intention of selling it, branding campaigners “awkward”.

He added: “We are trying to transform the pub building because it’s very old and pretty much damaged.

“We want to replace it with a nice new build, fitting with the area and provide accommodation that is drastically needed in the city.”

Spokesman for the Save the Jack Russell Pub group Martin Smith said: “It’s important that Oxford has more houses. More importantly, they need somewhere to go.

“We have no social activities at all. If you lose your local pub, you lose your connections.”