COMMUNITY pubs shared success stories and tips to survive before planning how to better work together at the inaugural meeting of a new network.

Punters gathered in the Abingdon Arms in Beckley on Monday night, one of eight pubs in the county that have been transformed by community ownership in recent years.

The new Oxfordshire Community Pubs Network has been set up to share experiences and pool resources in areas such as marketing.

Enthusiastic participants even hatched a plan to have their own beer brewed to sell across the network which also includes The Red Lion in Northmoor, the Seven Stars in Marsh Baldon and the White Hart in Wolvercote.

Campaigners who are currently seeking to reopen their much-loved locals were also in attendance and Tristram Kendall, of the Save the Crown campaign in South Moreton, said the formation of the new network would greatly benefit their cause.

He added: "It is great to hear other peoples' success stories about how it can be done.

"We also want to offer our help to other people who may be thinking of going through it.

"We have been trying to do this for nearly three years and have been to court and back and if we can give any advice, we'd be happy to. Things like this can only strengthen our cause."

Mr Kendall reported that the pub now has 112 shareholders signed up and hope to meet their fundraising target soon.

Susannah Wilson, one of a group seeking to save the Somerset pub in Marston campaign, said they had come away inspired to build on their campaign, which is supported by 700 people, and try to reopen the pub which could be 'transformative' for the area.

The co-organiser of the new network Mike Hobbs, who also chairs the community benefit society that is in charge of the Abingdon Arms, said the network was a chance to formalise the support the pubs already lend to each other.

He added: "These pubs are an expression of the strength of a community, that's one of the reasons why they're working.

"So the idea of a community of community run pubs is a very natural development.

"I know ten times more people in this village and surrounding villages than I knew before, it has brought people together.

"We have lost our shops and transport, so our community really needs something like this.

"The pub is more joyous and functions better than it has done in years."

Oxford CAMRA spokesman Dave Richardson said saving traditional pubs from closure is 'at the heart' of the organisation's focus and welcomed the rise of the community-owned pub across Oxfordshire.

He said the model, without any ties to a chain or brewery, helps to free up the pub to make its own decisions about what to serve and how to run itself.