ABOVE: Browse our gallery of all 15 pubs in Oxford which have closed since 2010

MORE Oxfordshire pubs could be lost to housing, it has been warned, after 135 closed across the county in less than a decade.

New figures obtained by the Oxford Mail from the Office for National Statistics show the number of licensed premises has declined dramatically across the county since 2010.

The steepest drop came in South Oxfordshire where, despite still being the district with the largest number of pubs, 45 have closed in eight years.

Oxford Mail:

The former Somerset pub in Marston which locals are campaigning to reopen.

MARSTON: 'The impact of losing a pub is massive'

In Oxford city, 15 pubs have shut their doors, leaving large swathes of the outer reaches of the city without a pub for the first time.

Landlords and campaigners have said the figures show the need to take urgent action to protect remaining pubs and support plans to re-open closed locals before they are lost for good.

Steve Lawrence, the secretary of Oxford CAMRA, blamed large pub chains for the closures.

Oxford Mail:

In Florence Park, a team of pub lovers rescued The Jolly Postboys from closure and turned it around.

JOLLY POSTBOYS: 'It was a dive, so we turned it around ourselves'

He said: “These are essentially just property companies with no real interest in pubs or beer.

“Especially in Oxford, once they can see a better return from selling off or developing they are quite happy to run the pub down and then close it.

“There are plenty of chartered surveyors available to half-heartedly attempt to market it and then show it is not viable, and their attitude is there is always another pub round the corner.”

Oxford Mail:

The former Nuffield Arms on Littlemore Road, Cowley - now a Co-op

WITNEY: The microbrewery opening in a charity shop

He also called on councils to block attempts to change the use of a pub building and stop them being turned into shops or housing.

Oxford-based beer writer Dave Richardson said while the city centre retained its ‘vibrant scene’, more suburban areas such as Cowley, Marston and Botley had been struck hardest by the closures.

He said: “It may feel like pubs have had a renaissance recently but we are still very concerned about closures.

Oxford Mail:

The Red Lion pub at Northmoor was taken over by a team of regulars and made it into the Good Beer Guide.

COMMUNITY PUBS: How locals are saving their locals from closure

“There are many factors at play, particularly the low cost of alcohol in a supermarket and high beer duty, but we have seen even successful pubs sold and then run into the ground and turned into something else.

“In doing so, the centre is ripped right out of a community.”