A PUB that has been shut since 2013 will be reopened by a chain that already operates in Oxford after the city council gave the go-ahead.

The Holly Bush, in Bridge Street, Osney Island, will reopen in July.

It will be Charles Wells Limited’s second pub in Oxford, after Oxford Blue in Marston Street, East Oxford.

The Bedford-based company said its ‘Pizza, Pots & Pints’ brand was being lapped up by visitors to its first Oxford site.

Other sites are being operated in Hitchin and Cambridge under the same banner.

The city council’s licensing and gambling acts casework sub-committee gave the proposal permission on Tuesday.

They heard 40 people were opposed to the plan, worrying it could disrupt the Island’s atmosphere.

But four people had written into support the plan.

It will be able to stay open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays and until 11.30pm on every other day.

It will also open at 10am, seven days a week.

City councillor Susanna Pressel said she had campaigned for the pub’s reopening but had some reservations when opening hours were first proposed.

She said: “The new owners of the Holly Bush clearly want to be good neighbours and they have listened carefully to the views of the local residents.

“The hours are now fine and so are the noise conditions.”

The pub will also be able to sell drinks on New Year’s Eve and May Day until 5am.

In a statement given to the city council as part of an application form, Charles Wells stated: “Charles Wells is a family-owned business which has been brewing and operating pubs since 1876, pubs and beer are therefore our passion.

“This site will be operated in the same style as our other ‘Pizza, Pots & Pints' sites, which are in similar heavily residential areas.

“Community relationships and charitable support is a core pillar of our operating style, and the pub will welcome families and all sections of the community.”

The company statement continues: “By way of background information, our venues have a central food offering which accounts for between 30 per cent and 40 per cent of the weekly taking, seeling artisan pizzas and comfort food created in house by our talented chefs.”

The Holly Bush was previously owned by brewery giant Greene King.

Plans to convert the building into housing were rejected by the city council in 2017.

The pub first closed in 2013. It was then used as a shisha lounge until July 2015, when the council rejected a retrospective planning application that would have allowed it to continue.