CHRISTMAS arrived early at a North Oxford hotel but sadly thieves proved equally quick off the mark.

Readers of The Oxford Times soon alerted us when an unseasonal Christmas promotion appeared outside the Cotswold Lodge Hotel.

With the Banbury Road trees only just in spring blossom, a huge banner was unfurled in front of the hotel last week, urging people to book early for Christmas parties and other events.

But before passers-by could quite come to terms with the thought of Christmas advertising in May, the banner mysteriously vanished.

The Oxford Times photographer, Antony Moore, who had been immediately sent to photograph this strangest of spring sights, was among the first to discover that it disappeared. He returned empty-handed insisting there was no sign of Christmas, leaving us to wonder if Christmas really had arrived early in Banbury Road after all. When The Oxford Times contacted the hotel, even its staff seemed to be unaware that its Christmas promotion had been and gone.

Now it is feared that it may have been taken by someone who simply could not stomach the prospect of turkey and tinsel promotions for the next seven months.

But the hotel is not to be deterred by such a lack of pre-Christmas cheer. This week it already had two replacement 6ft by 3ft banners advertising Christmas parties at the front of the hotel.

Esra Howe, the hotel's business development manager, said: "We will be keeping the new ones under close watch."

Resident Jeannine Alton said: "With people listening out for the first cuckoo it seems distinctly early for Christmas to me."