WEST Oxford pub the Osney Arms could be sold by auction at the end of the month.

The pub closed in November, 112 years after it was built, and agent the Cotswold Property Shop is taking offers greater than £400,000 until March 31.

Former landlady Maria Oliver, who still lives above the pub, invested £30,000 in the building in 2009 but closed it due to lack of custom.

Mrs Oliver who has worked at the pub since 1983 said she did not know whether or not it would stay as a pub.

Pub company Greene King sold it in 2005 to Admiral Taverns but she bought it outright in 2006 with her husband Brian, who died four years ago.

Jericho and Osney city councillor Susanna Pressel said: “It would be very sad to lose it as a pub and I know an awful lot of people would feel that way too.

“We are hoping someone will take it over and make a success of it.”

She added: “Whoever takes it over is not certain to get planning permission for a change of use.”

The George Inn in Botley Road shut in May last year and was sold by Greene King to hi-fi retailer Richer Sounds, which opened a store there in the summer.