ANOTHER famous old village pub looks set to be lost forever after plans to turn it into a veterinary practice were approved..

Brakspear and Sons Ltd submitted plans in May 2021 to turn the former Reformation pub in Gallowstree Common near Reading into a vets surgery.

South Oxfordshire District Council (SODC) planning committee voted by six to four with one abstention for the conversion which includes two detached family homes in the grounds.

Brakspear believes "by delivering new homes and a local facility to serve the community the scheme also conforms to the requirement for new development to be ‘appropriate to the economic and environmental wellbeing of the area."

The pub closed in November 2018.

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Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) objected to the plans and said: "The Reformation has been a much-loved pub in the Chilterns for many years and the centre of village life in Gallowstree Common until very recently. Apart from the Cricket Club, there are no community facilities in the village - not even a church, so the village pub is a vital community asset."

Thames Tap property forum website included comments made by Roger Penfold, clerk of Kidmore End Parish Council.

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He spoke on the loss of the village's only pub and said "Gallowstree Common now has very little community infrastructure, just a recreation ground and some allotments.

“When I was appointed as clerk of the parish council there was much more. A chapel, a pub, a shop, a garage and a bus service spring to mind. Now it’s basically a dormitory to which has already been added 13 units of housing over the last 10 years.

“My council suggests this is not sustainable in these times, to add further family homes in this village.

“But despite this the pub has proved unviable and closed before Covid arrived.”

What do you think of the plans?