VILLAGERS have launched a community group to push forward plans to save their village pub.
More than 40 residents in Great Oakley turned up to a public meeting on Monday night about the Maybush Inn, in Farm Road, which closed last month.
The five-bedroom pub was up for sale for £295,000.
There are concerns if the building, which is in the village's conservation area, is sold it could be changed into a home or flats, losing its identity.
Mark Godfrey, a regular at the Maybush, told the meeting the results of a public survey had been overwhelmingly in support of saving the pub.
"With all of the people who put suggestions in there was a common theme, it was all about making the pub more of a community pub," he said.
A committee was set up on the night, which hopes to find out if the pub will go back on the market and for how much.
The next public meeting will be held on Monday May 18 at the village hall in Harwich Road at 7.30pm.
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