PUB regulars are furious their favourite watering hole has been handed to Tesco.

The lease of the Fitzharris Arms in Abingdon has been sold for a Tesco Express store by brewer Greene King.

The Thornhill Walk pub, open since the 1950s, will shut in the next two weeks and Tesco will open within the existing building, creating 20 jobs.

It follows similar plans for two Oxford pubs.

Tracey Wheatley, 46, of Finmore Close, said: “I think this is absolutely disgusting. Tesco are simply taking away a community facility. The people who drink here are shocked, upset and angry.

“My whole family meets here on a Tuesday and now we will have to find somewhere else.

“Elderly people rely on the pub, it gets them out of their houses and they can get a meal. They will suffer the most.”

Ms Wheatley’s partner, Jeff Samways, 59, of Finmore Close, who has multiple sclerosis and uses a wheelchair, added: “The access is good here and I think it will be a sad loss for the community.”

Tim Harris, 79, also from Finmore Close, said: “I have been coming here for about nine years and when the pub goes it will definitely affect my quality of life. I don’t want a supermarket, I want a pub nearby that I can go to.”

Drinkers are now faced with a trip to the Spread Eagle in Northcourt Road or the Boundary House in Oxford Road.

Fitzharris barmaid Laura Milligan said: “It’s sad that it’s going after all these years. The pub has been struggling a little bit and it’s even quieter now that the news has come through.

“After Christmas I will be job- hunting and I might have to look for a job at Tesco.”

Greene King spokesman Matt Ware said: “The Fitzharris no longer fits within our pub estate.

“We are sorry that the customers are disappointed, and we would like to assure them that we are very much committed to the local community, which shows in our recent major investment at the Boundary House nearby.”

The changeover did not need planning permission from Vale of White Horse District Council because it is not making changes to the outside of the building.

Kathleen Croydon and Kieran Watts, duty managers at the pub since July, declined to comment.

Tesco spokesman Melanie Chiswell said: “It’s very early days in terms of us having just acquired the pub so we can’t say yet when the new store would open.”

As reported in the Oxford Mail, Tesco is trying to get planning permission for an Express store on the site of the gutted Fox and Hounds pub in Abingdon Road, Oxford. A previous application was rejected by city councillors.

And Tesco last month launched an appeal against a city council decision to refuse permission for another Express at the boarded-up Friar pub in Old Marston Road, Marston.

Tony Goulding, a spokesman for Oxford Campaign for Real Ale, said: “With the Fitzharris Arms, Tesco have come along with a wad of money and tempted Greene King to part with it.”