A Bicester pub which was doomed to close has been rescued by five locals including a woman who cleaned dishes in the kitchen as a teenager.

Georgia Hodges is among five regulars, including her two parents, who form the Olive Tree Pub Company that has taken over The Plough on North Street after fears it would shut for good.

Arran Hodges, Maxine Hodges, Catherine Wilson, and Jamie Gibbs joined Ms Hodges in picking up the keys for the pub on Friday, January 12, with its final day under the previous owner being the day before.

Ms Hodges, now aged 25, started working at the Plough at the age of 13 as a kitchen porter cleaning dishes before moving to behind the bar and waiting tables.

She then became the assistant manager at age 20 while studying for a degree in psychology before becoming general manager at age 22.

Now she will continue in her general manager role as well as taking on one of three director roles at the pub.

After finding out the pub, where she has celebrated birthdays, graduations and even met her partner, needed new owners she spoke to her mum and dad about the prospect of taking it over.

She said: “I suggested one night that we have a meeting with Greene King, not thinking too much of it.

“I just wanted to know the details and the costs, and before you know it we are having loads of meetings in my mum and dad’s kitchen. Now here we are, we have got the keys!”

The pub will now temporarily close for re-decorating and general maintenance, and is due to reopen on Saturday, January 27.

She said “We are going to put our own touch on it, obviously I have been here quite a few years so I’d like to think I know what drink and food offering people want.

“I have known these people for years, some of them came to my 21st birthday party, which was held here. We celebrated my graduation from university here.

“I also met my partner, who I have just bought a house with, here. He was just coming in with his mates after work.

“It has turned into a family. There are quite a few locals coming in now to help us with the cleaning and painting.

“My mum has always said it’s like a village pub in a town. It’s got a nice community feel and everyone is desperate to get it back to what we all used to know and love.”

Another director at the pub Jamie Gibbs is also taking on a key role of chef patron.

The pub is set to offer a restaurant menu including breakfast and lunch, small plates and snacks behind the bar.

Mr Gibbs has a vast portfolio including Olympic gold medals for the England culinary team of which he is still a team member.

He said: “We recognise that Bicester doesn’t have many modern British eateries.

“It has all the normal things that most towns have like Chinese and Indian which people know and love.

“I’m not saying anything is wrong with that but it doesn’t have somewhere really you can enjoy modern British food.

“We are not going to try and be something Bicester doesn’t need but we want to fill that gap.

“Things like amazing fish and chips on a Friday. We want to have the best burger in Bicester.”

After establishing themselves and gaining a local following, he said the pub will “aim to expand that".

“Eventually we do want to end up with a couple of AA rosettes,” Mr Gibbs said.

He added: “We do want to end up with a small part of our restaurant dedicated to people who like the finer things, and be able to put a really nice restaurant menu on, but we need to go on that journey together.”

Mr Hodges, who has been a regular at the pub for years will also take on a director role and said the team are "super excited" about the new venture.

He said: “We are all super excited about it. We have got a couple of things up our sleeves.

“We want to get it back to good pub grub. We aren’t going to be too pretentious because we don’t think Bicester is ready for that but at the end of the day, it is a pub.

“With Jamie and Georgia involved it's perfect to get people through the door.”