TWYFORD Parish Council says it is exploring every possible avenue to save The Bugle Inn from developers' clutches.

Locals were horrified when the popular pub in Park Lane was closed after being sold off at the end of July.

It is likely that the new owners will try to develop housing on the site.

The parish clerk's first line of investigation has involved exploring the widely-held belief that four spaces in the Bugle car park were given for general village use when Smith's grocery shop was demolished in the 1960s.

However, after appealing for any local people with information to come forward, Vivienne Brooks now believes no legal agreement was ever made.

She said: "We have had lots and lots of people come forward and I have gone back through all the council minutes but I have come to the conclusion that it was a gentleman's agreement. It is my feeling that it was just an accepted practice but was never legally transferred to anybody."

Mrs Brooks has managed to track down the daughter of the shopkeeper, who lives in Devon, and is planning to write to her to see if any more light can be shed on the situation.

Meanwhile, she has contacted the enforcement officer at Winchester City Council to inform him that a 6ft fence has been erected around the pub, next to the highway and that items have been removed from the building, which is within a conservation area.

Mrs Brooks thought this could contravene strict planning laws on buildings in conservation areas.

A city council spokesman said: "Our enforcement officer has been along to the Bugle. The company that owns it has boarded the windows up and put a security fence around the site. That's not against planning constraints because it's there for security purposes and there is a need to protect the building."

The Bugle Inn was just one of two pubs left in the village after the Dolphin Inn was converted into housing several years ago.

The Bugle has been bought by the Inntown Pub and Property Company.

It is the same firm that bought The Prince of Wales pub in Hyde Street, Winchester, last year.

It has been sealed up ever since and is now the subject of a planning application to turn it into flats.

Meanwhile, villagers have formed Save the Bugle Action Group to campaign for the pub to be saved.