REGULARS have gathered a 1,000-signature petition to save their pub after its landlords received notice to quit the premises to make way for developers.

Landlords Jim Stuart and Sid Powis of the Desborough Arms in Desborough Road, High Wycombe, were shocked when pub management company Pennant Inns told them in May of its plans to sell off the community pub.

Angry regulars claim the plan follows on the heels of sell-offs by other firms which have seen other ex-locals, including The Queen in Victoria Street, closing down in the last six months.

They have already gathered the names of 1,0000 people who want to stop the pub from closing on July 26.

"We are fed up of big businesses with no local ties destroying the community spirit and camaraderie we have built up over the years," fumed Pauline Reeves, who has socialised at the pub for the last four years.

"All this money being spent on the Western Sector and talk about community focus is nonsense if a tightly-knit group of people who really look out for each other are being made go their separate ways.

"Everyone is welcome to just come in and enjoy a drink surrounded by people from all walks of life."

Joseph Flynn, 51, from Chiltern Court, High Wycombe, suffers from Parkinson's Disease and says the pub is one of the only places where he feels safe.

"After 30 years I have come to love the place and the people," he said.

"I can't imagine going anywhere else. They keep my tablets behind the bar and everyone looks after everyone else no matter who they are or where they are from."

Roger Rose, a retired art teacher from Kingsley Crescent, High Wycombe, regularly visits Isaac Lord's ironmongers, next door to the Desborough Arms.

"Being born and having grown up in Wycombe it has been hard to see the destruction of areas known so well," he said.

"If people are happy where they live many other social problems are immediately solved. Wycombe needs to go back and build a heart into the cold place isolating people is not the way to go about it."

Chris Mansfield, Wycombe District Council's town centre manager, said: "The council will look at any proposal on its merits and will always aim to retain the vibrant mix of shops and leisure facilities in a local centre such as Desborough Road."

No planning application has been received by Wycombe District Council although there are concerns among regulars that the pub may be turned into bedsits.

John Crathorne, regional manager for Pennant Inns, yesterday declined to comment on whether the pub had been sold.