OXFORD'S branch of the Campaign for Real Ale has called on pubs to be more supportive of local breweries, as it gears up to celebrate the best of the city's pub scene.

The group conducted a survey of 29 city centre pubs and found a lack of locally brewed pints on offer.

Of the 82 ales being served, only 16 were made in Oxfordshire with just seven brewers represented.

Spokesman Dave Richardson said: “The Oxfordshire brewing scene is vibrant with more than 20 breweries around the county ranging from larger organisations including Wychwood and Hook Norton, to micro-breweries such as LoveBeer or Turpin.

“But they are finding it hard to get into local pubs, which is why Oxbrew has opened its own micro-pub in Witney and Church Hanbrewery has opened up in Oxford’s Covered Market.

“We look forward to Oxford Beer Week from 5-12 May when the Brewers Alliance will make a big effort to get pubs to serve local, but in the meantime we urge pubs to give local beers more of a chance.

"We appreciate that many pubs don’t have the freedom to sell what they want and that some local breweries are very small, but there is proven demand.”

CAMRA will recognise local beers at its awards night on February 11, honouring the Little Ox brewery of Freeland which came top in a blind taste test.

Awards will be given to city pub of the year – the Masons Arms - and town and village pub of the year – the Brewery Tap in Abingdon.