The last thing you expect when enjoying a drink with friends on a Friday night is to be interrupted by a car driving through the pub. Customers of the Golden Star pub were sent flying along with glass and furniture when a car had lost control and crashed into the front of the pub.
Publican Elizabeth Le Grice had been pulling a couple of pints at the time when she heard a loud crash and looked up to see one of the regulars flying off his stool. She was forced to close the doors on the pub until repairs could be carried out. Surprisingly the crash, which caused extensive damage to the building, left only two customers unscathed.
Onlookers told how they expected people to be killed and badly injured as everyone was screaming and glass and debris was strewn across the property. Fellow pub owner, David Turnbull said: “I just assumed people would be dead. Young girls in the back of the car were screaming and I really thought the car was going to catch fire.”
People looking for a pint over the weekend were greeted with the sign stating, “Due to unforeseen car issues we are closed.” It is good to see the landlady hadn’t lost her humour even after having to temporarily close down her livelihood.
Every day that the pub remained closed Ms Le Grice has been losing money on lost revenue and stock that can’t be used. She said the pub “had lost nearly a week’s takings while it was shut.” Publicans from across the city had rallied round Ms Le Grice to support her in reopening the pub. Phil Cutter, landlord at the Murderers in Timber hill has said it goes without saying that everyone in the licensing trade hopes she can get the pub open soon.
Repairs were carried out over the course of a week in a mad dash of activity to get the pub back open. After replacing a wall, windows, doors and the floor the pub was able to reopen to the delight of many thirsty locals. While all the repairs have been completed, Ms Le Grice is still calculating the final costs of the crash and the claim that will need to be made on her Pub Insurance!
The event goes to show that anything can happen in the pub trade and how publicans need to always be prepared for those unexpected events that always seen to take place at the worst possible times.
