A car smashed through the front of a pub hours before it was set to open for the first time in almost four months.
The owners of the Swan Inn near Ashford in Kent, UK, were woken by a “terrible bang” at about 02:00 BST after a Land Rover crashed into the Grade-II building.
Landlord Ray Perkins told he was “distraught”. “We just don’t know why we had such bad luck.”
The pub was set to reopen following the easing of coronavirus led lockdown in the country.
A 17-year-old male has been arrested on suspicion of drink-driving and using a vehicle without consent.
The teenager and two other 17-year-olds were treated at a hospital for small injuries before being discharged, Kent Police said.
Perkins said that he spent weeks getting the pub ready to reopen and eight hours before they are due to open, and this incident took place.
Landlady Ann Perkins said she heard a horrendous noise and the actual floor in her bedroom dropped.
The couple went downstairs to see the car parked in the pub, with three youths inside and the air thick with “smoke and dust from rubble,” she said.
While the interior of the pub may remain closed for more months, Perkins said the “show must go on” and they have resumed it to customers using marquees in the pub garden.
Perkins said neighbors in the village of Little Chart had given “incredible” support, delivering flowers and helping to clean the bar and glassware.
