Mercedes crashes into Grade II listed pub near Newmarket

A landlady said she felt "numb" after a car crashed into the side of her village pub.

Suffolk Police said a blue Mercedes hit the wall of the Bell Inn in Kennett, near Newmarket, just before 13:00 BST on Monday.

It said the female driver had minor injuries and the road was closed while the vehicle was recovered.

Landlady Sheena Parsons said the car had gone into a newly-revamped room and "thank goodness we weren't open".

Ms Parsons, who runs the pub with her son and husband, said the "inside-garden room" that the car had crashed into had only just been finished after 12 months of work.

She said they had also just finished being "summer ready" and were looking forward to the Newmarket racing season before the crash happened.

"There could have been somebody sitting at the table and thank God there was no-one walking down the road," she said.

The pub is on the county border with Cambridgeshire, where the village of Kennett becomes Kentford.

Ms Parsons, whose parents used to run the business 30 years ago, said the support she had received from friends, family and her customers had been "overwhelming".

She said the building was Grade II listed so it would be a "specialist job" to get it fixed.

"We're going to endeavour to get the front of the pub up and running again by the end of this week. We're going to try our best, but the dust is absolutely overwhelming - every glass, every bottle - so we need to have a professional cleaning company in," she added.

"We will rebuild it, it'll sort itself out, but how long it'll take, I don't know."

Follow East of England news on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Got a story? Email [email protected] or WhatsApp us on 0800 169 1830