A structural investigation is being carried out after a car ploughed into the side of a 300-year-old pub in a village near Dudley today.
Engineers are currently on site assessing damage to The Old Bush pub in Swindon near Dudley, after a black Vauxhall Astra crashed through the side of the building, leaving a large hole in the wall.
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Paramedics were called, but the occupants of the car had left the scene.
Licensee Clare Marsh said the car had entered the building underneath the chimney, and investigators were this morning trying to see if the chimney was now safe.
Part of the road outside the pub has been closed while the work is carried out.
Miss Marsh, 45, was at home in Lower Gornal when the incident happened at 12.50am.
“I got a call from the lad who lives in the flat above the pub, who told me what happened,” she said.
“The car drove in right where the fireplace is, it’s caused a lot of damage. The wood burner is now behind the bar. 
“The pub was hit by a car leaving a very large hole in the pub. Everyone is okay.
“The structural engineers are here now seeing if the chimney is ok. We don’t yet know when we will be able to reopen.”
A spokesman for West Midlands Ambulance Service said:  “We were called to reports of a road traffic collision on High Street, Swindon, Dudley, at 1.03am. An ambulance and paramedic officer were sent to the scene where, on arrival, crews found a car had come off the road and hit a building.
“Following a search of the area, no patients were found.”
Fire crews are also on the scene. 

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