Barley pub fully functional eight months after car crashes through wall

A village pub is set to be fully functional again eight months after a car crashed through its wall.

The renovated section of the Fox and Hounds pub on Barley High Street in Barley is set to open next week, eight months after a man was fatally injured driving his car through the wall.

On August 20 last year, five fire engines and the Herts Air Ambulance were called when a man drove his car through the exterior wall of the pub, before coming to a stop against the interior kitchen wall.

The 64-year-old driver, Roger Isted from Harston, died in Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge on October 12.

Pub landlord Adrian Parkes said: “It was a one in a million chance that it happened and it’s tragic that the gentleman that crashed into the pub died weeks later. There were customers in the pub at the time but no one inside was hurt.

“It was a difficult period. We were shut for a few days and then we have been sorting the pub out since August. I think some people thought the kitchen wasn’t open but it was, so we lost a bit of trade from that.

“It is a huge relief to be fully functional again and for everything to get back to normal. We have had to go without a children’s play area but we have got a new one in place now.

“We now want to move forward and cater for more people now that all the restoration is complete.”