A COUNTRY pub near Oswestry that had two porches wiped out by a tractor and its trailer is open for business as usual, bosses have said.

Brent Ellis, from the Navigation Inn, in Maesbury Marsh, was speaking after his pub porches – which sat close to Main Road, in the village, were completely destroyed by the passing farm vehicle.

He said the incident – the first it has happened in his 20-year tenure at the pub – has left a lot of damage but he insisted the pub will be sticking to the usual opening hours.

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“We will be opening as usual but we will be trying to expedite the repairs being carried out and solution is found,” said Brent.

“You can access the pub but it’s going to be a bit tougher because it’s a step down and we don’t have a rail.

The Navigation Inn pub near Oswestry as it should look with two complete porches.The Navigation Inn pub near Oswestry as it should look with two complete porches. (Image: navigation Inn.)

“We’re waiting for the insurers to come and evaluate it meaning we can then start thinking about long and short-term solutions.”

Brent said the timing of the event was significant in more ways than one, as it happened during what could be taken as ‘rush hour’ in the village, close to the pub’s opening times of 6pm.

But it also came after he had just said to a passing boater that in 20 years of being at the pub, no-one had ever struck the building…until then.

And he added that he was left a relieved man following the incident because he could have easily been at the front of the pub where it happened and that he, or others, could have been hurt.

Brent added: “My main emotions are relief and shock – I’d stopped to talk to someone passing on the canal on a boat and I said that in 20 years we’d not had anyone hit us.

“I heard the loud bang and then someone else said the pub had bit by a tractor and its trailer.

“It was an incredible near miss and not just for me, but if there was someone on the pavement or a car was coming, then they would have been hit.

“My relief was that no one was hurt.

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“We celebrated 20 years of running the pub on June 7, where we didn’t get hit but we’re into the next 20 years with one hit already.

“But we continue to do what we do at the Navigation Inn which is smile and be positive.”

Opening hours for the pub are Monday-Wednesday closed, 6-10pm on Thursday, 12-2pm and 6-10pm on Friday and Saturday and 12-6pm on Sunday.