Wall demolished after car smashes into side of The Bird in Hand pub, in Earls Colne

The owners of The Bird in Hand, in Coggeshall Road, Earls Colne, have been left to assess the extensive damage after the car smashed through the building and ended up in a ditch.

Edward Killick heard the impact from the garden of a friends house around half a mile away, and headed to the scene to help.

He said: "It sounded like a car going very, very fast at the top of the road followed by two bangs, almost like a firework going off.

"We discussed what it could be before deciding someone could be hurt, so we went to look.

"We found a car in a ditch and three people outside the pub who were completely unharmed and unfazed by the whole thing - we were unsure what had happened.

"The car, a Vauxhall Astra, was in a ditch about 50 meters away, so looked to have bounced off the pub.

"We arrived before the police and hung around to speak to them to see if anything else had happened."

The crash took place at around 1am on Saturday, with the occupants of the car escaping injury.

The wall has been boarded up and the pub remains closed while repairs are carried out.

An Essex Police spokesman said: "We were called to a road traffic collision in Coggeshall Road, Earls Colne, at around 1.30am on Saturday.

"A car had left the road and been in collision with a building.

"No-one was injured and the driver and owner of the building have exchanged details."