REPAIRS have finally been completed to a Colchester pub which was damaged after it was hit by a bus... more than two years ago.

Queen Street Brewhouse, a Grade II listed building, was badly damaged by a bus scraping past the building in July 2022.

After months of communication the repairs finally went ahead last week.

Andy Skene, owner of Queen Street Brewhouse, said: "The bus ploughed into the sign and the lower part of the 18th century window.

"It ripped the sign off along with its battens which were attached to the rendering on the front of the building thus breaking up a large part of the rendering.

"The bus must have scraped along the window as the sill and part of the lower frame were loose and busted up.

"When I got to the bar the front was all smashed up it was a mess. There were chunks of rendering on the pavement, splintered wood all around."

Andy quickly screwed the sign back up and asked Colchester Council for any CCTV footage it had and found out a First Bus vehicle had hit the building. 

Although he promptly contacted the company he claims it took him weeks to get a response.

Andy said: "About three weeks after the incident I remembered that First Bus have a depot down by the river here in Colchester.

"No attempt was made to contact me. It seems they thought it would just go away."

The repairs the pub needed were reinforcing rods inserted in the exterior wall, window sill replacement, fix all damage on the rendering, window casement and sign, paint the building and furnish a new sign. 

A spokesman from First East of England said: “Whilst we can’t comment on the specifics of an individual claim, the building in question is listed, which meant we were obliged to obtain the advice of specialist experts, and ensure we complied with the requisite regulations, before work could commence.

“Whilst the process has taken longer than we would have liked, we have kept the property owner fully updated.”