A car smashed into the front of the Bell Inn at Seend earlier this evening causing significant damage.

It is understood that two vehicles were involved in the crash and one hit the side of the pub. 

The damage has occurred just three weeks before the pub and the adjoining car park go under the hammer at an auction in Swindon on Thursday, February 14.

Local residents are hoping the damage to the pub will not hold up the sale of the premises, which have been empty for more than two years.

A Wiltshire Police spokesman said: "We were called just after 6.15pm last night to a two-vehicle collision which occurred outside The Bell Inn at Seend.

"As a result of the collision, one of the vehicles collided with the building causing significant damage. Wiltshire Council have been contacted regarding the damage caused.

"All emergency services attended but no-one was seriously injured."

The vehicle is understood to have come out of Bollands Hill road from Seend Cleeve and ran into the front wall of the disused pub.

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service said they received a call at 6.16pm from the South Western Ambulance Service.

Crews from Devizes and Trowbridge were mobilised to the accident scene, after reports that two people were trapped.

A D&WFRS spokesman from Devizes Fire Station said: "On arrival, the occupants of both vehicles were out and required no assistance from us, so we left the incident in the hands of Trowbridge and returned to station."

Wiltshire Police also attended the accident, which temporarily affected traffic travelling on the A361 between Devizes and Trowbridge while the damaged vehicle was winched away.

A local landmark, the Bell Inn is the only pub on the main road through Seend. It closed in 2016 and never re-opened.

Its owners, Wadworth Brewery in Devizes, are understood to want to redevelop the pub. The company wants to convert it into a house with a garage after all attempts to find a buyer failed.

The pub is being auctioned by Strakers estate agents on February 14 at 7pm at the National Self-Build and Restoration Centre in Swindon with a guide price of £200,000 plus just for the building.

Land adjoining the Bell Inn is being sold separately at the auction with a guide price of £100,000 plus.