Woolpack landlady Barbara Smith wants to see preventative measures after another car crashes into Sopley Brook outside the pub
A landlady called for warning signs after a car plunged into a river outside a 300-year-old Sopley pub in the latest in a spate of such incidents. Coronation Bridge on Ringwood Road was damaged when the silver vehicle struck it before ending up in Sopley Brook below at the weekend. The driver fled the scene.
Police launched an investigation after responding to a call-out just before 7am on Sunday, reporting the abandoned car's discovery.
Barbara Smith, who has run The Woolpack - currently closed due to flood damage - since last December, told the A&T she understood such crashes there were a regular occurrence. "It's really annoying because it's taken out the corner of our beautiful bridge. There are now great big red barriers up around it," she said.
"It's such a shame because it's a beautiful village with a great community. "Apparently, one car landed upside down in the water a few years ago. Back in 2015, there were four incidents in a month."
Barbara commented Sunday's incident could have been worse if the water level in the brook was high as it had been due to heavy rain in January.
Describing the stretch of road by the bridge and the pub as "an awkward T-junction", she believed accidents could be caused by motorists negotiating it too fast.
"Perhaps some signage to warn people on the approach that they do need to stop would be a good idea," Barbara continued. "It almost looks like we're on a roundabout, but we're not. "Thankfully, there's no damage to the brook itself as there are ducks nesting there.
Luckily enough, nothing's been hurt. "It would also be nice if they put in a stronger barrier to stop people damaging the bridge." People expressed their frustration at the latest collision in comments to pictures posted on The Woolpack Sopley's social media.
Some argued action needed to be taken to address the road layout. One person wrote: "They have to make this a one-way system. The lines on the junction are a joke.
Instead of turning right en route from [Christ]church traffic needs to go around the pub to the house on the corner and then turn left.
"Get the planners to sit in the pub garden and watch traffic for an hour on a busy day." But another commented: "Tarmac is not dangerous, it's people's inability to drive to road conditions, that is problematic."
Meanwhile, Barbara was hopeful that The Woolpack would be ready to reopen in about eight weeks following repairs to flood damage.
This, exacerbated by contaminated floodwater, forced its closure in late January. Barbara understood it was the worst flooding villagers had seen in their lifetimes. "We need to get back open - the residents are panicking that they're going to be tea-total if I don't reopen soon," she quipped, adding: "With the post office and shop gone, we really are the hub of the local community.
"It's the simple pleasure of eating and drinking and talking to people.
We have had so much support from the local community." Sopley is listed in the Domesday Book, while The Woolpack dates back to 1725. Barbara, who was born in the New Forest, took it on having returned to the area after running hostelries around London for nearly 30 years.
She was hoping to have prevention measures put in place in order to avoid such catastrophic flooding in the future.
This includes installing flood doors at the pub and having the old drainage system under its floors checked for issues.
Barbara added: "We have three little bridges over the brook to get into the pub. It's a beautiful area, so we are very lucky, as long as the brook stays down and people don't keep crashing their cars into it."
Anyone with information about the crash should contact officers online via hampshire.police.uk or call 101, quoting reference 44260135616.
Crimestoppers can also be contacted via crimestoppers-uk.org or on 0800 555 111.