A LORRY driver who deliberately drove into a pub may have called time on the landlord's business.

The driver ploughed his vehicle into the wall of the Sportsman in Twydall, Gillingham. He is thought to have had a row with some men in another pub on Sunday night and had followed them to the Sportsman.

Surveyors have estimated the damage at between £19,000 and £26,000 after the lorry drove right into the sports bar area.

Landlord Simon Bell said: "The damage was enormous, because he managed to hit a supporting pillar. The whole structure is going to have to come down and be rebuilt, which is going to cost thousands.

"I don't know what is going to happen to the pub. The brewery may lose patience with it because of all the trouble and aggravation down here.

"We have worked so hard to try to turn things around here, and now it could all be for nothing. We've turfed out all the drug dealers, but this has come as a slap in the face."

Mr Bell, who lives in the pub with his wife, Claire, and 18-month-old son, said they stand to lose most of his £15,000 investment if the brewery scraps the pub.

"Not only would we lose most of the money we have put into the pub, but we would be jobless and homeless, too.

"We saw the man who did it the following morning. He'd obviously come back to inspect the damage he had caused. But he shot off the second he saw my wife."

Police have not yet charged anyone following the incident.

Anyone with information should call Medway Police on 01634 884252.