An out-of-control car came close to demolishing one of Northland's oldest hotels when it skittled all but two of the pillars holding up its first floor verandah.
The bizarre accident occurred about 11.30pm on Thursday when a four-wheel-drive heading south through Kawakawa left the road and smashed through five of the seven steel pillars holding up the Star Hotel's verandah and a first floor room.
That left the balcony of the 1879 pub teetering precariously, supported only by two posts at the far end of the building. The vehicle would have kept going but for a heavy concrete planter in front of the second-to-last pillar.
Firefighters and publican Frank Gardiner scrambled to find a builder who put up temporary supports early yesterday morning. The rest of the building was undamaged, except where flying pillars smashed a window frame and a sign.
Eleanor Gardiner said about ten people were in the pub, mostly in the pokies room, when it was hit. She was playing pool with her daughter from Wellington who thought it was an earthquake.