Chinese restaurant Royal Phoenix reopens 2 months after Oswaldtwistle hit and run smash in Union Road
A Chinese restaurant has reopened two months after a hit and run driver smashed into the building.
The Royal Phoenix in Union Road, Oswaldtwistle welcomed customers back yesterday after major repairs were completed following the crash in August.
Posting on Facebook, owner San Tse said: “The day has finally arrived! We are back open today! Can't wait to see you all with all our favourite dishes!!”
She had been left with no choice but to close her restaurant after a Ford Fiesta ploughed through the front of the restaurant in the early hours of August 13, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.
No one was injured in the crash, which saw the driver and passenger flee the scene. The pair later handed themselves into the police.
Video footage from inside the restaurant captured the moment the car smashed through the wall, causing extensive damage to the restaurant.
Restaurant owner San Tse and her family live above the restaurant and were awakened by a “massive bang” from downstairs.
She said: “It was very scary. We rushed downstairs to see what had happened.
“It has been extremely stressful time for us and we were so shook up. It has been an absolutely awful experience. The car had crashed through the metal fence and through the front of the building.”
Incredibly, it’s not the first time the restaurant, which opened in 1990, has been damaged by a car. The Royal Phoenix - which is situated next to a mini-roundabout - was also struck in 2011 and in 2019.
The restaurant was named as a finalist in the Chinese Restaurant of the Year category at the 2024 English Restaurant Awards.
A spokesperson for Lancashire Police said: “This was a damage-only collision which happened in the early hours of yesterday morning and while it is true the driver initially left the scene, they presented themselves soon after at the police station and have been spoken to.”