A LANDLADY believes workmen could have uncovered a smuggling tunnel under her near 300-year-old pub.

Fiona Kempa, boss of The New Sussex Hotel in South Street, Lancing, made the mysterious discovery after carrying out some building work outside the men’s toilets.

Workmen first came across a previously undiscovered six-foot tall flowerbed, which they then dug up.

When they kept digging, however, they found the well-type structure descending deep into the ground.

Mrs Kempa said: “I think it’s too close to the sea to be a well, but we just don’t know.

“We’ve excavated it to about 15 feet but we haven’t gone any deeper yet.

“We always make sure whoever goes down is attached to a rope because we just have no idea how deep it goes.

“I happened to have two architects come round for something else and one told me it was a well and another said it definitely wasn’t a well – so we’re still not sure.” Mrs Kempa and her husband Andy retrieved various items from the structure, including old tin cans, bottles and what appear to be plates. The building, which dates back to the 1730s, has been a pub for hundreds of years.

Mrs Kempa said: “Somebody said it could have been a smugglers’ salt cupboard, where people would keep meat and so on, or it could be a smugglers’ tunnel that connects to other buildings near here. But we just don’t know.

“We only took over the pub in November but we’ve spoken to the previous owner, who was here for five years, and he didn’t have a clue.

“We’re going to put a light down there and then a box on the side, so people who come to the pub can throw money down there for charity and then every so often we will collect it and donate it to whomever we’re collecting money for.”

Coastal towns in and around Lancing, particularly Worthing, have a strong history of smuggling.

The trade began in around 1300 during the reign of Edward I, when a customs duty was placed on the export of wool.

• Smuggling tunnels reportedly under pubs

The Druids Head in Brighton Place, Brighton, was associated with wool, silk and liquor smuggling in the 18th century.

Some reports suggest a tunnel used to run from its cellars down to the beach, while a second tunnel ran to the Royal Pavilion. Other pubs with smugglers’ tunnels included the now-demolished Globe, in Edward Street, which boasted a bricked-up passage which led to the aquarium and the Old Ship Hotel.

The hotel, which dates back to 1559, has cellars that connect to smuggling tunnels and a subsequent network of passages leading to other areas of the city, including the Royal Pavilion. There are more than 70 passageways under Brighton and Hove which were accessed via the river running below ground at Pool Valley.