The Mystery of the Crooked House Fire

[pellinore]

Just days after the historic Crooked House pub was bought by new owners, it caught fire. The fire brigade, when they attended, couldn't fight the fire as the access roads were blocked by mounds of earth. A day later, the building was razed by a digger. The digger had been bought a week before the fire. Could the new owners have had a premonition that disaster would strike the pub?

For nearly two centuries, The Crooked House pub has delighted tourists and locals alike with its slanted walls and optical illusions, entertaining visitors as marbles and pennies rolled up its walls.

It now lies in rubble and ruin following a devastating fire that tore through the property on Saturday evening. Two days later, its new owners brought in diggers to demolish the entirety of the charred remains of the historic pub, without permission from the local council.

Crooked House pub fire: Everything we know as arson probe launched | The Independent

[pellinore]

Now idiots are selling the bricks, meaning it cannot be rebuilt:Bricks from demolished Crooked House pub being sold on Facebook for £50 by 'vultures' (msn.com)

[Inn Spectre]

13 minutes ago, pellinore said:

Now idiots are selling the bricks

Thanks for the heads-up. Do the bricks come with a certificate of provenance?

[itsnotoutthere]

Is the developer hoping to build houses....we have got a housing crisis after all, people aren't going to the pup as much these days....have you seen how much a pint is these day....extortionate. probably for the best.

Edited August 14, 2023 by itsnotoutthere

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

“Mystery” …. Yes. 
Totes a mystery. It was a Deen Brothers Job* 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*to elucidate, the Deen Brothers are notorious in Queensland for midnight demolitions of “not quite just yet, but will be, heritage listed” buildings.

[pellinore]

2 hours ago, Inn Spectre said:

Thanks for the heads-up. Do the bricks come with a certificate of provenance?

Not a certificate, but older bricks are of different appearance, sometimes unique to individual buildings if they come from small local brickworks.

This museum specializes in rebuilding, but they need to retain as much of the original material as they can:

“But Woodside was built in 1894 so you will get bricks and stonework that have deteriorated and are structurally no good. Sometimes, you can substitute a brick from an inner part of the building, or we have to get stonemasons to replicate things. Particularly if it’s sandstone, which is quite porous, it is susceptible to rain and frost and cracking, and inevitably you end up having to replace it, it’s unavoidable.”

Crooked House rebuild would be ‘very complicated and costly endeavour’ | UK news | The Guardian

Edited August 14, 2023 by pellinore

[acute]

This is the word on the street.

(To be specific... Wikipedia Street)

"The sale of the pub was completed on 27 July 2023, with neither the purchase price nor buyer disclosed, although it was reported that the building was sold "for alternative use" and was unlikely to reopen as a pub.

A report by the Guardian on 8 August stated that the building and land had been purchased by ATE Farms, a property firm with the same registered address in Bedworth, Warwickshire as the quarry and landfill business adjacent to the pub."

[L.A.T.1961]

The new owners obviously don't have much love for the place.

The Black Country Museum have moved and rebuilt buildings and putting the pub there would open it up to many more visitors. 

https://bclm.com/explore/

[pellinore]

4 hours ago, L.A.T.1961 said:

The new owners obviously don't have much love for the place.

The Black Country Museum have moved and rebuilt buildings and putting the pub there would open it up to many more visitors. 

https://bclm.com/explore/

It may yet be rebuilt, either where it was or a museum:Building experts survey materials which might be salvageable to rebuild Hurst Green's historic pub Punch Bowl Inn (msn.com)

Edit: Oops, this is another historic pub which was demolished.

Edited August 14, 2023 by pellinore

[Eldorado]

The owners of a Black Country pub which was gutted by fire and then demolished two days later experienced another huge fire on land they owned.

The cause of a previous blaze at Finmere landfill, Buckinghamshire, in August 2018 was never established.

---

Staffordshire Police confirmed last Wednesday the blaze was being treated as arson.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-66514759

Edited August 16, 2023 by Eldorado

[pellinore]

14 hours ago, Eldorado said:

The owners of a Black Country pub which was gutted by fire and then demolished two days later experienced another huge fire on land they owned.

The cause of a previous blaze at Finmere landfill, Buckinghamshire, in August 2018 was never established.

---

Staffordshire Police confirmed last Wednesday the blaze was being treated as arson.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-66514759

The developers are bare-faced vandals. Though if events like the great Covid thefts are any guide, when billions of tax payers money was stolen by Tory donors and friends, they will probably end up with Peerages.

Edited August 16, 2023 by pellinore

[pellinore]

Inside the pub before the fire:

 

[pellinore]

Suspected arsonists arrested. I wonder what their motive was (they are not the property developers)?

Crooked House: Two arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life after fire at Britain's 'wonkiest' pub | UK News | Sky News

[Cho Jinn]

But can we throw the bricks through the local CVS' windows, for justice?

[+Razman]

Sounds like an insurance scam , i mean ,  thing.

Edited August 26, 2023 by razman

[Still Waters]

A "padlocking ceremony" has taken place at the site of the Crooked House pub in the Black Country.

It was well-known for its "wonky" appearance before it set alight on 5 August and was then demolished less than 48 hours later.

The Save the Crooked House campaign group said it had talked to contractors who agreed to secure the bricks from the building.

The group said it wanted the pub to be rebuilt and "rise from the ashes".

Paul Turner, its leader, said about 200 people turned up for the ceremony and to see padlocks put on the containers.

One of the keys to the padlocks would be kept by the contractors and the other by the campaign group itself, to ensure their safety, he said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-66685310

On 8/24/2023 at 8:38 PM, pellinore said:

Suspected arsonists arrested. I wonder what their motive was (they are not the property developers)?

Crooked House: Two arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life after fire at Britain's 'wonkiest' pub | UK News | Sky News

Two released on bail in pub arson probe

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-66619509

[Still Waters]

Related:

A model maker has built three miniature versions of the Crooked House pub to tell the story of its heyday, fire and demolition.

The Crooked House, in Himley, near Dudley, once known as "Britain's wonkiest pub", caught fire on 5 August and was demolished days later.

Ian Young, from Dudley, said he wanted to make something to "remind" him of the site.

Five men and one woman remain on bail in connection with the fire.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-67246390

[Myles]

On 8/14/2023 at 3:06 AM, pellinore said:

Now idiots are selling the bricks, meaning it cannot be rebuilt:Bricks from demolished Crooked House pub being sold on Facebook for £50 by 'vultures' (msn.com)

I wouldn't call them idiots.  It's better to let the public have mementoes than to have them end up in a landfill. 

[Still Waters]

Owners who demolished Crooked House pub after fire ordered to rebuild it

ATE Farms issued with enforcement notice for unlawful demolition and told to build it back to ‘what it was before the fire’

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/feb/27/owners-who-demolished-crooked-house-pub-after-fire-ordered-to-rebuild-it

[pellinore]

38 minutes ago, Still Waters said:

Owners who demolished Crooked House pub after fire ordered to rebuild it

ATE Farms issued with enforcement notice for unlawful demolition and told to build it back to ‘what it was before the fire’

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/feb/27/owners-who-demolished-crooked-house-pub-after-fire-ordered-to-rebuild-it

Let's hope they actually do rebuild it.

[OpenMindedSceptic]

Rebuild the Crooked House? I've been there maybe 8 or 9 times, there's no way to rebuild it, it was crooked due to land subsidence with the mines in the area, the whole building was at odd angles.... how do you rebuild that and retain the character and charm? 

[Duke Wellington]

22 hours ago, OpenMindedSceptic said:

Rebuild the Crooked House? I've been there maybe 8 or 9 times, there's no way to rebuild it, it was crooked due to land subsidence with the mines in the area, the whole building was at odd angles.... how do you rebuild that and retain the character and charm? 

Didn`t they have something like that at Alton Towers.

Disorientating.

[OpenMindedSceptic]

1 hour ago, Electric Scooter said:

Didn`t they have something like that at Alton Towers.

Disorientating.

I got very disorientated at the crooked house in the Black Country but that was alcohol induced

[pellinore]

The owners of the Crooked House pub in Himley have appealed against an order to rebuild the 18th-century building, which was demolished days after a fire last year.

The blaze on 5 August, which is being treated by police as arson, and the subsequent demolition of the famously wonky Staffordshire pub prompted a national outcry.

The fire broke out just nine days after the pub was bought by ATE Farms Ltd. An enforcement notice to rebuild was issued last month to the company, as well as to its director George Adam Taylor and former director Carly Taylor, who stepped down in December.

Owners of Crooked House pub appeal against order to rebuild (msn.com)

Edited March 27 by pellinore

[Still Waters]

The owners of the former Crooked House pub, which was demolished after a suspected arson attack, have put forward a plan to rebuild it on a different site.

ATE Farms Ltd, the company that owned what was known as “Britain’s wonkiest inn”, has said that rebuilding the pub in the same spot would “not provide a sustainable community facility”.

The owners were ordered to rebuild it by South Staffordshire council in February.

ATE Farms said in appeal documents that it had a “genuine and practical” solution to rebuilding the Crooked House on a nearby plot of land also owned by the company.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/apr/15/owners-of-demolished-crooked-house-pub-propose-rebuilding-it-on-new-site