What remains of Britain’s wonkiest pub makes for a pitiful sight.
Vandals have smashed their way through barriers to get into the rubble of The Crooked House, leaving it insecure a few days before the second anniversary of its destruction.
A children’s play area with a yellow slide is still intact at the 260-year-old site and kegs of beer are visible in a cellar amid the rubble in Himley, near Dudley in the Black Country.
A huge mound of bricks and other rubble from the demolition faces the three sturdy buttresses that propped up the distinctive sloping facade of the 18th Century building.
Smashed glass and tiling lie everywhere in the footprint of the cherished and historically significant pub and grounds, which is tucked away by a flowing stream amid a sedate green backdrop.
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The scenes greeted the Metro as we met one of the campaigners — a former customer — who is determined to return the unlawfully destroyed premises to its former glory.
Ian Sandall said: ‘You see this site as it is now and you compare it to what you knew as a kid and growing up as a young adult coming in and getting that buzz at the pub.
‘But the emotion is very different — it’s despair, it’s heartbreaking.
‘When I saw the videos of the pub on fire and this digger randomly hacking away at it, I did feel grief, it was a stab to the heart.
‘Standing here now, it’s just compounded that tenfold because it looks like nobody cares, nobody gives a damn.
‘However, we have a community campaigning for it, we have a campaign team, and we are really pushing for this pub to be rebuilt.’
Any resurrection of the pub will also have to consider the wider area.
Mounds of trash have been fly-tipped by the van-load on the long rural lane leading to and from the ruins.
A new gate blocking off the route at the junction with the main road, where the pub’s sign is still in place, was being installed yesterday.
However, immediately around the footprint, where wooden seating areas remain, metal barriers have been smashed down or lifted apart.
Evidence of drinking and substance abuse was evident on the site, where the above-ground structure that remains is in danger of collapsing.
Mr Sandall, a local councillor in Sedgley, Dudley, whose dad also visited the pub when it was open, nevertheless envisages a revival for The Crooked House, which was burnt down in a suspected arson attack just days after being sold to a private buyer.
‘We are really pushing for this pub to be rebuilt, because it is part of our Black Country DNA,’ he said.
‘There was first a farmhouse here in 1765, pre-dating the establishment of America. The house and then the pub saw the world change beyond belief since the first brick was laid.
‘We live in a different age and different time and this pub has been here as a stalwart all the way through that.
‘There ain’t a person in the Black Country that doesn’t know this pub, there isn’t a person who doesn’t know anybody who hasn’t visited it.
‘I’ve been myself, my friends have, my family have.
‘It’s ingrained in our DNA and it’s got to rise from the ashes.
‘It’s got to come back.’
What was Britain’s wonkiest pub?
Originally built as a farmhouse in 1765, the building’s early years came at a time when George III was on the throne.
In around 1830, it was converted into a pub named The Glynne Arms after local landowner Sir Stephen Glynne.
The ‘crooked’ tag goes back to the 19th Century, when mining work in the area caused the building to lean about 15 degrees.
The ‘wonkiness’ won the pub a place in national affections and at one point threatened the structural integrity of the building, until the buttresses were strengthened.The pub shut in July 2023 after it was sold by Marstons to a private buyer.
The former Marstons pub caught fire on August 5, 2023 and was left a burnt-out shell before being demolished two days later.
The owners, ATE Farms, were served an enforcement notice by South Staffordshire Council to rebuild the iconic building to the state it was in before the blaze and ‘unlawful demolition’.
In response, they put forward the ‘genuine and practical solution’ of rebuilding the pub on other land they own.
The owners’ appeal is pending as they are understood to have successfully argued in court that it should not be dealt with before the criminal matter.
Gary Timmins, pub and club campaigns director at the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), said: ‘With the two-year anniversary of the shocking destruction of The Crooked House this summer, it is frustrating that we are no nearer to seeing justice for the iconic wonky pub.
‘The Crooked House needs to be rebuilt brick-by-brick, but we are still waiting on the result of the much-delayed appeal from the owners.’
To mark the second anniversary, CAMRA is taking part in the #ToastToTheCrookedHouse campaign, where pub lovers across the world are being invited to show their support by posting ‘cheers’ selfies online.
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The consumer organisation has also named its bars at the flagship Great British Beer Festival, between August 5 and 9 at the Birmingham NEC, after pubs that have been saved.
‘We truly hope The Crooked House will join that list as soon as possible,’ Mr Timmins said.
‘We continue to call on the government to introduce much stronger protections in the planning system to protect our pubs from conversion or demolition against the wishes of local communities.’
The campaigners view The Crooked House as a watershed case that will set a precedent for other endangered pubs nationwide.
Author Sam Cullen, who writes and researches pubs in London that have been closed, told Metro: ‘What happened to The Crooked House is a reminder to us all to be vigilant about the pubs that we cherish most.
‘Back in 2002 developers moved in to demolish the historic Plough in Enfield, days before English Heritage were planning to visit to potentially list the building, wiping out hundreds of years of history.
‘More recently, The Carlton Tavern was illegally demolished in 2015 but the council held firm and the developers were forced to rebuild the pub.’
Cullen, author of London’s Lost Pubs, added: ‘It’s equally important to reflect on all the pubs that are saved through the work of tireless local campaigning and groups like CAMRA.
‘We should all raise a glass to their efforts to keep pubs that form part of our community fabric alive.’
The loss of the pub has hit a nerve across the country, with a Facebook group entitled Save the Crooked House (Let’s Get it Rebuilt) attracting more than 37,500 members.
The campaign has also had support from people across the world, in keeping with the international visitors who made trips when it was open to see the leaning effect in person.
Staffordshire Police told Metro yesterday that six people arrested in connection with the suspected arson had been released from bail and are ‘released under investigation.’
A spokesperson said: ‘Our investigation is ongoing and a file has been submitted to the CPS.’
Metro has attempted to contact the owners for comment.
Do you have a story you would like to share? Contact josh.layton@metro.co.uk
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