Anyone following the story of the fire and almost immediate demolition of 'Britain's wonkiest pub'?

[SirChenjins]

It's looking a bit suspicious to say the least! Such a shame to see a lovely old building reduced to a pile of bricks.

Apparently that little lane leading up to the Crooked House would provide great access to the landfill next door if it was to be developed. Owned by the same people.
Marstons brewery should also be investigated, how were they allowed to seel off a cultural landmark and tourist attraction for alternative use with no input from the council and other local groups?
As for the people involved in the fire and demolition, they have rattled the wrong cages here - to put it mildly.

Agreed...The vacuous, grinning face on the woman~ They certainly aren't custodians of heritage.

I don't usually like all the trawling if social media and people's backgrounds that goes on nowadays when someone is even remotely connected to an incident. I don't mind with these two though!

I think it's pressing my buttons a bit as there's a local planning issue which has been highly corrupted and this reminds me of it.

I also hope Marston's have some questions put to them.

From my understanding part of it did need to be demolished because it was unsafe. They took the opportunity to take down a few more walls. Not listed. Demolition was via their own contacts, not insurance, so I doubt there is anything to be done.

They didn't want the building. They wanted the land / better access to their own land.

Unless someone comes forward to say they were paid £££ to light a match, the Police have very little to go on.

I bet if they had a GoFundMe to raise money because they are "devastated" the historic local pub had been burnt it would be £££££ by now.

I doubt insurance has much to do with it. Carly Taylor, who bought the pub, won't be able to build there due to the subsidence that gave the pub its character, and the proximity of Adam's, her husband's, landfill business next door. They had been in dispute with Marston's brewery over access to their site before. It's likely that they wanted The Crooked House out of the way so they could expand their crappy tip, although they're thick enough to think they could stick housing on there if they greased the right palms. Doubt anyone local would touch them with a barge pole now.
They are both dodgy anyway and keep swapping directorships of their own companies. Their Companies House listings are interesting reading.

I wonder if that's where the digger came from?

They probably met online

I hope they are made to rebuild it too.

Are they really that stupid?

Lots of planning, did they think it would go unnoticed?

Didn’t it also say that a man had been there the night before to photograph, and he noticed the door was open and he thought it was very weird they hadn’t locked it?

Interestingly the minute I heard the story I thought it sounded suspicious and that was before the police got involved.

I'm following out of sheer curiosity!

Sadly i don't think you could actually rebuild it so it was still crooked.
You could roll coins 'upwards' there and i'm not sure you can recreate that.

The thing that stuck out for me when I first heard the news (before the police got involved) was I'd never heard of this pub until a few days previously where it had been on tv or something. (Possibly Goggle box?)

I thought it odd it was being advertised as a great place - almost like a weird alibi against wanting it destroyed 🤷‍♀️

Also following this story. Hadn't heard of the pub, but would love to have visited.
Destroying such an interesting and unique place is shocking and I would like the pub to rebuilt if at all possible.

If this was a film, or a book, there would be a person commissioning the crime and a person committing it. And usually the person doing it isn't the sharpest flint in the tinderbox.
But both get into trouble when the truth comes out!

I live near this. Everyone is furious. Sadly, its a very common occurrence due to lack of oversight.

We dont know the owners because theyre from Leicester but shame on them.

I've been following this, and I am both furious and very sad that such an iconic Black Country landmark has met such an end.

My mother was born and brought up in Dudley although she hasn't lived there for many years. I once went to this pub with my parents and it really was very interesting, and totally unique. What has happened here is devastating and absolutely criminal. I really struggle to describe it any other way.

These two who had bought it are despicable. They have even been known to do this to other historic local pubs and landmarks. I question why the hell Marston's sold The Crooked House pub anyway, let alone to such a disrespectful, money grabbing pair. It could surely have once again become a viable business proposition with a bit of investment and fairly minimal major work. After all, it was quite famous and had had visitors from all over the world even though I understand that, like many pubs, it had struggled financially recently.

I hope to hear soon that these two have been arrested (hoping, but not holding my breath).

It should be rebuilt brick by brick.

Why leave the door open?

Neither of them seem like the sharpest knives in the drawer so I imagine there will be plenty of evidence on their phones (probably with lots of emojis, spelling errors and exclamation marks - they look the type). This won’t be a crime that will exactly baffle police or lawyers.

Reading the Times article on Pg 1, it seems they have a history of sharp malpractice with no enforcement.

Got too cocky tho, I think, here.

Does anyone know who the new owners are? I know we have their names but who are they? It's so obvious, you'd have to wonder what's wrong with them! Although if they get away with it....and it sounds like they might have previously?

Also, a thriving pub next to a landfil site?

I hate people who do this type of thing with built heritage. This terraced house was bulldozed early on a Sunday morning.
https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/house-home/family-told-to-pay-for-bulldozer-damage/28468486.html

The woman owner has been
named as Carly Taylor

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12389385/amp/EXCLUSIVE-Pictured-Glamorous-businesswoman-bought-Britains-wonkiest-pub-just-days-destroyed-fire-demolished-locals-claim-purchase-followed-rows-road-access-neighbouring-land-site-run-husband.html

I’d heard of it simply because of the unusual nature of the building. DH, who is a Black Country native, hadn’t. It had featured on the news only a few weeks before the fire due to it selling and saying that it was unlikely to reopen as a pub.

I can’t believe that they think they will get away with it. That said there is an historic building very near me that sells every couple of years, has a fire almost straight away, fails to burn down, then gets sold again.

This one too.
I assume these people believe the cost/benefit of a fine or jail time is worth it for getting their own way.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-65625272