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.

Not the brightest lights in the harbour either it seems, if they did hire the demolition equipment a week before.

The lady who owns it, or the land that it was on, is the wife of the owner of the adjacent landfill site, and controls some of his dodgy companies.

There was an ongoing dispute with the brewery (Marston's) about the lane which led to it from Himley Road, which was a shared access for both businesses.

That is the story as I understand it so far. It's all very fishy and you have to question why the hell Marston's agreed to sell to these people at all. A little bit of research would have revealed their true record with this sort of thing, and that they are certainly no respecters of history (and many of our pubs are in very historic buildings, many listed but I guess a few are not).

Yes, I'm following it - I knew of the pub and it is so sad that this has been done to it. I'm appalled really.

Yes, so Marstons sold knowing full well it would be demolished, even if they hoped it would be with the correct permission.

Yes, I think Marston's do bear some responsibility here. In the eyes of many people they are seen as quietly complicit if nothing else.

At best they failed to do any research.

Yes dodgy as hell. I hope they get hauled over the coals and hope they lose a collosal amount of money over it.

I believe they did seek and were given permission to demolish the top storey as it was unsafe. Hope they throw the book at them, it was so unique and doubt it could be safely rebuilt as it was.

Post fire I think they had permission to pull down the chimneys which were unsafe. Instead they bulldozed the lot

Sadly, I fear that this could be the case, although I would like to be proven wrong.

There should be some sort of monument or tribute to it if it cannot be reconstructed. It will be an utter travesty if this pair are allowed to get away with this. Ideally, I would like to see them given custodial sentences and for the site to be removed from their ownership. Not sure how realistic that is, but it is what I would like to happen anyway.

Someone has been in and took photos the day before the destruction - there is a pic with matches on a table! It’s all so sad, it was a landmark, quirky pub. Can’t believe Marstons sold it (well I can, because they’re of the same type as the people that bought it).

Proof (if needed) that

a) there is too much money in the world
and
b) most of it is in the wrong hands

So it was a very wonky unsafe building? If upstairs was due for demolition, the building would have changed forever anyway.

I mean it's sad that a building people feel so affectionate of has gone and appalling that it's gone in the manner that it has, but realistically how was it going to be preserved and used? Wouldn't it have just fallen into (more) to disrepair?

That's not really the point though, is it?

So it was a very wonky unsafe building?
It was a very wonky building, famously so.
It went wonky in the 19th century. It wasn't unsafe.
Not until last weekend anyway.

I'd be amazed if they even bothered with insurance. They only want the land free for building

It was wonky but not unsafe because of work that had been done propping it up over time. It had big buttresses holding it and I don't think it had moved in a long time.

The top storey became unsafe after the fire last weekend and permission was given to remove that only, but no, they bulldozed the whole thing.

It's suspicious as hell and the locals are furious about it. We used to go there years ago. Such a shame, I hope the owners whoever is responsible gets dealt with properly.

@VimtoPassion sorry for the confusion, they were granted permission to demolish the upper storey after the fire made it unsafe. As far as I’m aware it was perfectly safe despite its appearance before the arson attack.

I read somewhere that it was a listed building, if that's the case then knocking it down is illegal and carries a large fine and possible prison sentence.

I believe that an application had been made to list it, but it hadn’t yet gone through.

Ah, I see, that's such a shame that it hadn't gone through.

Amazing timing it burnt down and was demolished before it became listed.

We're local - 3 - 4 miles away.

The traction this story has got is incredible - I think the OP @SirChenjins is from Scotland? Local people are furious.

Horrible thing for the current owners to do, but why Marstons sold it rather than invest is beyond me. We didn't visit often, but was always somewhere visitors enjoyed going - a bit of 'Black Country' heritage.

I used to think it must be a listed building, but it wasn't. A recent application had been made to list it, which was still pending at the time of the fire and subsequent demolition.

It's still fishy as fuck though.

We live in a listed house and have become friends with listed building specialists and conservationists. Destruction of listed or about to be listed buildings is frighteningly common - several lovely old factories have burnt down 'accidentally' in Leicester and surrounding towns in recent years. Or elderly people living in lovely old buildings have some complete arsehole move in opposite and build whatever they want. They don't bother asking for permission because there is no enforcement any more. It's all just a shrug and a 'retrospective' application based on how unreasonable it would be to pursue something already built.

People will do anything they think they will get away with, and they are usually right.