The Crooked
House was a pub in South Staffordshire, England. Its name and distinctive
appearance were the result of 19th-century mining subsidence which caused one
side of the building to be approximately 4 feet (1.2 m) lower than the other.
It was known as "Britain's wonkiest pub", and optical illusions
inside the building made objects appear to roll uphill.
Located in
Himley in England's Black Country, the building was originally an 18th-century
farmhouse before it was converted into a pub in the 1830s. It was sold in July
2023, and on 5 August was gutted in a fire; two days later it was demolished.
Police are treating the fire as arson, and investigations are ongoing to
establish the circumstances of the fire and the lawfulness of the demolition.
History
The Crooked
House in Himley, Staffordshire,[a] was built in 1765 and was originally a
farmhouse on Oak Farm. During the early 19th century coal mines were
established in the Black Country, and the Earl of Dudley owned the substantial
Himley colliery in the area surrounding the pub.Mining beneath the building
caused one side of the building to begin gradually sinking until one end of the
building was 4 feet (1.2 m) lower than the other, leaning at an angle of 15
degrees.
A 1904
postcard of the building
The
building was turned into a pub in c. 1830 and was originally named the Glynne
Arms, after the Glynne baronets who owned the estate on which it was situated.
It was known locally as the "Siden House" ("siden" meaning
"crooked" in the Black Country dialect). In 2002 the pub was
officially renamed the Crooked House,[10] which had been its long-standing
colloquial name.
Although
strengthened by buttresses by the mid-1910s,[14] the building was condemned as
unsafe in the 1940s and was scheduled for demolition. Wolverhampton and Dudley
Breweries purchased the pub and in 1957 made the structure safe using steel tie
rods and strengthening the buttresses, investing £10,000 (equivalent to £256,495
in 2021) in doing so.
In 1986,
the pub was damaged by a fire which affected the first floor and the roof. The
following year, the brewery spent £360,000 (equivalent to £1,077,275 in 2021)
on renovations.
The
building, known as "Britain's wonkiest pub", was put up for sale for
£675,000 in March 2023 as a going concern.[17][18][19] On 25 June, it was the
subject of a burglary causing over £10,000 worth of damage to the bar, kitchen,
and toilet areas.
In July
2023, Historic England received a request to grant the building listed
status.[22] The Georgian Group also began to examine the suitability of the
site for listed status.
The sale of
the pub was completed on 27 July 2023, with neither the purchase price nor
buyer disclosed,[19] 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.
2023 fire and demolition
On the
evening of 5 August 2023, a fire gutted the pub's interior and destroyed part
of the structure including the roof. No people were reported injured in the
fire.
Crews from
Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service and the West Midlands Fire Service
attended the fire after first receiving an emergency call at 21:58 BST. Access
to the premises was hindered by an 8-foot (2.4 m) mound of earth blocking the
only lane leading to the building, so approximately 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) of
hose were used to pump water to the fire. Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service
and Staffordshire Police launched a joint investigation to ascertain the cause
of the fire. South Staffordshire Council (SSC) visited the site after the fire,
and discussed a plan of works with a representative of the landowner. The
agreed programme included removing parts of the first floor of the pub's front
elevation, to remove the risk of weakened parts of the structure falling, but
council officers did not deem it necessary to have the whole structure
demolished.
A police
cordon was in place on the morning of 7 August while investigations were
undertaken, but officers were stood down because of concerns that the building
was structurally unsafe.[32] The site was subsequently overseen by the
landowner. That day, the building was demolished with an excavator. The owner
of the plant hire company that supplied the excavator stated it had been on dry
hire to an existing customer and that the supplier had no connection to nor
foreknowledge of the pub's demolition.
Roger Lees,
the leader of South Staffordshire Council, described the demolition as
"completely unacceptable and contrary to instructions provided by
[council] officers", and stated that the case had been passed to the
council planning enforcement department to see if the demolition was lawful
under the Town and Country Planning Act and the Building Act. Breaches of
legislation during the demolition were referred to the Health and Safety
Executive. Andy Street, the Mayor of the West Midlands called for the pub to be
rebuilt "brick by brick" and urged SSC to block any attempted change
of use. Dudley North MP Marco Longhi said he was "completely devastated
and angry at what had taken place".
On 9
August, Staffordshire Police announced that while investigations with the fire
service were still ongoing to identify the cause of the fire, they were
treating the circumstances as arson.
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