The Crooked House was destroyed in a fire at the weekend
By Vanessa Pearce
BBC News, West Midlands
Questions need to be answered following the destruction of a celebrated 18th Century building in a fire, says the mayor of the West Midlands.
An investigation is continuing into the Saturday night blaze at The Crooked House, once known as “Britain’s wonkiest pub”.
Andy Street said the fire at the property in Himley, near Dudley, had been a “tragedy”.
Mr Street added he was sure authorities would ascertain what had transpired at the weekend.
Image source, Chris Green
A petition to save the pub has more than 8,500 signatures
Fire crews were called to the building, which drastically subsided in the 19th Century, at about 22:45 BST on Saturday, with flames mostly extinguished by Sunday morning.
An investigation was launched by Staffordshire Police and the fire service to determine the cause of the blaze.
The owners of the building would be spoken to as part of inquiries, police said.
Last month, it was confirmed the previous owners, Marston’s, had sold the Black Country landmark to a private buyer.
The BBC’s Nationwide programme spent an afternoon inside The Crooked House in 1974
The Crooked House was a popular attraction in the West Midlands for decades after Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries bought it and converted it into a pub in the 1940s.
Visitors flocked to see the distinctive building and witness the illusion of coins and marbles appearing to roll uphill along the bar.
It was built in 1765 as a farmhouse but, due to mining in the area during the early 19th Century, one side of the building began to sink.
In March, Marston’s listed it for sale with a guide price of £675,000. The move was met with a public petition to keep the site as a pub.
The sale of the property “as a going concern” was completed two weeks ago, said the company.
“We are shocked and disappointed to learn about the fire which has caused so much damage to a landmark building which is so well known in the area,” it added.
Image source, PA Media
Aerial views show the burnt-out remains of the pub building
Former Labour MP for Dudley North, Lord Ian Austin, an independent peer, tweeted that it emerged during Saturday’s events the “lane to the pub” was “apparently blocked”. Such circumstances appeared to be corroborated by comments from a firefighter.
Watch commander Chris Green, from Tipton fire station, who attended the scene at the weekend, said: “The crews had to roll out 40 lengths of hose from the Himley Road which was the nearest hydrant.”
He told the Express and Star newspaper: “When we got there the lads had to work so hard because there were mounds of dirt that had been put in the road blocking the lane.”
Image source, James Stevens
A firefighter said crews discovered mounds of dirt at the scene
The petition, initially against the sale of the building, has since been turned into a campaign to restore it, says local Paul Turner.
More than 8,500 people had signed the document which stated: “There are many organisations including breweries, tourism companies, the National Trust, the local council and maybe other businesses who could rescue The Crooked House and all avenues must be exhausted to avoid later regret after it is lost.”
Mr Turner said: “A lot of local people were quite upset because the place had been bought and there had been information online that it wasn’t ever going to open as a pub again.
“But we haven’t given up,” he added. “We want to keep on pushing.”
Dudley heritage attraction, the Black Country Living Museum, said the fire had been “devastating news” but it was not in a position to “save, let alone relocate the building”.
“Our hope remains, despite the fire, that The Crooked House can, and will, be restored, and once again have a sustainable use at Himley,” the venue added.
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