For nearly two centuries, The Crooked House pub has delighted tourists and locals alike with its slanted walls and optical illusions, entertaining visitors as marbles and pennies rolled up its walls.
It now lies in rubble and ruin following a devastating fire that tore through the property on Saturday evening. Two days later, its new owners brought in diggers to demolish the entirety of the charred remains of the historic pub, without permission from the local council.
Staffordshire Police have now confirmed that they are treating the fire as arson and would be “speaking to the owners” in a joint investigation with the fire service and South Staffordshire district council.
Carly Taylor, 34, and her husband Adam had only purchased Britain’s wonkiest pub from Marston’s Brewery nine days before the blaze for “an alternative use”.
Have you been affected by this story? If so email holly.evans@independent.co.uk
The businesswoman’s company, ATE Farms Ltd, had acquired the property shortly before locals submitted an application to Historic England for the 19th century public house to be given protected listed status. This would have ensured that any physical changes to the building would have required consent from the local council.
Ms Taylor’s husband is a shareholder and former director of Himley Environmental Ltd, which runs a landfill site in the area next to the pub. Information available on Companies House shows that Mr Taylor was a previous director at ATE Farms, while his wife is registered as a person with significant control of the business, holding at least 75 per cent of the shares.
Marston’s Pubs confirmed to The Independent that they had sold the pub to ATE Farms Ltd, after the pub closed last month. A Facebook post on July 28 from their social media account said the pub was “unlikely to open its doors again”, despite thousands of locals signing a petition to keep its doors open.
In 2020, the couple’s company purchased another pub, despite a campaign by villagers who wanted to preserve it. Documents show that in March 2021, Rugby Borough Council approved a request to have the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn, in the village of Willey, protected as an “asset of community value” which was later overturned following an appeal.
The couple have recently succeeded in another application, after Harborough District Council approved their plan to build 21 holiday homes at their farm in Lutterworth despite traffic concerns. The Independent has made attempts to contact the couple and their respective companies.
Emergency services were alerted at 10pm on 5 August that a blaze had broken out inside The Crooked House, with 30 firefighters tackling the smoke and flames. Efforts were hampered however by mounds of mud and dirt in the roads, preventing easy access to the fire.
The building was levelled on Monday shortly after investigating fire crews and police officers left the scene after the property was deemed unstable. Footage showed a digger tearing down the remaining walls and reducing the historic landmark to a large pile of rubble.
Roger Lees, leader of South Staffordshire Council, said that planning officers had visited the burnt-out pub on Monday but had not agreed to the demolition.
“The agreed course of action included the removal of three elements of the first-floor front elevation only,” Lees said. “This was only to avoid the weak parts of the structure from falling. At no point did the council agree the demolition of the whole structure nor was this deemed necessary.
“This council finds the manner in which the situation was managed following the fire completely unacceptable and contrary to instructions provided by our officers.”
A local mayor has called for the pub to be rebuilt ‘brick by brick’
West Midlands Mayor Andy Street called for the pub to be “rebuilt brick by brick” in a letter to the council, and stressed that “major questions” needed answering.
Staffordshire Police said in a statement: “Our investigation into a fire at The Crooked House on Himley Road last Saturday, 5 August, continues as we try to understand the circumstances, which we are now treating as arson.
“We’re conducting a joint investigation with colleagues at Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service and are liaising closely with their fire investigators, who have confirmed that the cause of the fire cannot currently be determined. However, police are following up on a number of lines of enquiry.”
Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Chisholm added: “We understand the signficance of this much-loved building and the upset and anger felt by many, so we want to reassure you we’re doing all we can to understand more about what happened, and who was responsible.”
The burnt out remains of The Crooked House pub before it was demolished (Jacob King/PA)
South Staffordshire council described the demolition as ‘completely unacceptable’ (David Davies/PA)
