A Damned Shame

[Cubist]

The Crooked House: Fire rips through famed 'wonky' pub

The popular Crooked House at Himley, near Dudley, is completely destroyed by a blaze.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Craig89]

Shocking news. Iconic building of the local area

 

[Cubist]

With all this perishing rain, with which I'm thoroughly cheesed off, I'm wondering how the old place could ever have burned so comprehensively.

That said, there are probably many members here who could recommend builders with admirable qualifications and glowing references for the restoration work!

 

[mardinor]

Enforce rebuilding with traditional materials or scrap planning rules entirely. No one should be above the law.

 

[Feltwell]

It's an odd one - it was a lovely and iconic building, in a really really horrible location - down the end of a long, dark, twisting potholed side road that was absolutely plagued with fly tipping, there was rubbish piled up everywhere when I last ventured down there about 3 months ago, you went past the entrance to what I think was landfill site to get to it. You'd only get to it by car, there was nothing else around it. Had it been in a decent location it would have made a fortune as a pub.

So I doubt anyone would buy it to torch it to build something else. Could well be kids - it's well tucked out of the way, if unoccupied then no one would hear someone breaking in.

 

[LadyArowana]

It's an odd one - it was a lovely and iconic building, in a really really horrible location - down the end of a long, dark, twisting potholed side road that was absolutely plagued with fly tipping, there was rubbish piled up everywhere when I last ventured down there about 3 months ago, you went past the entrance to what I think was landfill site to get to it. You'd only get to it by car, there was nothing else around it. Had it been in a decent location it would have made a fortune as a pub.

So I doubt anyone would buy it to torch it to build something else. Could well be kids - it's well tucked out of the way, if unoccupied then no one would hear someone breaking in.

Interesting, I wondered why it wasn’t a popular place given how iconic it was. Naivel imagined it was sited on a village green or near a canal.

 

[Cubist]

As I understand it, from my father, the rot set in when major road improvements were implemented locally during the 1960's.

 

[mims&pip]

I'm afraid I completely disagree with Feltwell here - imho to a developer it matters little where a plot is located.

Before we sold our family home on the south coast of England back in 2007, our next door neighbour (a well known developer) purchased an equally lovely, but equally poorly located, historic pub. No sooner was his planning application for demolition and replacement with several flats turned down, the whole place went up in smoke. The flats were eventually built as he'd originally intended.

It will be interesting to see what goes up in place of the Himley pub. A friend from our days living in nearby Wightwick has just shared pics showing the area has already been cleared, although I'm guessing this is more about the risk of leaving a dangerous structure standing.

Mims x

 

[eezageeza]

Its a very familiar playbook I'm afraid - a country pub near us was bought by a developer a few years ago, and after failing to getting planning permission to knock it down and build a couple of houses, it burnt down a few months later. There are now 2 houses on the site!

 

[Cubist]

Curiously quickly, some may say suspiciously.... the whole place was bulldozed flat seemingly within hours of the fire being put out, Funny that.

 

[Drayton]

And the road was blocked which stopped the fire engines getting right in. You'd think it all has to be a series of amazing coincidences because no one would be that stupid - surely....??!!

 

[CliffordPope]

It's reassuring that the police forensic team acted so promptly and managed to thoroughly comb the entire place before it was eventually demolished.

 

[Feltwell]

Hmm - it seems there are rumours that the company that owns the landfill site that surrounds the pub were the ones who bought it. In which case, a motive is very clear - getting rid of the pub opens up a very large and lucrative hole for more rubbish. It was certainly demolished with indecent haste and without permission.

 

[Cubist]

The plot is indeed thickening but I suspect that the political posturing will soon die down.

I'm hoping, for the sake of local residents, that the landfill operator is not the same one with a site in Silverdale near Newcastle under Lyme - that one created a serious stink!

 

[Toby Newell]

lol. A structure that survived against all the odds for hundreds of years in a precarious state 'mysteriously' burning and collapsing a mere 14 days after being bought as a non viable business. Total coincidence? A bit like the epicentre of a world changing virus eminating a few hundred metres away from a lab that was coincidentally working on that same virus.

Occam's razor.

100% arson.

 

[Lacan07]

There's been a lot of rhetoric on Twitter today (or X) from unhappy locals, I don't think whoever is responsible is going to get away with this without some kind of investigation. The police have already confirmed its been treated as arson.

 

[Toby Newell]

I find the local outrage interesting. Apparently it wasn't listed, I was under the assumption that it was reasonably easy get a building listed, especially one so novel.

If the local community loved it so then why didn't they petition for listing? Arguably that would strengthen any legal remedy for wrong doing and thus might of acted as more of a deterrent.

 

[eezageeza]

I read that a listing application had recently gone in for it, which perhaps accelerated plans for the buildings demise!

 

[Cubist]

I read that a listing application had recently gone in for it, which perhaps accelerated plans for the buildings demise!

True, but sadly until the authorities grant the Listed status then the liability of the owner is most likely restricted to unauthorised demolition under the usual planning laws. The legal weasels will easily get the penalties limited to a slap on the wrist.

Hopefully, there will be enough public noise for the SoS to impose a retrospective listing order.

 

[mims&pip]

I see another man (aged 51) has been arrested today in connection with this....

Mims x