By Angela Green: Crooked House owners ordered to rebuild demolished heritage pub to original form.
Andy Street, the mayor of the West Midlands earlier today through a post on X announced the owners of the Crooked House pub, which was burned down and demolished last year, have been ordered to rebuild it back to its original form following being issued with a court enforcement notice.
In his post he said: “An enforcement notice has been issued against the owners for its unlawful demolition. They have been ordered to rebuild the pub back to what it was before the fire – just as we’ve been lobbying for.” He then congratulated his colleagues at South Staffordshire Council.
The enforcement notice from South Staffordshire district council, instructs the owners that the building must be “built back to what it was prior to the fire” within three years. The owners now have 30 days to appeal against the notice.
The Crooked House was destroyed last year in August last year, in what is suspected to be proved as an arson attack, nine days after being sold to new owners. Marston’s sold the pub to ATE Farms, which has connections to the company that runs a landfill site next door. Following the fire the Crooked House was almost immediately demolished, without permission, within 48 hours.
West Midlands Police made several arrests in connection with the Crooked House pub fire and subsequent demolition, which they are treating as arson. A woman, 34, and two men, aged 44 and 23, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent or being reckless as to whether life was endangered, and three other men, aged 66, 51 and 33, were held on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life. All were released on conditional bail.
Reacting to the news Gary Timmins, CAMRA’s Pub and Club Campaigns Director said: “The destruction of the Crooked House was a national tragedy, so it’s fantastic news that the owners have been ordered to rebuild the pub brick-by-brick. This is exactly what we were hoping to hear from South Staffordshire Council, and it’s a testament to the hard work of all the dedicated campaigners who stepped up and fought for the Crooked House.
“It has also been great to see Marco Longhi MP and West Midlands Mayor Andy Street champion this cause. It’s now vital that systematic change happens, to ensure that the Crooked House is the last time we see such a shocking loss. Unfortunately, CAMRA is still investigating eight from 2023 where pubs appear to have been demolished or converted without apparent planning permission. We’re calling for Government to bolster planning policy so that unscrupulous developers know they will face action if they breach the law.”
The reaction to the post on X was ecstatic from locals and pub aficionados across the country.
