Britain’s wonkiest pub The Crooked House will ‘rise from the ashes’, MP tells angry public meeting as looters move in after historic inn burned down suspiciously
- The Crooked House, in Himley, was bulldozed without council permission
- Public meeting at nearby Himley Hall was packed with 100 angry locals
- MP Marco Longhi told meeting he wants a ‘Crooked House law’
Britain’s beloved ‘wonkiest’ pub destroyed in a mysterious fire before being controversially demolished will ‘rise from the ashes’, an MP has told an angry public meeting.
The Crooked House, in Himley, Staffordshire, was bulldozed without council permission – to the horror of locals – two days after it was gutted when it went up in flames on August 5.
Staffordshire Police is treating the blaze as arson, while firefighters previously said their efforts to put out the fire were hampered by a pile of soil which had blocked a rural road.
Former landlords and locals have since been seen at the demolition site with Tom Catton, who previously ran the pub with his wife Laura, being pictured sitting on the rubble drinking a can of Banks’s Mild as a final farewell.
Much of the anger has been directed at the pub’s owners who bought the historic site from pub company Marston’s two weeks prior to the fire.
More than 100 people were at a packed public meeting at Himley Hall to discuss the mysterious fire and controversial demolition of The Crooked House pub
Dudley North MP Marco Longhi wears a black t-shirt emblazoned with the words ‘Rise From the Ashes, Save The Crooked House Pub’
Looters are now thought to be looters grabbing bricks from the wreckage of the lost pub in order to ‘make a quick buck’
The MailOnline revealed the owners to be glamorous jet-setter Carly Taylor and her husband Adam Taylor.
It has emerged the couple had previously bought and allegedly gutted another traditional pub.
READ MORE: Pictured: Businessman and his glamorous wife who bought Britain’s ‘wonkiest pub’ that burned down in ‘arson attack’ – as it emerges they gutted ANOTHER village boozer which was once the ‘thriving heart of the community’
Now a fence guards the site after looters, believed to live in the market town, grabbed bricks from the wreckage of the lost pub in order to ‘make a quick buck’, Dudley North MP Marco Longhi yesterday told a public meeting at nearby Himley Hall packed full of angry locals.
He blasted the ‘disgusting’ behaviour of people who have been taking bricks and other debris from the rubble and addressed the erection of security fencing around the site on Tuesday, which caused alarm among concerned members of the public.
Wearing a black t-shirt emblazoned with the words ‘Rise From the Ashes, Save The Crooked House Pub’, Mr Longhi said: ‘What is unfortunate, which tells us a lot about society, is that it’s probably Dudley people who have taken [bricks] and think they can make a quick buck.
‘It is disgusting. I’m happy the fencing is up.’
He told the audience of more than 100 people that the investigation into the incident would be a ‘marathon not a sprint’, but said he was committed to taking the issue to Parliament and to Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when MPs return from summer recess next month.
He said: ‘As of yesterday, having met South Staffordshire District Council, I feel much more confident we’re on the right path. They are completely on side.
‘We’re running a marathon, not a sprint, we have to be patient and let due process take its course. All the people who want answers straight away need to be patient.
People inspect the rubble of the Crooked House pub in Himley, Staffordshire, four days after the fire. A fence now surrounds and guards the site
‘Facebook is a complete nightmare for us. People say what they feel, when they feel and it is unhelpful.
‘This is a complex issue. We are talking months, perhaps even longer.’
He added: ‘I don’t believe our current legislative framework is strong enough. You have my cast iron guarantee that when Parliament is back in session, I will be knocking on Michael Gove’s door. I would love to see, in future, a Crooked House law.
‘It is important we make a change in the law. Our historic pubs and buildings are not protected adequately.
‘We need to change what we have in place now so the risk of what has already happened happening again is zero.
‘Developers, and I’m not necessarily talking specifically about this case, may feel they can get away with it, but you have my assurance I will be pursuing this every day until we get that changed.’
On Tuesday Historic England hinted the pub could be rebuilt bringing hope to those who are calling for it to be returned to its former glory, brick-by-brick.
Much of the anger has been directed at the pub’s owners Andy Taylor and his glamorous jet-setting wife Carly. The couple bought the pub two weeks before it went up in flames
The public heritage body has said it is ‘considering all possible avenues’ and had already received 38 applications for the pub. No final decision has yet been made.
Ian Sandall, from the Save the Crooked House campaign, said: ‘I’m absolutely delighted that Historic England are as keen as we are about preserving such a wonderfully weird but lovely pub.’
Staffordshire Police said officers are following a number of lines of inquiry into the blaze, which was reported to the emergency services at 10.45pm on August 5.
And in a statement issued last Friday, police also confirmed South Staffordshire Council was conducting an investigation into the ‘demolition of the entire building, without appropriate permissions’.
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