Well, there goes part of my childhood... :-(

[aging_rocker]

Gutted...me and the pub

As a child I spent a fair few hours in and around this place, it was around 3 miles from my childhood home.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-66421163


From this:

To this:

 

[Geoff738]

What happened? Doesn’t look charred that I can tell.

Cheers,
Geoff

 

[Refugee]

I would never set one foot in that death trap. Even sporting a hard hat and steel toes.

 

[dented]

Sounds fishy

 

[aging_rocker]

I would never set one foot in that death trap. Even sporting a hard hat and steel toes.

It was perfectly safe - it's been there since 1765, originally a farmhouse, and it's been leaning since the early 19th Century thanks to mining activity.

One side was about 4 feet lower than the other, but it hasn't moved in a long time. It had a lot of strengthening put in it, steel girders, buttresses, etc. Drinking Banks's Beer would have been a greater risk to your health

The UK has many wonky old buildings that have stood for centuries.

Sounds fishy

Yeah, extremely fishy. Apparently there is an ongoing police investigation - it had recently (a couple of weeks ago) been sold to a 'private buyer'...and hours after the fire it was reduced to rubble.

Recently an application was lodged to make it a Listed Building, which would have compelled the owner to maintain it and not mess with it.
Also, when the firefighters turned up, the access road was allegedly blocked by mounds of earth.

After the fire:

Less than 48 hours later:

What it used to be like inside. I remember running around in here 60 years ago (kids were often tolerated in many pubs back then)

Before it was a pub - early 20th Century:

It's really, really sad.

 

[drf64]

Before I opened this I had never heard of the Crooked Pub. and now I feel sad.

were those buttresses built after it started to tilt?

 

[aging_rocker]

Before I opened this I had never heard of the Crooked Pub. and now I feel sad.

were those buttresses built after it started to tilt?

I'm very sad about it too, especially the way it's been destroyed - I could have understood if it had collapsed or been classed as unsafe or something, but to go like this...

Yep, they were added later, probably in the early 1800s.

 

[uriah1]

I thought this was going to be a long childhood story of running beers back
and forth to workers like a David Copperfield novel.

 

[Tommy Biggs]

Hate to see that, but man that looks that place in Italy! (if only they had the sense to build a pub and serve proper ale.)

 

[dented]

That's really sad. Hopefully they saved the bricks and maybe it could be rebuilt somewhere close by, just dreaming I guess.

 

[OldTelePlayer]

Sad
That's all I can say
Really really sad

Looks like it was a great pub.

 

[Bill]

Recently an application was lodged to make it a Listed Building

I see what you did there.

 

[Engine Swap]

“Greek Lightning”

 

[buster poser]

“Greek Lightning”

Yeah I’ve been reading a ton of these stories on twitter about the UK specifically and buildings purchased in the last year or so. I guess this is what happens when your “wealth” has installment payments and the LIBOR is up three points since 2022.

 

[hemingway]

I would never set one foot in that death trap. Even sporting a hard hat and steel toes.

Well if the walls are still standing after a fire, it couldn't have been that much of a death trap. Unless there was a fire . . .

 

[Refugee]

Well if the walls are still standing after a fire, it couldn't have been that much of a death trap. Unless there was a fire . . .

True. But, I'm sure there are/were plenty of other pubs to drink at. Surely you mist admit, it looks pretty sketchy. And, you don't know my luck.

 

[Stubee]

That is a bummer. Loved the old pubs in the UK.

 

[VintageSG]

It's fishier than a mermaid's pouch.
Pub purchased. Pub closed very soon after. Pub 'caught fire totally by accident and at random'. Fire crew arrives to find the access blocked by mounds of earth. Whatever remained standing post fire gets 'accidentally knocked down in a freak conjunction of wild demolition equipment that happened to be passing and a very strong wind'. Mounds of earth magically moved...

I'm not saying shenanigans, there's no evidence for that. Mounds of earth often appear just before a fire. It's a well known fact. Buildings spontaneously combust as revenge for being bought by people they don't like. It's a well known fact, and all too frequent occurrence. The 'Mardy Mills' of Yorkshire caught fire in protest too. No shenanigans involved at all. It's not like there's subterfuge involved in any of them. Oh no, not at all.

My tongue is so far in my cheek I look like I have a giant Dorito making a bid for freedom.

 

[hemingway]

True. But, I'm sure there are/were plenty of other pubs to drink at. Surely you mist admit, it looks pretty sketchy. And, you don't know my luck.

One advantage is that you'd feel drunk before you'd even had a pint.

 

[Flaneur]

What does the 'private buyer' do for a living? Let me guess......