Getting a drink at The Crooked House pub can feel like getting drunk, even if you order lemonade.
Originally built as a farmhouse in England’s West Midlands in 1765, the red brick structure began to sink in the 19th century after years of mining coal beneath its foundations. As a result, the walls tilt sideways at a 16-degree angle, making customers dizzy and children amused.
Buttresses and steel bars made the structure safe, but it remained attractively tilted, leading to its humorous designation as “Britain’s Wonkiest Pub.” (“Wonky” means “not straight or level” in the UK). In an optical illusion caused by the pub’s flair, patrons can roll marbles and coins across some of the interior surfaces and watch them seem to jump upas if gravity had magically reversed itself.
But this week the landmark was suddenly flattened, its structure reduced to rubble in a strange sequence of events that outraged locals and raised suspicions of foul play.
When the building was sold to a private developer last month, patrons were anxiously awaiting what would become of the beloved local watering hole.
Then, on Saturday night, firefighters found the building on fire. Police said they are now treating the fire as suspected arson.
As the community began to stock up, a bulldozer arrived and demolished the remaining structure, a move South Staffordshire local council said was “completely unacceptable and contrary to instructions” given by its officers. Police said they have released the scene to the owners and have no comment on its partial demolition.
“People feel real grief,” said Matt Wright, 45, a lifelong resident of the nearby town of Dudley. “Everyone is affected. When we visited there the other night, we had old people crying about how special this place is.”
Mr. Wright was one of several hundred people who gathered at the site’s ruins on Tuesday. “It’s probably the only pub in the world where you walk out feeling more sober than when you walked in,” he says. “It’s a really unique feeling that you can’t experience anywhere else. And everyone who came was really happy.”
British pubs — long the heartbeat of communities and neighborhoods across Britain — have faced challenging conditions in recent years, from the aftermath of a pandemic-induced crash in profits to the cost-of-living crisis of the country. Fifteen per cent of pubs in the country will close their doors between 2010 and 2022, according to the Office of National Statistics.
Locals from this part of the West Midlands — also known as the “Black Town” for the seams of coal and smoke-belching iron foundries — fondly recalling growing up next to the pub, visiting it with parents and grandparents, and even celebrating their wedding there.
“The Crooked House is more than bricks and mortar, more than a local legend,” said Tim Watson, who grew up 10 minutes away. “For me, it perfectly sums up the spirit of the Black Country.”
The Crooked House is facing difficult financial conditions, said local councilor Roger Lees, although other customers say the place is still doing fairly brisk business. The new owners intend to redevelop the property for “alternative uses,” said the mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, rather than maintain the pub.
The previous owner, Marston’s, sold the building to a company called ATE Farms Limited in late July, a Marston’s spokeswoman wrote in an email. ATE could not be reached for comment.
In a statement Wednesday, the Staffordshire police department said the fire may have been started intentionally, although it did not name any suspects. Police and firefighters visited the demolition site this week with a dog specially trained to detect accelerants, the department said. added. Police and the fire service declined to comment further because the investigation is ongoing.
Mr. called Street, the mayor of the West Midlands, to rebuild the pub “brick by brick” and said the timing of the fire so soon after the takeover of the pub raised “fundamental questions.” Marco Longhi, a Conservative MP for Dudley North, said he was “utterly devastated and angry.”
Laura Catton, 40, went this week with her husband Tom, to see the burnt rubble of the pub. The couple met while working there more than a decade and a half ago, and Mr. Catton drank a final toast to the Crooked House in ruin. “It’s an iconic building for many, iconic of the Black Country,” he said. “But for us, it has a special place in our hearts, because it’s almost like our first home.”
said Mr. Wright said he felt that Black Country heritage, such as Crooked House, was being gradually erased by development. Demolition of Dudley Hippodrome, a buff brick prewar theater in his hometown, opened earlier this month. But “nothing will hit the community as hard” as the slanted pub’s sudden demise, he said.
The destruction of the pub inspired not only mourning, but verse.
On Thursday, Pam Ayresthe British poet and journalist, shared a short eulogy for the pub on social media. Ms. Ayers, who was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire, or MBE, in 2004, inspired several other poems in response to her, concluding with these words:
“Little wonky pub,, Where people forget their problems
Funny and familiar
And flat
Reduced to rubble.”
