This is the best summary I could come up with:
A fire which ripped through a landmark pub days before it was unexpectedly demolished is being treated as arson, police say.
The Crooked House, near Dudley in the Black Country, caught fire on Saturday night and was then bulldozed on Monday, prompting anger from local residents.
The pub, once Britain’s “wonkiest”, was sold by Marston’s last month.
Staffordshire Police said on Wednesday investigations were continuing but the blaze was being treated as suspicious.
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I’m a bot and I’m open source!
I’m not sure why I am so invested in this story, but I’d love to see some consequences for this cultural vandalism.
I’m hooked! I hope it continues to be reported on in the national news so I don’t have to occasionally trawl local news for updates sporadically.
I didn’t realise it had been bulldozed. That’s incredibly suspicious! They should be made to rebuild it - I think the West Midlands mayor suggested this too!
I was looking for similar cases, where inconvenient buildings accidentally fall down, and whether anything actually happens.
For the Punchbowl Inn:
In April 2022, Ribble Valley Council ordered that the Punch Bowl must be rebuilt to its original plan based on architecture records. On 5 December 2022, five people were found guilty at Burnley Magistrates Court of illegally demolishing the structure. The group were due to be sentenced at Burnley Magistrates Court on 24 January but the hearing was adjourned until 8 March. At sentencing, the group were required to pay a combined £70,000 in fines and court costs. As of June 2023, the reconstruction process had not yet started.
For the Carlton Tavern (fell over in 2015)
By April 2019, most of the pub’s missing exterior had been rebuilt. In late February 2020, the pub had still not reopened, and Westminster City Council was once again considering taking action against its owners. On 19 January 2021, CLTX changed its name by resolution to Carlton Vale Ltd. On 12 April 2021, the pub reopened with the lifting of COVID restrictions.
There was one near me in Canada, don’t want to be too specific about my location but there was a historic bar/hotel down the road from us that’s a heritage site and same thing, some developers bought it and were very limited on what they could change, and right as the renos were about to begin, it mysteriously caught fire. Luckily the fire department were right on it and it didn’t burn down, but nobody every got charged for arson or anything. Super suspicious though lol.
Good. Any word on the “private buyer”?
indeed, the street had been blocked off by piles of dirt so firefighters couldn’t reach the blaze
Oh shit. Well that re-ignites my conspiracy mindedness. When I saw that it was an isolated road near a quarry I thought that maybe carelessness could have explained the blocked road. (“meh - fix the mess later. no one will be bothered”)
But if the quarry owner almost certainly blocked the road and is also the new owner? Yikes.
