CROOKED TALE
Inside toxic row over mystery fire that destroyed The Crooked House pub – including antique being removed before blaze
WHEN Britain’s wonkiest pub was sold at the end of last month it made national news – with many locals upset that The Crooked House was due to close its doors for good after 192 years of trading.
But within a fortnight there was a twist in the tale that saw the pub gutted by fire and then demolished “without permission” two days later.
9
9
9
Now the buyers of the pub — Adam Taylor and his glamorous wife Carly — find themselves at the centre of an extraordinary storm about the circumstances of the pub’s demise, involving a bulldozer, an access row and a “missing” grandfather clock.
Police and fire officers moved on to the site in Himley, Staffordshire, yesterday afternoon with forensics officers and dogs as more than 9,000 people joined a Facebook page calling for the pub to be rebuilt.
Locals also held a vigil amid the rubble as the council slammed the demolition of the burnt-out pub — and police, who are treating the blaze as arson, said they will be questioning the new owners.
One local said: “It’s a real whodunnit and everyone has their own theories.”
Read More on The Crooked Pub
Built in 1765 as a farmhouse, The Crooked House became a pub in the 19th century and got its name after subsidence from mining caused its distinctive 16-degree tilt.
It attracted visitors from all over the world who would test out an optical illusion which made objects appear to roll uphill along the bar.
But in July the iconic building was put on sale by Marston’s Brewery — and bought by ATE Farms Limited, a company controlled by Carly Taylor.
The 34-year-old former hairdresser and nail technician and her husband Adam, 44, are current and former directors of 18 companies which are mainly involved in waste management and property development.
Most read in The Sun
Mr Taylor is a former director of Himley Environmental, which owns a landfill site next to the pub.
Rumours abound that there had been a dispute about the landfill site having to share an access lane with the pub.
Jet-setter Carly and her husband finalised the pub sale with Marston’s Brewery just two weeks ago.
It had been listed for £675,000, although the final sale price is undisclosed.
The ink was barely dry on the contract when the blaze started on Saturday night, within hours of locals becoming aware of a “party with loud music” at the pub.
Firefighters were hampered in their efforts to save the building by a mound of earth on the rural access road.
Officers said they had to park a third of the way up the mile-long lane leading to The Crooked House and roll out 40 lengths of fire hose because of the obstruction.
Chris Green, a watch commander at the local Tipton fire station, said: “The lads had to work hard because there were mounds of dirt that had been put in the road blocking the lane.
“They could have been put there as a security measure.”
Two days later, on Monday, locals say security guards took up position outside the pub with “vans of dogs”.
Within hours a bulldozer was filmed tearing down the building, with no safety barriers in place. It is not known who the digger belongs to.
Meanwhile the Taylors have refused to comment on the furore.
Planning officials from South Staffordshire Council had insisted the pub must not be demolished following the fire — and its lawyers are now looking into potential breaches of the 1990 Town and Country Planning Act.
Council leader Roger Lees said planning officials had visited the burnt-out pub on Monday and it was agreed that just three parts of the first floor would be pulled down to “avoid the weak parts of the structure from falling”.
He said: “At no point did the council agree to the demolition of the whole structure, nor was it deemed necessary.
Security guards
“This council finds the manner in which the situation was managed following the fire completely unacceptable.”
Police have spoken to the couple following the blaze, while West Midlands Mayor Andy Street called for The Crooked House to be rebuilt “brick by brick”.
The Taylors live in a gated compound between Hinkley and Lutterworth in Leicestershire and pictures of Carly on social media show her flying first class, at the wheel of expensive cars including a Bentley, and posing outside the seven-star Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai and the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
One of her relatives told a newspaper website: “I think she thinks she is better than everyone else since she married into money.
“She seems to go here, there and everywhere, judging by her Facebook.”
Yesterday another couple on Facebook with the same names as the Taylors put up a post denying they were involved with the pub.
It has now emerged that architectural heritage charity The Georgian Group had asked English Heritage to give the pub protected status.
If granted, it would have prevented any building work being carried out without permission from the local council.
Stu Hall, 59, who is running a Facebook campaign to get The Crooked House rebuilt, claims a grandfather clock was removed from the building in the days before the fire, although this may be entirely unconnected.
He has pictures from a video of the pub taken on August 1 which show that the clock is not in its usual place at the bar.
Stu said: “Nobody round here can really believe The Crooked House has gone so soon after being sold.
“There’s a mixture of emotions — disbelief, shock and now anger and the feeling that someone needs to be held accountable for it being burned to the ground and then bulldozed.
Nobody round here can really believe The Crooked House has gone so soon after being sold.
Stu Hall
“It’s strange that the clock seems to have been removed from the building in the days before the fire too.”
He said locals were “saddened” by opportunists who are stealing bricks from the site and trying to sell them on social media.
Locals Paul Craig, a bricklayer, and his wife Dawn, both 61, have their own theories about the blaze.
9
9
He said: “We all have our suspicions about what’s happened here but whether or not anyone will be able to prove it is another matter.
“There were about 300 people here on Tuesday evening wanting answers. I don’t mind admitting that when we saw the ruins, I just broke down and cried.
“This isn’t just a pub, it’s an institution and a way of life for people in the Black Country.”
His wife Dawn questioned why there was no security at the site before the blaze — and why piles of earth delayed firefighters reaching the burning building.
She said: “There was actually a mound of earth in front of the entrance on Saturday which was moved, presumably by the council, but later in the evening before the fire, another appeared.”
The pub was shut in June last year after burglars caused £10,000 of damage.
Lee Goodchild, 46, who ran the pub when it reopened in September 2022 until it was sold, said he was “appalled” at what happened to it.
Another former landlord, Tom Catton, who ran it from 2006 to 2008, said he was “absolutely gutted” by the demolition of the pub, where he had proposed to his wife.
Local Paul Burden, 65, a retired insurance worker, said: “There has been a lot of speculation about access to the landfill site near The Crooked House.
“Some people have said it could be developed as a housing estate but it would make sense to simply have vehicle access to the landfill via the pub site.”
Joe Harvey, 71, a retired forklift driver, said he thought it was the end of the road for the pub.
There’s no going back for the place.
Joe Harvey
Clutching a keepsake brick and a painting of the pub which hangs in his house, he said: “There’s no going back for the place.”
Wedding planners Lisa Pearson, 57, and her daughter Vikki, 36, cried as they saw the rubble.
“I’ve been coming here since I was three years old,” said Lisa. “We’ve done weddings here and have so many wonderful memories of what it used to be like.
“People are just angry and feel utterly let down by the brewery and the council for not protecting the pub.”
Last night a Staffordshire Police spokesman said: “A robust investigation using all available information and forensic opportunities is being carried out.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
“We have spoken to, and continue to engage with the owners. However, speculation is extremely unhelpful and could hinder our investigation.”
A police statement added: “A specialist fire investigator examined the scene to try and determine the cause of the fire. In this case, we believe the fire may have been started deliberately and police are now leading the investigation, closely supported by colleagues from fire, who have today revisited with a specialist accelerant detection dog to investigate the grounds.”
9
9
9
9
Topics