Funny how the road was blocked with dirt and rubble the day of the fire so the fire crews couldn't reach it in time. This was blatant arson on the orders of the owner.

council needs to put a preservation order on the site to stop any new development for the next 100 years.

I hope everyone involved in this vandalism go to Jail,and make them rebuild it brick by brick

The new owners have to now realise that they are to blame in the court of public opinion. People are pissed. This won’t be forgotten.

Being a Bristolian living in London I have no particular affinity with The West Midlands but this is beyond appalling.It has to be one of the most soul destroying things I've seen. I really hope there is a precedent here. A couple of years ago in London, Maida Vale I think, a similar thing happened when housing developers knocked down a beautiful Victorian pub before all legal permissions were granted etc. The borough , possibly City of Westminster , can't remember for sure which borough, but they were ordered to completely rebuild the entire pub brick by brick costing them millions. Let's hope for a similar outcome here.

the sheer arrogance of the owners is mind-blowing. Do they really think there will be no consequences for their actions?

So 2 weeks ago, new owners exchange contracts with a view of change if use, last week officials put in an application for listed status to protect the building then suddenly its burnt down and clearly done to a point of removing evidence, 2 days later it was quickly pulled down, not even in a planned and controlled way, just ripped down and left even though council did not agree on a demo. It's all sus. Council need to block any planning for other uses and force owners to rebuild. 100% this was insurance job....

I sincerely hope the owners get their just desserts and quickly realise that getting rid of a Black Country Heritage Site was a colossal mistake. Quite rightly people will be angry about this vandalism. Let's hope that Council make them rebuild the Crooked House.

100% deliberate act of arson I reckon. Lanes blocked so that fire crews had difficulty getting there and then demolishing the remains before the fire investigation could take place. I hope the owners go to prison.

The owners need to be held accountable and need a long as prison term. Can't do this to such a historical building.

The owners should be made to rebuild it as was.

Demolished over access dispute with neighbouring landfill site owned by Himley Environmental Ltd. The new buyer of the Crooked House was ATE Farms Ltd, owned by Carly Taylor. ATE Farms is registered to the same address as Himley Environmental Ltd.

Current owners need to be heavily fined and property confiscated. They should also be made to re- build the property.

OMG, Nothing is sacred! 😳🙄😖 The local Mayor was right to say that this needs to be rebuilt brick by brick, like for like.

Wasnt even carried out by a proper Demolition operator, that was a rushed bodgit job.... get it down to hide the evidence of what hey have done to it....... proper demolition company would have carefully pulled the front wall out, cleared the cellars as best they could, then tapped the remaining walls into the cellars, and stacked the front wall and anything remaining back on the top, in a neat pile with minimum dust, also would have had that metal frame neatly cut up and stacked with a grab..... you can tell by the way the machine operator was going at it it was rush rush rush non stop whack whack whack till it was gone.... makes you mad!! hopefully the council will enforce a brick by brick rebuild of the building... i however cannot see it.

This is what corruption looks like.

Council gave no permission for complete demolition apparently. Whoever knocked it down is in trouble. People are saying this was an insurance job, or the owner is covering something up by knocking the pub down so quick. If your eyes are open, you will notice that isn't a piece of machinery intended for that job, and there's nobody around in a hi-viz vest. Make of that what you will.

Look like a bunch of cowboys ripping it down

If they knew they were going to burn it down and this is so obviously an act of arson and sheer vandalism. It could have been dismantled and moved to the Black Country museum.

This was all part of the plan, block access, set it on fire & then quickly bulldoze it asap. I hope they don’t get away with this at all.

Well that isn't shady is it ? Rushing to flatten the place to hide their crime.

Looks like an insurance job to me.. they didn’t waist any time pulling it down

The police, insurance company and the local council need to be getting involved at 0900 tomorrow morning.

Clearest case of arson ever.

Watching that digger driver working he had bèen told to just flatten the place regardless of salvage or health and safety. 😢

Furious! Have never been anywhere near there but whoever ordered the illegal demolition should be made to pay to have it rebuilt

When was this demolition company hired to pull it down? Prior to the fire I'd guess! ...and why weren't the Police protecting the site, given that they were 'investigating'??

Deliberate needless arrogant destruction... makes you wonder if the fire was an accident

Every single person involved in the destruction of this pub needs to be in jail for a very long time.

Dodgy AF! The council should not let the land be used for anything else (or has someone taken a bung) and the owners made to rebuild. If it's suspected arson then it's a crime scene. I wonder why they were so quick in tearing it down! Hopefully they'll be some nice jail time for a few. What are West Midlands Police going to do?

The whole thing stinks of a developer that knew when they purchased the site, knowing that they would never or be never able to re-develop the site. they have blatantly bought the site, set it on fire and then torn it down in fast action in hope that they can then get permission to re-develop. It has all happened so fast as to avoid any further protection orders that may increase costs!

You can see from this video they are in a rush to get this building down, the guy running around has no PPE on, no hi-vis so don't appear to be a demolition contractor. The two in this video, plus anyone who is found guilty for arson, planning, blocking the access should all get hefty jail time. Although rebuilding sounds good, the building will never ever be the same or have the same feel.

The Longbridge pub in Longbridge, the Cock Inn in Rubery, The Greyhound in Bromsgrove and now Crooked House to name a few. Seems to be a real issue with closed public houses to suddenly burn down. Common way to beat planning restrictions it seems. Or just random coincidence, yea right.

Hope that this video can be used as evidence of this clear crime.

If this wasn't all set up I'll eat my hat !!!

Fucking outrageous. All that history gone forever.

Look at the antics of the 3 hobos in the video, they know full well what they are doing. It seems like a series of offences have been committed here. But what the betting, the police manage to make nothing stick? I would pay good money to watch the developer and his machine go up in smoke!

You need planning permission to knock that down

Absolute disgrace

I'm sure the Health and Safety Executive would be very interested in talking to them about their idea of a safe demolition site.

Council should make them rebuild it as it was. I'm a really shit bricklayer, so I'm the man for the job.

This disgusting act of destruction on our British heritage must stop, these people must be made to rebuild our wonderful crooked house at whatever cost, it will then set a precedent to stop these acts happening again! Bring them to justice!

HSE probably also needs to look at this

They worked faster than a bunch of Travellers on a bank holiday weekend

They are no demolition crew. They look more like school kids. No hard hats, no water to supress dust, no fencing to seal the site. HSE would have a field day with this bunch of ner do wells.

Watching this actually make me physically sick 🤬🤮, Too much of this going on these days, how can people be so heartless, I just wish they would stop and appreciate all the hard work and time skill and effort the real men put in back in the day, probably for very little more than their keep, never mind any money, that actually built these fantastic buildings that have stood such a long test of time, 😢 they built these places and maintained them with the benefit of future generations in mind, I just can’t compute what would make any normal man think this is an acceptable way to go about life, sickening is what it is, 😢

That's the U.K. right there.

Absolute criminal what happened. We all know the truth why it burned and now another piece of British History, Culture, Architecture and Tradition gone forever.

This is like tearing the heart and soul of the pub so sad i hope they rebuild brick by brick it stood for so long.

Isn't it amazing how fast they organised that, almost like they expected it to burn down... I do hope their insurance doesn't pay up, because of destroyed evidence. Although I doubt they care after they get planning permission to put half a dozen homes on the site.

So sad to see , i spent a fantastic evening in that pub , i hope there's justice ⚖️ 🙏 ✌️💯

So very sad …how has this historical building been treated in this way…it should have been protected…what happened to it is criminal! And beyond belief!

fire was definitely intentional and this was there plan all along! they need to be ordered to build it like for like.. they cant get away with this!

I recall that when a historic building was gutted by fire in my own village in the 50s, this a rectory, the owner at the time - let's say 'occupier' - said to everyone that the whole thing would be restored. It never was. A bungalow replaced it which became the offices of a firm that moved onto the site which were an industrial supplies contractor. Some restoration.

That was fucking quick, huh? They REALLY wanted rid of this house for some reason...

It burn down Saturday got this on Monday well think it was monday can't see any dates seem to me people wanted to build house or flats on land bit fast ait weird poor pub i used to go when i was kid

Cannot wait till the council force the new owners find out they have to rebuild it.

Find out who's driving the excavator and get them in court. Demolishing it without the right paperwork.

Funny how they are not wearing hard hats ,high viz, or even work boots,and when did you ever see workers running on a site.

looks like the new owners are just as crooked as the house

Palms have been greased and people have been paid. The dodgy owner will get away Scott-free. That's modern Britain in a nutshell. The new owner is the owner of the landfill site next door and the landfill has council waste disposal contracts and the council are the people responsible to any possible prosecutions relating to planning permissions. BINGO the circle of corruption is complete.

Why didnt they give it to some Museum to take down and rebuild.

Isn't that a crime scene after being torched, they just conveniently destroyed any evidence.

Insurance job 10000000000000000000%

I hope they all end up in jail for this.

Another one that was demolished illegally was Monkspath Hall (a grade 2 listed building), Shirley near Solihull in 1980

Sad end for this building. 😔

So blatent a crime, I hope the council throws the book at them

"Get it down as quickly as possible, that way they can't do nuffink can they? Ha ha ha" you can just hear the new owners.

Company directors need to be named and shamed. Plus a ban I'll be at the demonstration On Friday

absolutely boils my piss

The company doing the demolition needs to be sued the cost of the rebuild

According to the daily mail it was bought by carly and adam taylor- who own the landfill site next to the crooked house. There is a similar digger on that landfill site. Put 2 and 2 together and you get.......

I hope the Police and Fire brigade will prosecute who ever demolished the pub for destruction of a potential crime seen 👍🏻

Unbelievable

TWA*S - Same thing has happened up here and it's sort of like 'Well, we'll just wait a bit until it's all blown over' - Someone must have paid for the machinery and the wages for the operator to demolish it.

How stupid the new owners must be to think they will get away with arson and demolition. I hope they pay dearly and receive prison time and ordered to rebuild it brick by brick!

It probably wasn't insured! The new owners just wanted to repurpous the land.

The council should make a compulsory purchase for £1 and rebuild it and the owner done for arson and fraud. Anything they build there should be burnt to the ground.

If a building is listed then burn it down, someone done it to a old house near me and stuck flats on it

They doin this quick? Surely for insurance reasons this shouldn’t be allowed yet building ain’t even gone cold! Whole thing was planned!

Serious breaches of Fire, planning, and HSE (Demolition) Regulations, all of which carry a potential custodial sentence. Now who's going to jail ??? - Answer NO ONE - because the council doesn't have the nerve.

It’s a very sad situation on all accounts, especially for people who loved that pub and has been a part of their life, especially for the locals and as for the owners I can only say it’s blatantly obvious. This is an inside job just to benefit their own pockets even more,And you would think what the media has shown us already they would have enough money,to me that is greed. I truly hope there is a big investigation into this and they are prosecuted. However my heart goes out to the black country people as I said, it’s a very sad situation what has happened here. 😢

I grew up in Wolverhampton and remember going here as a kid, it's part of national heritage, not just a Black Country landmark. Built in 1765. Similar ''accidents'' were pretty common in Wolverhampton, some before my time, like the Victorian Arcade off Victoria street which was burnt down before the Mander Centre was built; the old Hippodrome; and when I was a kid the old theatre next to the old Lloyds Bank building on Queen Square, now a new Lloyds Bank building

What legit demo company has men with no hard hats and no high viz running into working area? None, deffo demolished underhand too.

Is the owner of this property following a recent trend that occurred in the Walsall area over the last few years?

How many health and safety breaches are in that video ! This is criminal damage and needs a full investigation not a half hearted report by the council. It should be rebuilt by a third party chosen by the council, using the original bricks after being cleaned and the cost passed onto the new owners.

Those workers are not dressed for demolition work, it looks like a cowboy operation.

Covering up evidence?

Why didn't someone call the Police & tell them what was happening

Shameful destruction of a listed building, should be made to rebuild it as before and planning revoked until the restoration is completed, followed by heavy fine.

If the buyers want to play silly games like that then if I was a local all I would do is set fire to the new development, two can play that game!

There's no way they get away with this

REBUILD THE PUB

Why are the council and the police not there to stop this the new owners have no planing to demolish the building and where are the fire investigates

Lock them up and throw away the key! How dare they destroy Britains heritage!

Did the camera man call the police, surely it was a crime scene? It's great to have the evidence, but a bit cowardly to just hide behind a wall filming.

Absolute disgrace. Make them rebuild it like Westminster Council did with the Carlton Tavern. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlton_Tavern 'brick by brick'

Blooody sad. Remember inside and the beauty of the outdoors.

happened to my old office building (for reason that escape me was a listed building) it was demolished ....the company then had to rebuild it at their expence ...i real hope the same happens here...the whole thing is real suspect ...sold ...fire ...knocked down (unlawfully) within a week ...someone need jail time