• 2 years ago
Thousands have made the journey to pay their respects at the Crooked House Pub near Dudley. It was known as the wonkiest pub in Britain. The venue which stood for close to 260 years burned down in a blaze, which the police are treating as arson. On Monday it was reduced to rubble using a digger, it’s destruction has promoted calls for a change in the law

Community members have been engaged in discussions, pondering how this unfortunate incident unfolded shortly after the building's acquisition by new owners. Presently, the authorities are actively investigating the case of arson. Many aspects of this situation remain undisclosed, and there is much to be uncovered regarding the precise events that transpired.

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00:00 Quite cheesed off, yeah. I feel like I've been violated, I feel sick, I feel sorry for
00:07 everyone. It's a great loss, it's very, very sad. It's very frustrating. It's happened
00:12 with a lot of buildings around here. Some of them have been saved but not the right
00:18 ones in some cases.
00:19 I feel not crying, I really do. Because it's a beautiful building, it had so much history
00:24 and it's just gone just like that.
00:26 The devastation really of what's happened, just absolutely disgusting. How somebody could
00:31 do this is just unbelievable, isn't it?
00:35 Yeah, basically the majority of our heritage is gone now because most of our places have
00:40 been ripped down to nothing.
00:42 What we heard about it, we saw it all on the news and we just think it's a real shame.
00:45 So we brought the kids out to say, this has been here for hundreds of years and then they've
00:51 just burnt it and knocked it down within a month of it being sold. And they've blocked
00:57 off the fire engines so no one could even get down to put the fire out. But they could
01:02 get a bulldozer down here.
01:03 Are you angry or upset?
01:06 Yeah, we are. Both, to be honest. I think a lot of people are. And a lot of people from
01:10 the area, they're more disgusted with what's happened and what's been allowed to happen.
01:16 Natalie's one of thousands who've made the journey to pay their respects at the Crooked
01:21 House pub near Dudley. It was known as the Wonky's pub in Britain. The venue, which stood
01:26 for close to 260 years, burned down in a blaze, which the police are treating as arson. On
01:32 Monday, it was reduced to rubble. Its destruction has prompted calls for a change in the law.
01:38 Well, obviously it's a very, very unsatisfactory situation. So many people are really, really
01:43 upset that this is occurring. I've had more correspondence on this than almost any other
01:47 subject. The latest is, of course, that there is a police investigation that must be allowed
01:52 to be ongoing. And of course, the local authority and I discussed yesterday, and we are both
01:57 resolved absolutely to get to the bottom of how this was demolished without permission
02:02 and then look at options, potentially including rebuilding. Very clear permission was not
02:07 given for this demolition. It should have been applied for. So maybe the law is satisfactory
02:13 and has not been respected. Or do we need to toughen the protection? Police say they
02:18 have been in touch with the owners of the site and there are growing calls for the pub
02:23 to be rebuilt brick by brick, either at its current site or perhaps at the Black Country
02:29 Museum. The simple point in my position is there's utter resolve to see this rebuilt
02:35 because there was no permission to demolish and it is just not right what has happened.
02:40 Well, local members of the public have been engaged in discussions pondering how this
02:44 unfortunate incidents unfolded shortly after the building's acquisition by new owners.
02:50 Presently, the authorities are actively investigating the case of arson. Many aspects of this situation
02:56 remain undisclosed and there is much to be uncovered regarding the precise events that
03:02 transpired here.
03:03 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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