As I grew up not so far away from the Crooked House(formerly named the Siden House and the Glynne Arms) I’ve been feeling very uncomfortable about its demise.
I can vaguely remember visiting the pub in the late 60s with my parents , sitting outside but really wanting to be inside to roll a marble UP the table.(As my family moved away from area when I was 20 I never did manage to see this optical illusion but I always intended to on one of my rare visits up to the Midlands)
I hate to see old buildings demolished. So many were destroyed in the sixties and 70s in UK and France . I suppose people who only have profit in mind couldn’t care less about the history of the place .A great shame and very depressing.
A good article.
Yes, I read about it recently and then again when the fire happened. Seemed all too convenient to me that it should be totally destroyed after being bought by the couple in question who obviously were not going to open it as a pub again. Sad state of today’s culture when history comes after personal profit.
This is pure speculation obviously but I’m not sure this was anything to do with profit. Initially it seems to have been about access to the waste facility they own behind the pub or something but the pubco refused to grant access or sell to them so initially it was obviously about money and business, but the fact that this fire and demolition has happened so fast smacks to me of an almighty tantrum, that the access or whatever is entirely inconsequential and it’s now become about ‘if you won’t give me your toy I’ll break it so no one can have it’. I’ve seen a few other cases recently very similar and it seems far less about a cold hearted focus on money and far more about people not getting their own way and so lashing out even if it ends up giving them a whole load more headaches in the future, see also Mr Musk and his social network toy he purchased.
I can’t believe they didn’t realise it people would put 2+2 together
May or may not be true, but I hear on LBC a few things that sound rather suspicious.
According to local witnesses, the digger and demolition equipment arrived a day before the fire and an old grandfather clock that was in the pub was removed in the days before the fire. There also appears to have been difficulty fir fire crews reaching the blaze due to a large pile of stones, dirt and masonry blocking the access route. Added to which, the lightening fast demolition of the pub remains after the fire, removing any and all evidence before meticulous examination.
One of these may be coincidence but more seems indicative of something odd. Surely, the demolition work crews must be booked and have schedules well in advance? Who put the pile of dirt and stones on the access route, and why? Who removed the clock and where is it now?
I don’t know the building or whether it was architecturally important but it was definitely social history and its unseemly end is worthy of question.
I’ve heard that the obstruction to the access was meant to stop travellers using the land
Also see this fella who bought a pub, said he was turning it into a HMO for “Ukrainian refugees” and when locals said ‘I don’t think so, it’s a pub, keep it a pub’, he proceeded to rip off the historic tiles that covered the outside, which after appeals etc May cost him hundreds of thousands to restore back to its original form. It seems there may also be damage to the fabric of the building now that there wasn’t there before, but a similar case of someone breaking their toy so no one can use it.
Here’s what could have happened - the Vulcan was taken down brick by brick, and rebuilt in the museum grounds.
… and will function as a pub again, when the work is finished.
After Brexit, I can 
It didn’t really function as a pub before, that’s why it was sold.
Well then the two gougers that bought it should have applied to the Council for change of use. Not torch it and then knock it down with a digger that had conveniently hired for the purpose a week before. Throw the book at ‘em 
Give them knighthoods, oh no thats the other bent lot of capitalist.
Has anybody seen Liz T’s list of nominees?