Crooked House scandal highlights government inaction over pubs, says Camra

The pub industry has faced one its toughest years to date, with businesses closing their doors in large numbers, according to the chair of the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra), as he criticised the government for failing to act after the Crooked House scandal.

Nik Antona, head of the consumer group, said a “frightening” number of pubs were still being demolished or converted without permission, despite the outcry over the destruction of the famously wonky Black Country pub.

“The government has completely missed the opportunity this year to support pubs and protect communities. We expected to hear something about pub protection in the king’s speech but there was nothing,” Antona said.

“It’s amazing how much attention the Crooked House got around the world, it’s become a global thing. But it’s still been a really gloomy year, with pubs and breweries closing. We’re averaging 2.5 to 2.7 pubs closing a week, and I would expect that figure may well have gone up for the second half of the year.”

The Crooked House, a 260-year-old pub in Himley, Staffordshire, which was noteworthy for its lopsided appearance caused by mining subsidence in the area, burned down in a fire in August before being demolished days later.

Police have arrested six people in connection with the fire and the local council are investigating potential planning breaches over the demolition of the building without permission.

The incident caused global outcry, and calls for increased protection for historic pubs. Dudley North MP Marco Longhi is campaigning for a “Crooked House law”, which would compel every council to keep a register of heritage pubs and safeguard similar properties.

Camra data shows that, in the first half of 2023, of the 96 pubs that had been converted or demolished across the UK, 31 of those lacked planning permission.

“It’s frightening how many pubs we’re losing without the relevant permissions. What we’re seeing is an industry that’s on its knees and, if pubs close, that’s jobs going, that’s homes going,” said Antona.

More than 30,000 people have joined a Facebook group calling for the Crooked House to be rebuilt and thousands of bricks have been salvaged from the rubble, but Antona warned that the process could take years.

“It could be four or five years before we actually are able to go back into the Crooked House, if at all. Let’s be honest, it’s not going to be cheap to restore a pub that quirky. So, the bad news is, it may never get rebuilt,” he said. “But you’d like to hope it will. The local community wants it to happen.”

He said the one positive to come out of the Crooked House pub saga was the spotlight it had shone on the country’s disappearing pubs and the need to better protect them.

In response to the incident, Camra teamed up with the West Midlands Combined Authority to ask the public to recommend heritage pubs that will be examined on a case-by-case basis for their need for protection.

“The good news out of it is that it brought the issue into the public light. We’re seeing lots of communities coming to us for advice on how to buy their local pubs, there’s lots of interest around that now,” Antona said. “I think people now realise it’s too easy to knock things like [the Crooked House] down.

“These pubs are part of the social fabric and they have histories in their own right, and it’s important that we keep them otherwise we’ll lose this link to the past.”