After months on the market, The Crooked House near Dudley has secured a private buyer, but the new owner will not be reopening it as a pub.
First built as a farmhouse in the 18th century, the structure began to skew the following century when mining work in the area caused the land to subside. The sash windows a reportedly at a 16 degree angle – a lean approximately four times that of Pisa’s famous Leaning Tower.
In the 1940s, Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries acquired it and give it the name ‘The Crooked House’. In the intervening decades the pub became something of a tourist attraction, with its wonky walls (reinforced with structural supports for safety) drawing in visitors from far and wide.
Marston’s Brewery put the lopsided boozer on the market in March for £675,000 as part of a move which saw the group sell a number of its pubs in an effort to “maximise returns”.
A post from the pub’s Facebook page last week revealed the news that a buyer had been found, but that the (unnamed) new owner does not intend to keep it as a public house: “The Crooked House has been sold. Unlikely to open its doors again. Marston’s have sold the site to a private buyer for alternative use that is all we know. This is just to update the page so nobody makes any wasted journeys to the site. Again. thanks all for your custom and support in the 10 months I had there and wish things could have been very different. but unfortunately not. Keep supporting the great other local pubs to make sure they stay as they should be.”
Exactly what this “alternative use” will be is unclear, though commenters expressed remorse that it was unlikely to remain as a pub:
“Another piece of history going.”
“Absolutely shocking, it should stay open to the public, it’s a local treasure.”
“It needs to go to The Black Country Museum I think, instead of being demolished and gone forever.”
This article was originally published by the drinks business and has been shared with permission.
