Crooked House pub: 25,000 bricks salvaged from site in hopes of rebuild

More than 25,000 bricks have been salvaged from the rubble of The Crooked House pub in Staffordshire that was burnt down in a fire.

Council officers who visited the site in Himley, near Dudley, on Wednesday 30 August, evaluated work being done to secure the bricks during the clean-up process.

Campaigners are calling for the 258-year-old pub to be rebuilt brick by brick after it was demolished following a suspected arson attack.

Each brick salvaged from the site is being stored on pallets in secure storage containers. 

Enough bricks have been recovered to build two houses, according to South Staffordshire Council, which says the average UK house is constructed from 7,000 to 15,000 bricks.

The council also said they are "in regular contact" with the HSE and building control and urged people to not breach the fencing or attempt to go on-site as it remains in private ownership and is potentially unsafe.

In a statement, a spokesperson said: "We still have an active and ongoing investigation, and we remain in contact with the site owners and their representatives."

Will rebuilding The Crooked House pub be possible?

A pub owner in London says it could be possible to rebuild The Crooked House after he helped restore the Carlton Tavern after it was illegally demolished in 2015.

Ben Martin took over the Carlton Tavern in 2020 when it was just a shell of a building after developers knocked it down.

Having grown up in the area Mr Martin could see what the pub meant to people and wanted to bring it back.

He says the rebuilt pub has visible remnants of the original.

Mr Martin added "pubs are part of the landscape" in a town and if campaigners and those who care about it fight then they could get it back.

• Ben Martin speaking about the importance of keeping up efforts to rebuild the pub due to its importance to the community

Speaking to ITV News Central he said: "If they really want it and really want to rebuild this pub then keep making noise and leaning on the right kind of people.

"People care about pubs a lot, people don’t realise until something like this happens how important these buildings are to the community and how they stand.

"They’ve stood the test of time sometimes hundreds of years and they are part of the landscape.

"I think the more noise they make the more they push it can happen as we’re sitting in this pub right now.”

Mr Martin said it was through photographs and videos from the original pub visitors that he was able to recreate the atmosphere of the Carlton Tavern and suggests people send in their memories to help rebuild The Crooked House.

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