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Crooked house

mikejee

Super Moderator
Staff member
There is a meeting on Zoom on 18th November. Open to anybody , but you have to ask for link.

The BCS Virtual Heritage Group
'Crooked Britain - The Crooked House at Himley and some other crooked survivors.'
by Steve Roughton.
7.30pm, Monday, 18 November 2024.
Admission via Zoom: No charge for members or non-members.
email: societyblackcountry@gmail.com for Zoom log-in details.
 
According to the printers DEADLINE for orders is MIDNIGHT TONIGHT (Nov 24th) unless sold out first.
 
it does seem to be dragging on mike....i wonder if it will ever be rebuilt...glad i went in it when it was as it should be...

lyn
 
About time people were prosecuted for criminal damage like this, at least that would be a start and would send a message to others considering doing the same.
 
About time people were prosecuted for criminal damage like this, at least that would be a start and would send a message to others considering doing the same.
could not agree more viv...i dont think the owners were prosecuted

lyn
 
Several people were arrested on suspicion of arson last year. They were released on conditional bail. What happened to that investigation ?

Then there's the separate matter of unlawful demolition without planning permission. Don't think planning permission should in future be given unless it is for rebuilding as it was.
 
Several people were arrested on suspicion of arson last year. They were released on conditional bail. What happened to that investigation ?

Then there's the separate matter of unlawful demolition without planning permission. Don't think planning permission should in future be given unless it is for rebuilding as it was.
yes thats it viv its all coming back to me now....it seems as though everyone involved is just getting away with it

lyn
 
Regardless, they must still be liable for unlawful demolition. They could still be facing prosecution
viv i watched in horror the demo of the pub on video....at that point the pubs structure was still intact and could have been saved...no idea where it goes from here but at least i have my memories of going inside the crooked house and rolling marlies down the ledge at the back of my seat...oh and although having only a couple of drinks coming out and feeling like i had 20..it really was crooked..such a massive loss :(

lyn
 
Penalty/fine is probably small enough for them to swallow if they can replace it with new build.I recall a Birmingham motor trader buying a mansion house in the country being told it was listed but he demolished anyway and accepted the penalty, he owned the football field so when the locals kicked up a fuss he ploughed the field.
 
viv i watched in horror the demo of the pub on video....at that point the pubs structure was still intact and could have been saved...no idea where it goes from here but at least i have my memories of going inside the crooked house and rolling marlies down the ledge at the back of my seat...oh and although having only a couple of drinks coming out and feeling like i had 20..it really was crooked..such a massive loss :(

lyn
It still makes my blood boil
 
The problem I see with this and a few other sites that have been destroyed is Company’s House. It ridiculously easy to set up a limited liability company and register it with them. If there is a full stop or a comer missing from the return or it’s a day late company’s house will find them, but how the company then goes on the conduct it business is of no interest to them. Consequently lots of incompetent and feckless individuals set up limited liability companies and then walk away from the car crash of a mess they create and leave behind for others to pick up the bill.
 
The problem I see with this and a few other sites that have been destroyed is Company’s House. It ridiculously easy to set up a limited liability company and register it with them. If there is a full stop or a comer missing from the return or it’s a day late company’s house will find them, but how the company then goes on the conduct it business is of no interest to them. Consequently lots of incompetent and feckless individuals set up limited liability companies and then walk away from the car crash of a mess they create and leave behind for others to pick up the bill.
An LLC is in my mind a very weak sister for a company. I own a consultancy that is Incorporated (limited), while we are small we have a few clients that prefer Inc than an LLC. The LLC protects the owners liability but tends to allow fewer checks and balances as how you/owner conducts business as you have pointed out.
 
Richard, that the problem in my opinion. I am all for small businesses and startups, they need support but also some regulation. In the UK Company’s house does zero monitoring so we get a lot of wannabe developers who destroy historic building and then liquidate the company.

The crooked house being a classic victim with a rebuild now most likely not to happen.
 
Just a thought, If they built an upright copy would it in time sink and become crooked like the former one which seems to have been a victim of poor ground?
 
Richard, that the problem in my opinion. I am all for small businesses and startups, they need support but also some regulation. In the UK Company’s house does zero monitoring so we get a lot of wannabe developers who destroy historic building and then liquidate the company.

The crooked house being a classic victim with a rebuild now most likely not to happen.
Agree and while in the US we don’t have the history it still needs to be preserved. I have seen as late as yesterday a person with a member of LLC’s lost a judgment for $139,000 and has over 60 remains on the docket. Not historic but no the less when he came to me I certainly advised him against he actions but he thought he was bullet prof and no I did not get paid!
BTW, the reason I am up at this how is that we hav3 our second Tornado Warning in a week
 
Agree and while in the US we don’t have the history it still needs to be preserved. I have seen as late as yesterday a person with a member of LLC’s lost a judgment for $139,000 and has over 60 remains on the docket. Not historic but no the less when he came to me I certainly advised him against he actions but he thought he was bullet prof and no I did not get paid!
BTW, the reason I am up at this how is that we hav3 our second Tornado Warning in a week
Sorry auto check reared its ugly head.
 
Agree and while in the US we don’t have the history it still needs to be preserved. I have seen as late as yesterday a person with a member of LLC’s lost a judgment for $139,000 and has over 60 remains on the docket. Not historic but no the less when he came to me I certainly advised him against he actions but he thought he was bullet prof and no I did not get paid!
BTW, the reason I am up at this how is that we hav3 our second Tornado Warning in a week
Stay safe Richard
 
this is what i watched in horror..it took but a few mins to demolish the pub...it still had its structure.. brickwork and chimneys intact and at that point it could have been saved...now reduced to a pile of rubble in my opinion even if some sort of rebuild was possible it could never be the same again..click on google search link below

lyn

 
The only thing that surprises me, is that it took them (Adam & Carly Taylor) so long to play the liquidation card. They have form for this sort of thing :( (see below taken from The Times 9/8/23):

"It now appears that the couple have a history of apparently ignoring planning permission...Mr Taylor also owns the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn, a pub with a wooden-beamed bar in the tiny Warwickshire village of Willey, five miles from their home in Lutterworth, Leicestershire. Until lockdown it was said to be a “thriving heart of the community”, the only place for its 100 or so residents to socialise in a village that has no shop. Mr Taylor is alleged to have stripped the pub of its interior after buying it from a brewer, defying a campaign by villagers who wanted to preserve it".

"In March 2021, Rugby borough council approved residents’ request to have the Sarah Mansfield protected as “an asset of community value”, but the decision was overturned on appeal. The next day, men appeared with diggers and skip lorries and they just gutted the place, taking out the kitchen, the bar, everything,” said a source. “It was the heart of the community. There was a village billiards team and an ‘early doors’ every Friday at 6pm for the villagers to meet and catch up. They had their new year parties there and there was an elderly couple who had their lunch there every Sunday. Now it is just four walls and looks like it is waiting to fall down. It is devastating".

"Mr Taylor has since won his application to build two properties in the rear car park and turn the first floor of the pub into “letting bedrooms”. Submissions to the council on behalf of Taylor and AT Contracting and Plant Hire outlined his intention to restore the pub once the new dwellings had been built. However, Emma Worley, a planning inspector, noted “concerns regarding the lack of certainty that the work to the public house would take place . . . and that the public house may ultimately be lost”.... (It still remains closed today!)

The couple pictured at a £20,000 pw Corfu villa shortly after the Crooked House fire & Carly travelling in first class style:

1743689993013.png 1743690167538.png
 
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