Crooked House: How iconic pub helped people meet life partners, marry and enjoy life
In a Love Your Local special, we speak to people who worked, drank and even married at The Crooked House
This week in the Love Your Local series we are featuring a pub that once attracted tourists from around the world, as well as locals, but has now been razed to the ground.
Visitors from the likes of Australia, China, Japan and the United States used to come to the Black Country to see The Crooked House. Now, however, it is nothing but memories for people, following the devastating fire and subsequent demolition.
We took a look back at the history of the pub, what made it special and shared memories and moments from those who used to visit 'Britain's wonkiest pub'.
Visitors to the iconic pub have marvelled at its gravity-defying appearance since mining subsidence caused one side of the building to sink in the mid-1800s.
The Glynne Arms, as it was more commonly known for most of its life, was originally built as a private farmhouse in 1765.
The Glynne family were prominent landowners in the area, with their 100-acre Oak Farm stretching from Kingswinford to Gornal. The building now known as The Crooked House was built at the northern extremity of the site, between Himley and Gornal.
Many people have described The Crooked House as a gem in the Black Country. Tom and Laura Catton used to work and live at the pub, and so described seeing the images of the famous establishment on fire as seeing their home go up in flames.
Tom, from Kingswinford, said: "I worked here when I turned 18 and it was my first job.
"Laura was running the pub at the time, and she was my gaffer. We got together and eventually I moved in with her at the pub.
"It is a lot more than just a pub for us. Without this place, our home, our lives would be a lot different. It has been 15 years since we moved but it is a special place to us.
"We only came back once since we left, and so it was a little disappointing we didn't come back more.
