Pub News: Crooked House Burnt

[idunnosomename]

curse you Joe Cornish Luke Skywalker! My wonky house will rise again!!!

[shoulders]

welp some cunts broken the fire dept cordon and demolished the standing masonry. fucking mental

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/police-called-crooked-house-historic-27476345

Argh

[king_tubby]

I'm activated by this as I know how close a local, Cardigan Arms came to ruin under Punch Taverns. We were lucky Kirkstall Brewery had deep pockets and some ambition.

Wasn't it Greene King? But yeah, 100% agree. I am amazed neither The Rising Sun or the George IV have mysteriously been set on fire.

Actually The Rising Sun was set on fire I think?

[shoulders]

Huh, well when that nadir happened and the tenants left abandoned, unlocked one night and the pub passed to the cleaner (who did her best actually) I'm sure they mentioned Punch, but if it was GK they can fully get to fuck. I can't stand them either.

It'd be great to see Kirkstall revive those two derelict pubs but they're way too far gone now. Rising Sun might have had a chance 10 years ago with some cash.

[king_tubby]

I read the Rising Sun has got planning permission for a coffee shop with flats above it. I can't even remember the George IV ever being open and I've lived here for 20+ years. Bits of it keep falling off though, I'm surprised nothing has been done to it.

I've checked and it was Greene King that ran the Cardigan into the ground, the cunts.

https://westleedsdispatch.com/cardigan-arms-kirkstall-brewery-wins-takeover-bid/

[idunnosomename]

im genuinely fucking floored by this, by the way. i take an interest in this sort of thing, and it's a uniquely obscene destruction of a culturally-significant, quirky, and genuinely quite old building (usually pre-Victorian stuff got listed by default, why this wasn't is very strange), will be interesting to see how it pans out.

you can't really ever rebuild this properly, but I hope the buyers who ran this scam end up having to build a replica anyway, as it will cost them a fucking fortune

[Indomitable Spirit]

So some nosey cunt managed to capture video of the demolition crew in the act -  https://twitter.com/swazzle2000/status/1688653309802864641

And coincidentally, Google Earth photos show the owners of the property next door just happen to own a big yellow digger that bears more than a passing resemblance to the one in the above video.

[Milo]

It's the impunity that's particularly galling with this. Something precious has been destroyed, everybody knows who's behind it but they'll get away with it.

[Icehaven]

Be a shame if whatever replaces it went up in smoke too wouldn't it.

[Blumf]

It's the impunity that's particularly galling with this. Something precious has been destroyed, everybody knows who's behind it but they'll get away with it.

That's what's bugging me the most. It's fucking obvious what's happened, but the cunts involved will carry on and make a mint.

[idunnosomename]

I don't quite understand how they plan to make a mint though. It's an understatement to say the site isn't very accessible. It was worth far more with an iconic wonky house on it

The thing is now by going in and knocking it down they're interfering with a police investigation into a fire. I think there will be some arrests coming very soon (not necessarily ones that will lead to anything)

[steveh]

Isn't any new building going to be susceptible to subsidence too or had the place sufficiently stabilised?

[Theoretical Dentist]

Maybe they want to reopen the coal mine.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Isn't any new building going to be susceptible to subsidence too or had the place sufficiently stabilised?

Might be wrong but isn't it easier to build something that's resistant to subsidence from scratch (with a solid poured foundation) than to try and correct an existing building?

[idunnosomename]

I understand this was one tunnel that undercut it by accident early 19th century rather than just bad land.  There's load of housing estates built over old collieries round the site. Presumably all been back-filled.

You can easily check all that sort of stuff in ground surveys now anyway

[pepperweasel]

I once lived in a house built near / over mineshafts. Legend had it there was a double decker bus buried under a neighbour's garden. Don't know if it was true (or if that would even be a good idea) but houses falling into the ground was definitely a concern of mine back in the day.

[Blumf]

The Black Country is riddled with mine works, occasionally they'll open up.

https://www.expressandstar.com/news/transport/2015/09/14/mine-collapse-causes-road-closure/

You'll find a few houses up for sale that have mines under them, which makes them hard, if not impossible, to mortgage.

[idunnosomename]

Yeah but since the 1970s ground penetrating radars become increasingly available. You'd spot stuff like that now with a geophysical survey and fix it before you built anything on it

[Sherringford Hovis]

It's the impunity that's particularly galling with this. Something precious has been destroyed, everybody knows who's behind it but they'll get away with it.

Successful investigation and conviction rates for arson/deliberate fires (everything from 'amateur' efforts typified by kids playing with matches, through to attempted murder by estranged spouse torching domestic property with family in situ etc. - around 5.5%) are so very rare that the National Fire Chief's Council doesn't even formulate strategy, guidelines or statistics relating to developer-originating conflagration. Local councils often attempt to administratively penalise site owners where buildings have suspiciously caught alight or been wilfully dilapidated/neglected by limiting permissions on construction or site use, but real legal sanctions against repeatedly criminal individuals are usually stymied by the property being 'owned' by a shell company.

They'll get away with it.

[idunnosomename]

The arson yes, but not on the demolition because there's clearly identifiable plant interfering with a crime scene (even if it was a crime scene they were never likely to solve)

These will be hired goons of course, probably thinking it's easy money. The real culprits will probably end getting away with it.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

hired goons?

[idunnosomename]

Well it's not the owner themselves but someone totally unqualified who probably has no idea who they're ultimately working for.

Also flattening a two-storey building in an exacavator like that isn't safe. HSE should come down on it like a ton of bricks. Appropriately

[poo]

Bye Crooked House mate

[Twonty Gostelow]

[pepperweasel]

I like the idea of the developers  perpetrators shitting themselves but really the "Birmingham Blinders" should've drank there more often or done something to help save it in the first place rather than threatening to commit crimes after the the fact.

[Milo]

If it leads to the brutal murder of a property developer it'll all be worth it.

[idunnosomename]

Perhaps she's implying they'll volunteer to learn historic lime mortaring techniques

[Sebastian Cobb]

Aren't the blinders more likely to have been the ones who burned it down on behalf of a property developer? I dunno I haven't watched all the series.

[pigamus]

Tle level of pisstakery here really is unreal. It would be nice to think they've miscalculated but yeah, they'll get away with it.

[Twonty Gostelow]

I like the idea of the developers  perpetrators shitting themselves but really the "Birmingham Blinders" should've drank there more often or done something to help save it in the first place rather than threatening to commit crimes after the the fact.

They'll take you down to Chinatown (the Dragon Inn, Hurst Street).