Fire engulfs The Crooked House pub - flames and smoke seen pouring out of iconic building

The Crooked House - one of the most iconic pubs in the Black Country - has caught fire.

The Crooked House burning on Saturday night. Photo: Chris Green

A photo posted on Facebook showed the famous venue ablaze late on Saturday, with flames and smoke pouring out of the 18th century building.

Staffordshire Fire & Rescue Service said the call came in at 10pm. Six crews from both Staffordshire and West Midlands Fire Service were at the scene.

Ash Smith witnessed the blaze and called the fire service. He told the Express & Star: "I went up to my yard to check on my horses and could see a lot of smoke coming from the area of The Crooked House so we drove closer to have a look and could see that it was on fire."

He added that the lane up to the pub off Himley Road between Dudley and Himley had been blocked, leaving firefighters unable to get their vehicles up close to the blaze.

Speaking shortly after midnight, he added: "It is still on fire now. Six fire engines are there and they are pumping water all the way down the lane with hoses and pumping water from the local stream."

The Crooked House on fire shortly after midnight on Sunday. Photo: Ash Smith

Fire crews and police near the bottom of the lane up to the pub

A spokeswoman for Staffordshire Fire & Rescue Service said crews from Kinver, Dudley, Brierley Hill, Tipton, Chase Terrace and Cannock were at the scene.

Part of Himley Road, between the junction with High Arcal Road and towards the junction with Brookbank Road and Summit Place, has been closed to traffic.

Once dubbed 'Britain's wonkiest pub', the quirky building was sold by Marston's in late July, after being one of 61 pubs put up for sale by the group four months earlier. It had a guide price of £675,000.

The sale reportedly left it unlikely that it would welcome drinkers again with The Crooked House set to be used for an alternative - albeit unspecified - use.

The Crooked House was famed for being the place where coins and marbles seemingly rolled uphill along the bar.

Last month bosses were forced to close its doors when tens of thousands of pounds of damage was caused during a break-in.

Days after the sale was announced, a petition was started to save the building. As of Saturday night it had attracted more than 3,500 signatures.