13 jaw-dropping photos of The Crooked House fire and 'unlawful' demolition
It's been 12 months since the Black Country's most iconic pub was razed to the ground.
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It was at around 10pm on Saturday, August 5 last year, that emergency services received the call to say The Crooked House was ablaze.
Fire crews struggled to reach Britain's wonkiest pub due to mounds of dirt on the lane leading up to it.
Speaking at the time, witness Ash Smith 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."
Chris Green, who has served in the fire service for 16 years and has been watch commander at Tipton Fire Station for the past two, was among the first responders to the fire.
The day after the fire, he said: "I was made aware in the paper that the pub had been closed down recently, so it was in the back of our minds that it could be the pub itself this time.
"When we were driving we could see the massive glow and we were all just saying 'that's definitely the pub on fire'."
In total 30 firefighters were on the scene.
The morning after the fire the extent of the damage became evidence, with the roof completely gone and smoke still rising from the smouldering remains.
Two days after the blaze, the remains of the pub were torn down.
Footage shared on social media showed an excavator being used to smash what was left.
The demolition was later deemed 'unlawful'.
