By Eleanor Lawson, BBC
The Crooked House pub in 1907. Photo: Getty Images / Topical Press Agency
The owners of The Crooked House pub have been ordered to rebuild "Britain's wonkiest inn" after it was destroyed last year in a suspected arson attack.
South Staffordshire Council has served an enforcement notice on the owners of the pub in Himley, near Dudley.
The council said it had engaged with the owners since the demolition but had reached a point where formal action was considered necessary.
It requires the building to be built back to what it was prior to the fire.
Leader of South Staffordshire Council Roger Lees said: "A huge amount of time and resources have been put into investigating the unauthorised demolition of the Crooked House.
"We have had great support from the local community, our MPs and the Mayor of the West Midlands, and from the campaign group whose aim is to see the Crooked House back to its former glory which is the key objective of the enforcement notice."
Lees said the authority had "not taken this action lightly" but it was "committed to do what we can to get the Crooked House rebuilt".
The pub is owned by ATE Farms Limited, and the enforcement notice was served to the company as well as its director George Adam Taylor, and former director Carly Taylor, who stepped down in December.
They have 30 days to appeal and the notice must be complied with within three years.
The pub caught fire on 5 August in a suspected arson attack and was demolished two days later.
Staffordshire Police said five men and one woman were arrested in connection with the fire, which the force was treating as arson, and they remained on conditional bail.
The Crooked House was gutted in a suspected arson attack in August 2023 and demolished shortly afterward. Photo: Getty Images / Christopher Furlong
A woman, 34, and two men, aged 23 and 44, all from Leicestershire, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent or being reckless as to whether life was endangered.
Three other men, aged 66, 51 and 33, had been held on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life.
Paul Turner, the campaign leader of the Save the Crooked House Facebook group, said its members were "very, very happy with the work that the council has done so quickly".
Turner, from Wombourne, said he was surprised that the enforcement notice had happened within six months.
He described the Crooked House as a Black Country icon that had attracted attention from all over the world.
"I think it will ultimately be rebuilt but we have to wait and see what happens," he added.
Campaigner Ian Sandall said that he was very emotional and that trying to save the pub had taken over people's lives.
"The day that it was pulled down was just devastating, that was like a stab to the heart. It was just one of those buildings we'd never get back," he said.
Sandall told the BBC that the group had been contacted by people from all over the world who had been born in the area.
"It's captured so many people across all continents across this Earth," he said, adding that he loved how the pub had a "weird splendour" that would make people lose "all sense of normality once inside".
"There were a few of us that got together and decided we're going to get this building back," he told BBC Radio WM.
"Every single [one of the] 35,000 members of that group have not let us have a moment of doubt or a moment to waver. Everybody's been absolutely spectacular and we have got the result that we wanted."
The 18th century pub had been a popular attraction in the region, with visitors flocking to see the distinctive leaning building.
It was first built in 1765 as a farmhouse, but due to mining in the area during the early 19th century, one side of the building began to gradually sink.
The distinctive pub had been owned by Marston's PLC, but was put up for sale as part of a nationwide review by the Wolverhampton-based company. It was sold in July 2023 to ATE Farms Limited.
This story was originally published by the BBC.
