The owners of “Britain’s wonkiest pub”, which was bulldozed after catching fire on Saturday, have a history of ignoring planning instructions.
Carly Taylor and her husband Adam own ATE Farms and Himley Environmental, which runs the 15-hectare quarry and landfill site next to the pub.
ATE bought The Crooked House, in Himley, Staffordshire last month. On Saturday the building was gutted by fire – which police are now treating as suspected arson – but planning officers said it was salvageable.
Taylor disagreed, and sent bulldozers in on Monday without permission. The pub, once famous for its slopping floor, was a pile of rubble by Tuesday.
This is not the first time Taylor and her partner have ignored planning instructions.
She was ordered to remove a dwelling built illegally in a barn in Leicestershire; he was instructed to stop using farmland as a haulage yard.
And they have a history of buying and gutting pubs. One that they owned in Warwickshire was stripped and part converted to residential during the pandemic.
