UK's "crooked" pub closes after two centuries. And customers launch a petition to save it

In the West Midlands, west of Bimingham, lies an area known to the British as the Black Country. It is an area with a profoundly industrial soul and the less-than-flattering nickname, linked to the area's extensive pollution, an unfortunate legacy of those old coal mines that shaped its character in the past. It is to a nineteenth-century mining operation-or rather, its collapse-that we owe the birth of one of the most unusual pubs in the world, sloping, with its left side lower than its right by just over a meter. It is the famous The Crooked House in the small town of Dudley, a historic sign that ensures a timeless atmosphere, beers galore, and an unparalleled optical illusion.

The Crooked House in the UK

A post of a few lines published on the facebook page on July 27, 2023 to end a centuries-old story. In truth, it had been rumored since the spring that the business was looking for a buyer, news greeted with no small amount of controversy by the local community, for whom the pub is first and foremost a town symbol, a center of gathering and a meeting place, a kind of attraction where they bring friends visiting from other towns. A place of childhood first, safe haven for a fun evening later, a lifelong reference. "The Crooked House has been sold. It probably won't reopen its doors again...Marston's has sold the site to a private buyer for alternative use, that's all we know." Marston's is an independent pub retailing group in the UK, which among its various signs counted this one. No other details certain, no additional information.

The petition to save The Crooked House

The buyer (who purchased the property at a price of 675 thousand pounds, nearly 800 thousand euros) is unknown, as is the fate that befalls the UK's most bizarre venue. Which has been alive and in full operation for 193 years. A piece of history that has become famous in every corner of the country is going away. An institution, which began as a farm in 1765 and became a pub in 1830, one of those points of interest around which revolve legends, anecdotes, and superstitions, famous for being quirky more than for its offerings. We are still talking about a place where people enjoy rolling coins and marbles uphill...lo and behold, such a place cannot close without the most heartfelt protests from citizens. The facebook page "Save The Crooked House" was recently born and currently has just over 300 members, but the petition on Change.org has been signed by almost 3 thousand people. And to think that back in the 1940s the structure was in danger of closing because it was considered dangerous, but then it was secured with buttresses and beams and everything worked out for the best. Among the many proposals to save the pub is to make it a city monument in its own right, making it part of Dudley's Black Country Living Museum.