The most recent landlord of the Crooked House pub that was destroyed by suspected arson has told Sky News someone must be held accountable for the fire.

Lee Goodchild was the tenant landlord at the historic pub until it was sold by Marstons to new owners last month.

He said the destruction of the site has “bewildered me why anybody would want to do that to anywhere, let alone a building that’s so iconic and so well known worldwide.”

The Crooked House has stood in Himley near Dudley for almost 260 years. It was known as the “wonkiest pub in Britain” after subsidence caused by nearby mining caused the building to tilt.

A large fire broke out at the pub on Saturday which police have said they are investigating as arson.

Mounds of earth on the road leading up to it made it difficult for firefighters to access.

On Monday it was reduced to rubble by a mechanical digger, despite South Staffordshire Council saying it had permitted only the top floor to be demolished for safety reasons.

Its total demolition prompted Dudley North MP Marco Longhi to question why police did not intervene.

Mr Goodchild said: “To see social media when you open your eyes at 5am on a Sunday morning – a burning building that you ran two, three weeks before. I didn’t even believe it, I thought somebody had doctored an image. Then obviously there were lots of calls and messages coming through.

“I actually thought do you know what – whatever the reason is this has happened or how this has happened, it could be rebuilt or restructured.

“And then a day later all of a sudden now it’s a pile of rubble.

“Whoever is to blame needs to be accountable.”

A man who used to visit the pub with his father was at the site where the pub used to stand on Thursday.

He said: “My father passed away two years ago and I can remember him bringing me down here when I was younger.

“Seeing it like this is heart-breaking. I don’t know what they wanted to gain from it really.

“It’s part of our heritage, it’s been here since the 1700s. It’s just really sad.”

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Marc Smith, a local who used to drink in the pub, said he was “really angry” when the pub burned down because it “meant a lot to people round here”.

Asked what was so special about the pub, he said: “The building, not the business so much. We would [drink in the pub] every now again, but it was the building [that was special].”

He added he would like to see it rebuilt “brick by brick”.

Amanda Inkersole, who used to work in the pub for 10 years in the 1980s and 90s, said she felt “emotional” and “angry” when the pub burned down.

She said: “I was gutted really because it’s nothing now is it?

“We’d like it to be rebuilt and somebody needs to pay for what they’ve done. Somebody needs to be held accountable for it.”

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