The already delayed appeal hearing, requested by the pub's owners ATE Farms Limited, had been due to begin on 11 March. Councillor Mark Evans said it was "incredibly frustrating" that this now would not happen. He added: "We know that local residents and those affected by the loss of the Crooked House will share our deep disappointment.

South Staffordshire Council expressed extreme disappointment at the delay to a planning inquiry schedule to begin in March.

The Crooked House was a beloved 18th century alehouse in Himley, near Dudley in the West Midlands, which was destroyed in a devastating fire in August 2023

COUNCIL chiefs have told of their “deep disappointment” at the news that a public inquiry investigating the destruction of the Crooked House will now not go ahead.

The appeal hearing, requested by the pub's owners ATE Farms Limited, is set to begin on 11 March. The Crooked House was well-known in the Black Country for its sloping walls and floor, caused by mining subsidence in the area.

ATE Farms Ltd, who bought the "wonkiest" pub nine days before it was destroyed in a massive blaze, has appealed against an enforcement order to rebuild it.

Campaigners have said the reversal of an order to rebuild the Crooked House pub in Staffordshire would make a “complete mockery of pub protection” ahead of an appeal hearing.

The enforcement notice requiring the pub to be rebuilt “so as to recreate it as similar as possible to the demolished building” was served on pub owners