THE ROOFER who re-roofed The Crooked House pub in Dudley at the start of this year has said he was gutted to see the landmark structure destroyed.

Matt Clifft, director of Walsall-based Vintage Leadwork & Roofing undertook a complete re-roof with new Westland slate in January 2023.

The demolished pub in the Black Country’s Himley had suffered with a leaking roof caused by incorrect gauges and substandard slate which were previously installed in the early ‘90s.

Matt and his eight-strong team were delighted to have been invited to quote for the new roof, saying it was his dream job as all his uncles had regularly drunk in the pub in the 1960s and ‘70s.

Matt said “My family were all over the moon when I said I was going to re-roof The Crooked House. They had all drunk in there over the years and remembered some great times.”

“I was honoured to work on The Crooked House and have the privilege of helping to restore her to her former glory.”

Before the roofing work could be started, the scaffolders had to come up with a bespoke design to accommodate the four-foot lean of The Crooked House’s brick walls.

The pub, originally built as a farmhouse in the 1830s, is believed to have fallen victim to subsidence caused by mining in the 19th century.

Work started in December last year and involved a complete strip of the degraded and in some cases split existing slates. Asbestos was also removed before new slate was installed at the correct guage.

Matt and the Vintage Leadwork & Roofing team, which specialises in traditional roofing, renewed the roof’s timber structure before fixing the new slates in 20 straight courses, despite the pub’s warped structure!

“It all made for an interesting job,” Matt said. “We replaced everything as near like-to-like as we could. It’s the kind of work we love though, we don’t do new builds at all, we stick to the traditional work.”

They also fitted new lead flashing and aprons to the building’s four chimneys.

Crooked House Fire

Learning that their impressive work went up in flames when The Crooked House burned down on 5th August 2023 was devastating to Matt and his team.

And that feeling only worsened when the building was entirely demolished without permission two days later, following which Staffordshire Police announced it is treating the pub’s fire as arson.

Matt said he and some of his team visited the demolished building’s site and described seeing the all their hard work destroyed as “heartbreaking”.

Saying he was shocked The Crooked House wasn’t listed, Matt hopes that if it is to be rebuilt he will be asked to do the roof again.

“I don’t know if it’s being rebuilt,” said Matt, “but if it is I would love to do the roof again and put it all back as it was. I’d like to think that will happen.”

The Crooked House was sold by its owners Marston’s to a private buyer just days before the fire.

Staffordshire Police is continuing its investigations, following news that three men have been arrested, while South Staffordshire Council is carrying out its own investigations.

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