Crooked House Mystery

What has happened to Britain’s Wonkiest Pub?

The Crooked House at Himley, South Staffordshire — Britain’s Wonkiest Pub © Simon Whaley

It was the pub that made you think you were drunk before you’d reached the bar to order your first drink!

Step inside The Crooked House pub near Himley, Dudley (South Staffordshire, UK), and everything leaned precariously to the left. If you leaned to the left so the walls were straight, all the fixtures and fittings then leaned to the right.

Just look at the way the ceiling leans! Inside Britain’s Wonkiest Pub © Simon Whaley

And when a national news programme visited the pub in 1974, the presenter, John Swinfield, appeared to show how bottles of beer rolled up hill …

1974: Nationwide: Crooked Pub | #OnThisDay 1974: "Amazing, isn't it? I reckon the whole place is…

It’s all actually an optical illusion.

The mystery of the pub’s crookedness can be traced back to the early 19th century when the local area was mined. Originally built as a farmhouse, it soon began to sink into the ground, thanks to subsidence caused by the unstable ground upon which it had been built.