Owners of fire-ravaged Crooked House pub sun themselves at Corfu villa amid questions over blaze
THE owners of the fire-ravaged “wonkiest pub” are sunning themselves at a luxury Corfu villa amid questions over the blaze.
Carly and Adam Taylor, who face a police quiz over the suspected arson attack, flew to the Greek holiday island yesterday.
They are staying at a £20,000-a-week villa near Corfu Town.
Meanwhile Staffordshire Police said they would be “speaking to the owners” about the fire which destroyed the Crooked House.
Questions have also been raised over the pub’s demolition just 36 hours after the August 5 blaze.
The pub was sold by Marston’s Brewery last month to ATE Farms Limited, a firm controlled by former hairdresser and nail technician Carly, 34. It had been listed for sale for £675,000.
Husband Adam, 44, is shareholder and ex-director of Himley Environmental Ltd which runs a landfill site next door to the pub in the village of Himley, Staffs.
The couple’s Corfu break follows a recent trip to Dubai.
Carly was seen dressed casually in black jogging bottoms, T-shirt and baseball cap at the airport.
Adam, in shorts and T-shirt, was heard on his phone moaning about media coverage of the fire.
Their five-bedroom holiday villa has two swimming pools, gym, tennis court, barbecue and pool table and boasts incredible sea and mountain views.
It is understood the Taylors are due to stay for a week before returning to the UK to deal with the fallout from the pub blaze.
They are current and former directors of 18 companies mainly involved in waste management and property development.
Mystery still surrounds the pub fire after intruders were reportedly seen before it broke out.
Staffordshire Police said in a statement that the force is investigating “all of the available evidence into the cause” of the fire with Staffordshire Fire and Rescue and no cause had yet been established.
Meanwhile lawyers for South Staffordshire council are looking into potential breaches of the Town and Country Planning Act over the pub’s demolition.
It has emerged the 18th century boozer, where coins and marbles famously rolled uphill along the bar, was put forward for listed status protection just days before it burnt down.
If granted, the owners would have needed council permission for demolition.
It has also been claimed the mechanical digger that demolished the charred ruins of the pub was hired before the blaze.
Lyndon Thomas, the boss of the plant firm that owns the excavator, said his firm had delivered it days before the fire.
Built in 1765 as a farmhouse, The Crooked House became a pub in the 19th century and got its name after subsidence from mining in the area caused the building’s distinctive 16-degree tilt.
Earlier this month it was reported Mr Taylor was stopped from stripping another pub in nearby Willey, Warks.
He is said to have ripped out the interior of the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn, bought from a brewery in 2020.