LETTER: Crooked House shows our pubs are in danger

Steps that already exist to save pubs are listing, the ability to declare a pub ‘an asset of community value’ and the fact that in law pubs now require planning permission for change of use or demolition. All of these measures, that incidentally, were campaigned for by CAMRA, have been available for some years but in many cases were not used to advantage by communities and were ignored by planning committees.

An important Black Country icon, the Crooked House has to be rebuilt, hopefully financed by whatever agency is found responsible for its destruction.

We have to realise the value of our public houses. They are essential outlets for the best beer in the world ‘British Cask Conditioned Beer’.

Because of its necessary storage in cask, skill in keeping and limited shelf life, pubs are virtually the only venues suitable for its conditioning and dispense. The traditional British pub is the greatest social centre ever devised. Let us hope that the loss of the Crooked House has made us aware of one of our greatest national treasures.

Keith Watkins, Walsall CAMRA

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