Owners Must Rebuild Old Pub 'Brick by Brick'

For a couple of centuries, you could blame your stumbling at England's so-called quirkiest watering hole on its slanting floors and not the amount you'd imbibed. Then the Crooked House sold in July of last year before being gutted by a suspected arson a mere nine days later. Less than 48 hours after the fire at the beloved 260-year-old pub, the new owners of the Crooked House turned it into the Demolished House—razing what was left of it without a permit and to much local outcry. Now, six months later, they've been ordered to rebuild the jaunty joint "brick by brick" to the original specifications, reports the BBC and the Guardian. What's to know:

• About that fire: Six people have been charged variously with suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent or being reckless as to whether life was endangered or suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life. Their cases are pending.
• Next steps: The owners, ATE Farms, have 30 days to appeal the order to rebuild and three years to comply.
• From a local: "This is what we've been looking for, and we're really happy we've now got the law on our side," says Paul Turner. "We've got the bricks stored in containers, but we don't know how quick and easy it's going to be with the compliance from the owners. We can't get too excited too quickly, but we are delighted."

(More pubs stories.)