Dad rebuilds Crooked House pub brick-by-brick out of 8,000 pieces of Lego

A dad who was left heartbroken following The Crooked House fire has rebuilt Britain's wonkiest pub - out of LEGO.

Chris Weaver, 39, used 8,000 bricks to create the incredible miniature model of the iconic boozer to mark the six month anniversary of its demise.

The teacher spent around £800 and 80 hours in total building the 20ins (1.5ft) x 20ins (1.5ft) replica at his home in Dudley, West Mids.

He has accurately reconstructed both the interior and exterior of the Crooked House - complete with its famous slanted walls, grandfather clock and Bank's Ales signs.

It even features a little Lego man protester holding a sign declaring, in typical Black Country fashion: "Was bostin' now bosted".

There have been calls for the historic 18th century pub in Himley, West Mids., to be "rebuilt brick-by-brick" so Chris said he thought he'd do just that.

The dad-of-two added: "Like many I was gutted when the pub burnt down and was demolished as it was only down the road from me and a local landmark.

"I went in there when I was younger and I've been a fan of Lego since I was a child so I thought I'd show my support for the cause in the best way I knew how.

"During lockdown I dug out my old Lego and built a 10,000 replica of Molineux because I'm a season ticket holder at Wolves.

"I vowed after that never to do it again because it cost so much and took such a long time, but when the Crooked House burnt down I decided the time was right.

"It was a real challenge to capture the slanted look because Lego is obviously all flat surfaces.

"I had to sort of build a swimming pool on the base for it to sit inside and make one side higher than the other.

"I would usually work from about 9-10pm onwards once the kids were asleep and sometimes I'd still be working at 3am. It became a labour of love.

"I started it soon after the pub burnt down but I wanted it finished for the six month anniversary to get the message about and hopefully help towards getting it rebuilt for real.

"It's been stop-start because I've had to order pieces from across the country and even Germany and then had to wait to them for arrive.

"I don't draw up any plans, I just build away and see what happens. I just used photos people had posted on social media and on websites.

"It is a 95 per cent likeness of the real thing. I just had to move a couple of things about like the grandfather clock so you can see it."

Staffordshire Police are still treating the blaze, which happened on August 5 last year, as arson.

Five men and one woman were arrested in connection with the fire and remain on bail.

Last week hundreds of people returned to the ruins of the pub to mark six months since it was destroyed.

And more than 35,000 people have thrown their support behind a campaign to see the pub rebuilt.

Chris' models will be on public display at the Black Country Brick Show, which will be held in West Bromwich, in April.