Local authority agreed to a small area of the pub being demolished, as the remainder was salvageable
The new owners of the Crooked House pub hired a digger several days before it burnt down and it was used to demolish the building.
AT Contracting, owned by Carly Taylor, the woman who bought the historic pub in July, rented the excavator from a plant hire firm a week before the fire, which is being treated by police as arson.
It also emerged that the fire brigade’s attempts to put out the fire were hampered by a large mound of earth that was blocking access to the site when they arrived on Saturday night.
Former regulars and the local MP are demanding that the building, famed as the country’s “wonkiest pub” after it was affected by subsidence, is rebuilt brick by brick after the council said it was demolished without permission.