The leaning Christmas card honouring Crooked House pub

It is an experience known to Christmas card recipients everywhere - a crisp, new envelope is opened only to reveal festive wishes that just cannot stand up straight.

In the West Midlands this year, though, the uneven stock is literally by design.

The slanted season's greetings honour the famously wonky pub, the Crooked House near Dudley that was lost to fire this summer.

A crooked calendar is also on sale.

The pair of products feature photos of the lopsided boozer that were sent in to organiser and campaign group Save the Crooked House (Let's Get It Rebuilt).

The months in the calendar are spelt phonetically to reflect the local dialect, while the card bears the message: "Happy crooked Christmas."

They are being sold online and at a pop-up shop outside the Dudley Arms in Himley, Staffordshire, on Saturday.

Once known as "Britain's wonkiest" inn, the pub was gutted in the blaze on 5 August and then suddenly demolished two days later.

So unusual was the venue, pennies that were rolled along the bar would appear to travel uphill.

Ian Sandell from the campaign group said he hoped the sale would help raise the profile of the proposal to rebuild the venue, complete with signature shift.

"We've got family photos, we've got wedding photos, we've photos through the period of the building itself, " he said of the calendar.

Printer Stuart Blaze, from Wellington in Shropshire, produced the items, making sure they were off-centre just like the pub, which was affected by subsidence due to mining in the area in the 19th Century.

"We had to create a jig and create something that will cut it crooked," he explained.

"The Christmas cards go under the guillotine but I can only cut six at a time, so it's quite a laborious, a labour-intensive job, but it's also been fun to do."

Paul Turner from the campaign group said the loss of the pub triggered a huge public reaction.

"There's been fantastic media attention all over the world for the loss of this iconic pub and what we're hoping is we can keep on keeping the momentum going," he said.

Five people have been arrested in connection with investigations into the events of August.

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