Bilston landlord pledges to rebuild pub after arson

George Kang said he wanted to get the pub reopened as soon as possible

The landlord of a Grade II* listed pub badly damaged by fire has pledged it will be rebuilt.

Firefighters were called to the Greyhound and Punchbowl on High Street, Bilston, at about 03:40 BST on Saturday.

West Midlands Police at the weekend blamed the flames on arson.

George Kang, who has run the pub for the past five years, said he was "absolutely devastated" by what had happened.

He said he had spent more than £100,000 renovating the pub after taking it over.

The Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, described the blaze as "gutting" in a post on social media site X, formerly Twitter.

The pub was badly damaged in Saturday's blaze

"There is a lot of time and money been spent on this premises," Mr Kang said.

"Five years of really hard work and it has all gone up in smoke.

"On the positive side, I've looked inside and there's not much structural damage so we can rebuilt it and we have to rebuild it for the community."

The building dates back to the middle of the 16th Century and was originally known as Stoke Heath Manor House.

It was restored in the 1930s when a concrete skin was added to the timber frame, Historic England said.

Katie Nicholls launched a crowdfunding appeal to support a man who lived in the pub

Mr Kang said he had three to four members of staff who were like family and he wanted to get the pub back in business as soon as possible to get them back into work.

He added he was also trying to support a resident of the pub, who had lived there for more than a decade.

Local fundraiser Katie Nicholls set up an online crowdfunding appeal to support the individual whom, she said, had lost his photography business in the blaze. She said he was "really sad" to lose that and his home in one go.

"I've lived in Bilston all my life and [the pub] has always been there," she explained. "I even learned about it in school."