The Rising Sun Pub: Fire, Vandals and a Roof Caving In

This is not a house, and it is worth saying so plainly at the start. The Rising Sun was a pub — a roadside pub in Brownhills, Staffordshire, that closed its doors in 2008 and has been falling apart ever since. It belongs in this series for the same reason the Grove Inn did: these were working buildings, full of people, that went quiet one day and never filled up again. Everything in this article comes from the post that published the photographs and from the five photographs shown here.

The post was published on 8 November 2026, and it is unusually specific about what has happened to the building. A pub has stood on this road since 1769, it says — that is the road’s history, not necessarily this building’s — and since the closure the pub has suffered fire arson attacks, vandals and squatters. The explorer calls it “such a death trap”, and the photographs show why. The upstairs caves through, parts of the roof are missing, floorboards have holes in them, and stairs break under a single footstep. He entered only the parts that were safe enough to stand in.

The sign is still up

The featured photograph shows the pub from the road, and it is a wreck that still announces itself. The white paint is peeling off in sheets. The red-tiled roof is fire-damaged, with exposed timbers sticking up where the tiles have gone. The gold “RISING SUN” sign is still fixed to the front, legible and almost defiant. The windows are boarded. A Union Jack flag hangs from the wall, and rusted barrels lie in the weeds in front of the building.

There is a “DANGER — KEEP OUT” sign on the wall, and it is not decoration. The post describes a building that is unsafe in the most literal sense: floors that give way, a staircase that breaks, a roof with holes in it. Nothing in this article encourages anyone to go inside. The photographs are the only way in, and they are enough.

The bar, in colour and in ruins

The most striking photograph in the set is the bar. A long wooden counter with colourful mosaic tile trim runs across the room, and behind it a wall of multicoloured tiles — red, blue, yellow, green — is covered in graffiti. The ceiling above has collapsed, debris lies everywhere, and a broken window lets daylight into the wreckage.

It is a strange combination: the tiles are bright and cheerful, the kind of thing a pub puts up to feel welcoming, and everything around them is smashed. The graffiti on the tiled wall and the white spray paint on the bar front are the marks of the vandals the post describes. The collapsed ceiling and the rubble are the marks of the fire and the years since.

The third photograph shows another ruined bar counter, this one with peeling paint and orange graffiti on a pillar, a red sign in the background, and more collapsed ceiling and rubble. The fourth shows what is left of a glass-fronted drinks fridge, smashed under a collapsed wooden counter, with broken tiles, chunks of concrete and plants growing through the debris. Plants growing through the debris is the detail that gives the timescale away — this has been going on for years, not months.

A room that cannot be stood in

The second interior photograph shows a destroyed room with yellow peeling walls and black graffiti, a collapsed ceiling with insulation hanging down, boarded windows with red-blue curtains still hanging, smashed furniture and rubble, and a turquoise chair frame in the foreground. The curtains are the detail that matters most. They are still there, on the windows, in a room where the ceiling has fallen in. Somebody hung those curtains when the pub was open. Nobody has taken them down.

The post says the explorer had been here before, a year earlier, and has not seen or heard anything else about the place since. He remembers it as a popular pub — pub grub, a drink, the occasional event — and calls it “another pub looking in a sorry sad state”. That is the whole arc of the building in one sentence: a busy local, then a closed building, then a fire, then vandals, then a roof that caves in.

What the photographs prove — and what they do not

• The pub closed in 2008. Stated in the post.
• A pub has stood on this road since 1769. Stated in the post, about the road, not necessarily about this building.
• The building has suffered arson attacks, vandalism and squatting since closure. Stated in the post; the fire damage, graffiti and smashed fittings are visible in the photographs.
• The upstairs caves through, parts of the roof are missing, floorboards have holes, and stairs break underfoot. Stated in the post; the collapsed ceilings and rubble are visible in the photographs.
• The exact ownership, the current legal status, and whether demolition is planned. Not published in the post, and not given here.

For a contrast with a house that is lived in and on the market, see a lived-in 1902 home in Alexandria, Minnesota, where the questions are about upkeep and price rather than about what a closed building leaves behind. More places in this condition are gathered in abandoned houses and in abandoned mansions, and the site’s front page is abandoned.blog.

FAQ

Where is the Rising Sun pub?

In Brownhills, Staffordshire, on a roadside, according to the post. No exact address is given, and none is given here.

When did the pub close?

In 2008, according to the post.

How old is the pub?

The post says there has been a pub on the road it stands on since 1769. That is the road’s history, not necessarily the age of this building.

What happened to it after it closed?

According to the post, fire arson attacks, vandalism and squatters, leaving the building unsafe. The photographs show a fire-damaged roof, collapsed ceilings, graffiti and smashed fittings.

Is it safe to go inside?

No. The post calls it a death trap: the upstairs caves through, parts of the roof are missing, floorboards have holes, and stairs break under a single footstep. Do not enter.

What is still visible inside?

A mosaic-tiled bar counter, a multicoloured tiled wall with graffiti, a second ruined bar, a smashed drinks fridge, and a destroyed room where the curtains still hang on boarded windows.

When was it last explored?

The explorer had visited a year before the post, which was published on 8 November 2026, and says he has not seen or heard anything else about the place since.

Disclaimer

This article is general information only, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules on abandoned and private property differ by state and county; check county/local records and a local professional before acting.

Photos

Photos by Luke2Explore, via the original Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/Luke2Explore/posts/1616416037190745/ — 5 of the 33 photos are shown here.