Phil Mellows is holding on tight to a dream that will see one of Newham’s most historic pubs become part of local life again

It’s been well over a year now since Newham Council approved the plan to refurbish and reopen the Old Spotted Dog on Upton Lane, closed since 2004. According to the campaign group Save the Spotted Dog, there is still no date for work to start – making it all the more important that we don’t let them forget about it.

The pub is believed to have started life as a hunting lodge for Henry VIII before becoming a destination for people fleeing London to the country during the Great Plague. It is the Borough’s oldest surviving secular building and is listed by English Heritage.

It probably didn’t become a pub until the early 19^th century, and from 1839 it was owned by a William Vause who expanded the building and advertised “spacious dining room and billiards” and the space for “field sports” which became the home of Clapton FC.

Signage on photographs of the pub at the beginning of the 20^th century suggest it was tied to East End brewer Truman Hanbury & Buxton, though Bass Ale and Reid’s Stout are also prominently advertised. At any rate, complete with steak house, in the 1970s, it was part of Watney’s Schooner Inns.

Within a few years of closing it had fallen into a dangerous state of disrepair, and Save the Spotted Dog was formed to fight to get it renovated and reopened.

The site is now owned by developer Highpride Properties. Its plans are ambitious, detailed and appear sympathetic to the needs of the community. It will restore the historic parts of the building, creating a pub-restaurant, meeting space and function room. Most of the car park will become a lawned garden, and a four-storey 68-room hotel will be built next door.

This is obviously going to cost a lot of money, and in the uncertainties of our post-pandemic times perhaps the delay in progress is understandable.

But we need to hold fast to the dream of preserving a fascinating part of the Borough’s history in a way that makes it a part of local lives, and not a mere museum piece. And that’s a job that pubs are particularly good at.

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