Old Spotted Dog, Forest Gate will be restored with hotel

Our sister site London Now reported that the decision was made by Newham Council's strategic planning committee at a meeting on December 9 after two applications were submitted by Highpride Properties Ltd for the "restoration and re-use" of the Old Spotted Dog site at 212 Upton Lane in Forest Gate last year.

According to the council, it is the borough's oldest secular building and is thought to have once been a hunting lodge used by King Henry VIII.

The approved plans include the removal of 20th-century features to reveal and restore the original Tudor, Georgian/ early Victorian, and late Victorian/ Edwardian elements of the building.

Internal works will also address structural issues and to restore decorative Victorian features in the Tudor parts of the building.

This will involve the reinstatement of windows and brickwork using materials and detailing to match the historic fabric.

A pub garden and associated seating areas were also proposed at the front of the site along Upton Lane and to the rear.

Two new buildings will be built containing a total of 22 residential flats and 14 hotel rooms.

The site is next to The Old Spotted Dog Ground which, according to the council, is home to the oldest senior football ground in London, continuously used since 1880.

Clapton Community Football Club (CCFC) plays its home games next door to the former boozer and raised concerns in January about "noise disturbances from football matches and community events" as the windows of one of the proposed new flat blocks faces the football ground.

Officers commented in response that all units within this block have been arranged so bedrooms do not face the football ground in order to reduce "potential exposure to noise disturbance".

Re-consultation letters were issued to all neighbouring properties in July and no further representations were received from the club.

A council spokesperson claimed that developers have calculated that it is unviable to include an element of social housing in the proposed plans, due to the cost of the renovation.

However, there is a commitment to making 35 per cent of the construction jobs on the project, and 50pc of jobs in the new pub and hotel to Newham residents.

Explaining why it has a Grade-II listing Historic England said: “[It is] a well-surviving, if simply constructed, late-C15 or early-C16 house comprising central hall and flanking two-storey cross wings, these with weatherboarded jetties; interesting interior including exposed timbers, hearth with bressummer, other fireplaces and historic joinery including a Victorian bar and back bar.

"Particular poignancy as a rare-surviving late-medieval building in this area, evoking the rural character that could be enjoyed here until the middle of the C19, when this part of old Essex was lost to the expanding capital.”

A timeframe for when the redevelopment may begin or be completed by has not yet been revealed.