Newham's oldest secular building to be saved as Spotted Dog pub restoration begins

"Known as the Spotted Dog pub, it is claimed to have been a hunting lodge leased to King Henry's Master of the Hounds, who was allowed to keep the income from selling refreshments to people passing through. That naturally led to it eventually becoming an Inn, and in 1921, Leopold Wagner wrote that until WWI, the Spotted Dog "stood alone among the inns of the country at large in having its licence direct from the Crown,"."

"The listed building includes C15th and C16th Tudor elements, timber-framed and weatherboarded, with a jettied 1st floor and a clay-tiled, gabled, pitched roof. To the North of this are Victorian extensions. Sadly, in the 1960s, at the height of the demolition of Victorian heritage, the building was gutted and a fake Tudor interior installed, with an extension added in the 1980s."

The Spotted Dog in east London may have been King Henry VIII’s hunting lodge and is Newham’s oldest secular building. The building began as a Tudor double-height hall and acquired 16th-, 19th- and 20th-century additions. Listed features include 15th- and 16th-century timber framing, weatherboarding, a jettied first floor and a clay-tiled gabled roof, with Victorian extensions to the north. The building was gutted in the 1960s, fitted with a fake Tudor interior, and gained an extension in the 1980s. The pub closed over twenty years ago and is on Historic England’s at-risk register. Local firm Highpride Properties bought the site and will fund restoration by developing surrounding housing, removing later additions, reinstating historic elements, and reopening the pub.

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