Thank you for e-mailing me about the campaign to restore The Old Spotted Dog in Newham.

Campaigns such as this highlight the importance of pubs to communities, as they serve as hubs for social, charitable and sporting activities.

You highlighted in your e-mail how the pub is one of the oldest buildings in the area. This is the case for many communities across the country with the pub acting as an active link to the heritage of an area, which would have been otherwise lost.

The Save the Pub All Party Parliamentary Group campaigns to ensure that the Government recognises the importance of pubs to the communities they reside in.

We are currently campaigning to ensure that planning policy reflects the importance of pubs to communities. It is our hope that we will stop the trend of valued pubs being turned into betting shops and pay day loan centres, which contribute nothing to the community. We hope that these changes would help safeguard the future of pubs such as The Old Spotted Dog.

As chair of the group I am happy to support your campaign to save The Old Spotted Dog and I wish you the best of luck as you campaign to restore your community pub.

Yours sincerely

Greg Mulholland MP

Chair, All Party Parliamentary Save the Pub Group