A derelict pub has been spared demolition after a planning application for housing development on the site was rejected by councillors.

The Harrow pub in Ripple Road, Barking, will remain in tact although it currently stands empty and in worsening condition.

A planning application to bulldoze the pub, thought to date back to the 1920s, and build in its stead five two-storey, three-bedroom houses and a three-storey block of one and two-bedroom flats was turned down.

Paul Scott, who set up a Facebook campaign to save the Harrow pub from demolition, said of the outcome: “I feel great, I feel as though at least the campaign has achieved something.

“I think it has preserved the notion that potentially the Harrow pub building could be saved, because it is a building of some historic interest that has been there since the late 1920s, so it still means a lot to local residents.”

Concerns over parking and the level of affordable housing offered to residents were said to be the reason for planning permission being refused at the development control board meeting on Monday (November 12).

Paul, 36, of Goodmayes, added: “I would like to see that (the Harrow pub) could still be preserved and could be repaired enough to be considered for a locally listed building.”