Renters barred from having dogs now get ‘ruff’ welcome in Tower Hamlets
Bella the puppy gets a bit tongue-tied welcoming house renters to the East End, seen getting a 'ruff' check-up and the PDSA's pets clinic in Bow. Picture: Tim Winter - Credit: Archant
More landlords are banning renters keeping pets in their properties with three of the worst areas found in east London.
East End dogs are pampered with their own little sports cars, seen here in the 2017 Limehouse street festival. Picture: Limehouse Social Market - Credit: Limehouse Social Market
But Tower Hamlets has come out as a "top dog" London borough for allowing pets, according to a survey.
Among the worst are aptly named Barking where unfriendly landlords are in the dog house.
Barking sits cheek-by-jowl with its "no dogs allowed" neighbour Havering, as well as Waltham Forest, according to the Sellhousefast.uk property website.
Harley on patrol in 'Canary Woof' with his keeper John Graham when the business district got a doggie-friendly makeover in July. Picture: Sean Pollock/Canary Wharf - Credit: Archant
Tower Hamlets, on the other paw, is the third-most friendly London borough for pets, after Kensington-Chelsea and Westminster.
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The survey found 49 East End properties allowing animals and 33 in neighbouring Shoreditch and Hackney.
"Pets as part of the family," a website spokesman said. "They bring mental health benefits, lowering stress and anxiety, and are even good for anyone with depression."
Vinnie the Morkie who took his landlords to court for serving an eviction order to get him out of his luxury apartment in Limehouse in 2017. Picture: Steve Burton - Credit: Smartpicsuk
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Yet it hasn't always been so good in the East End. Gabby Kuehn faced a landlord's court injunction to get rid of Vinnie, her pet Maltese-Yorkshire crossbreed, from their Limehouse penthouse apartment.
It was a bit of a dog's dinner which led to a national campaign for the right for anyone to own a pet with a petition to Parliament to make bans on keeping pets illegal.
Gabby told the East London Advertiser at the time: "My dog is part of my family. A landlord shouldn't have the right to say you cannot have a pet.
Ada the champ at Victoria Park's annual dog show. Picture: John Graham - Credit: John Graham
"There are charities taking in hundreds of animals because people face bans just to keep a roof over their head."
The East End pioneered animal care more than 100 years ago. The national PDSA charity founded in Whitechapel celebrated its centenary last year and still runs a busy pet clinic in Bow.
But numbers of London pet-friendly properties have fallen by 122 compared to last year, according to data from Zoopla.
Not so in the East End, however, where dogs and cats still seem to have a place on the welcome mat — apart from Gabby Kuehn's landlords in Limehouse.
Mutts even get their own fashion show with what the best-dressed canines are wearing this season. Dogs took to the "catwalk" for their own show at Bethnal Green in 2017.
A "Canary Woof" pet-owners social group also holds annual doggie shows at the Limehouse street festival and an annual dog show is staged in Victoria Park.
