Dear Sirs
I wish to register my objection to the Raycliffe Capital proposition for the Whitechapel Bell Foundry site, I wish it to remain as a Foundry. That will be it’s optimum viable use and not conversion to a boutique hotel with a token bell stuck on the top.
Whilst our own bells at Kingston upon Thames were in the process of being recast and rehung in a new frame at Whitechapel in the mid 1970’s several members of our band of bell ringers including myself used to visit the foundry most Saturday mornings to see how the work was progressing and many members of the church went there to watch the new bells being cast. Indeed we, the bell ringers did most of the work ourselves in removing the old bells from the tower, loading them on the lorry and then dismantling and disposing of the old wooden frame and preparing the tower for essential building work that needed to be done.
When the tower was ready we also helped the Whitechapel bellhangers fit the frame and hang the bells in the tower.
We have a complete photographic record of all the work done both at Kingston and Whitechapel should you wish to view it.
I repeat I wish the site to continue as a working foundry and I gather that there is a plan that has been put forward to realise this. I urge you to support this plan and refuse Raycliffe Capital’s application.

The Whitechapel Bell Foundry has been intimately involved in history around the world. Their very name conjures memories of the starting and ending of wars, celebrations and public announcements. They are a symbol of the United Kingdom and its cultural influence across the globe.
Its proposed replacement, a boutique hotel with a rooftop pool, would be devastating. One is unique, and has meant England and its world-wide impact for centuries. The other is one of many thousands, and could be built anywhere and no one would notice.
For the developers, this is a convenient site. In a statement by the East London Mosque, they have not been contacted by the developer, as the developer has stated. If they are willing to tell lies in regard to contacting a sacred place of worship, what else is untrue?
For us, who love Great Britain, whether we’re residents or not, this is what Britain means, literally centuries of tradition brought forward into our new century. It has been, and is, a great reason for the pleasure of visiting Tower Hamlets.
The factory is viable. The business plan that has been proposed to reopen the factory is viable. They simply require your support to continue making bells, as they have since the 1500’s, with a direct line back to the early 1400’s.
The future of a vitally important international treasure is now in your hands. The choice is between a business founded when Queen Elizabeth 1 was on the throne, or a relatively anonymous hotel with a rooftop pool and perhaps token bell polishing in the lobby. Please choose viable history over anonymity; please choose the foundry, the current land usage, and refuse the boutique hotel’s change of land use request.
My thanks.
Gregory Hubbard

We must stop throwing away our heritage like this, places such as this, and the skills that were demonstrated within must not be lost to the price of a comfy bed for a few nights. What a sad waste of our history. Do the right thing Tower Hamlets.

So they think polishing bells a few days of the year in the lobby is reinstating the foundry? Where do they plan on getting these bells? How long before they don’t even bother to pretend?

I hope Town Hamlets does right by the foundry and allows it to be reinstated by the charitable organizations that have a viable, practical and respectful plan.

If there is anything London doesn’t need, it’s another hotel hiding behind a façade.

The Factum plans have got so much more depth to them than the Raycliff plans which although they say they will preserve the old buildings and do some bell founding on site it is all on a much smaller scale and smacks of Disneyfication.

We want proper crafts and skills happening in the foundry, not just something for the tourists!