Sir - A letter from John Pashley (T&A, June 18) has been brought to my notice asking about the origin and purpose of a spotted dog on a building in Northgate.

Here is the most likely explanation so far as I can tell, based upon records of the licence and newspaper reports.

The spots are a later addition; my memory is always of a dog without them. There was once a pub in Northgate called the Greyhound. It opened in 1867 as a beer house and closed in 1891. The last landlord, James Heap, had a couple of convictions against his licence and the chief constable objected to its renewal in 1890.

The pub was reconstructed for other purposes. The Greyhound either once adorned the pub or one was put on the reconstructed building as a remembrance.

There is a building at the top of Godwin Street with a carved beehive on the façade because it had once been an inn called the Beehive.

Dr Paul Jennings FRHistS, Lecturer in History, School of Archaeological Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Bradford