I WAS appalled by the comments made by the Bobov Jewish community (Gazette, August 21), regarding the noise nuisance from The Swan pub in Clapton Common, now apparently to be turned into a synagogue...

I WAS appalled by the comments made by the Bobov Jewish community (Gazette, August 21), regarding the noise nuisance from The Swan pub in Clapton Common, now apparently to be turned into a synagogue.

Even more outrageous, was the suggestion that "children often play there".

As anyone who has been to The Swan will attest, there is nowhere that children can play as The Swan is on the main road and the only area that any child can play is on Clapton Common itself, far away from The Swan - and on the other side of the main road.

But this sleight on the patrons of The Swan goes beyond what the Jewish community say.

It has an agenda. It's the nature of the Jewish community to snap up any building that comes on the market, in and around its designated areas, and to hell with the feelings and concerns of residents.

The Swan belongs to the people of Hackney and is part of Hackney's history, but the Bobov Jewish community has no "respect" for that.

Ian Bennison,

Webb Estate, Upper Clapton.