A howling PR disaster for the ‘anti-corporate punk’ bar chain Backlash against big brewer after it ‘bullied’ independent bar to change name – then blamed the lawyers
IT was a David and Goliath battle that ended in something of a victory for a small Birmingham bar – and a howling PR disaster for the big pub chain that got a little too heavy-handed over a name... ‘Lone Wolf ’.
The backlash against BrewDog’s “bullying attitude” to a small Birmingham independent bar has offered a swift lesson in how not to treat the ‘little guy’, especially if you run a firm with a self-proclaimed “punk anticorporate attitude”.
The row erupted after BrewDog threatened legal action over the Constitution Hill bar’s name – Lone Wolf – purely because it sells its own brand of vodka under the same label.
The owners of the bar, Joshua McFadyen and sister Sallie, were forced to spend thousands reluctantly rebranding the pub as The Wolf.
Then this week came the bizarre U-turn after BrewDog’s co-founder James Watt tweeted: “Our lawyers got a bit trigger happy.
“We are happy for the Lone Wolf bar in Birmingham to keep using the name.”
Speaking to the Post, Mr McFadyen said: “We saw the tweet just like everyone else – there’s been no other communication apart from the lawyers’ letters.
“And we were not even tagged in the tweet. Clearly it’s all been done for PR purposes after all the bad press they were getting.
“Otherwise why didn’t we get notification beforehand?
“It would have been nice if they had got in touch with us directly before sending out the tweet.”
Mr McFadyen added: “We’ve had to go through the stress of having the threat of legal action hanging over us, and the hassle and expense of changing the name to The Wolf, including all exterior signage, promotion and social media – not to mention having to pay for legal representation to respond to their cease and desist letters. It’s all cost us a few thousand pounds.
“Getting a new business off the ground is hard enough. We ploughed all our savings into launching Lone Wolf, then had to pay for legal letters and rebranding and now a month later we’re told we can change it back. It’s laughable really.”
BrewDog’s Mr Watt, in a move many branded PR driven, also tweeted he was sending the pub crates of BrewDog’s Lone Wolf vodka – though Mr McFadyen said: “I don’t want it.”
However, the repercussions may ultimately be worse for BrewDog than The Wolf. Many rushed to Twitter to denounce BrewDog’s attempt at damage limitation.
Others tweeted they would now be boycotting the Scottish brewery company due to its “shameful bullying” of the family-run independent.
The Lone Wolf bar originally received a cease and desist letter on January 27 from Brewdog – just a week after it opened.
Mr McFadyen said: “We were shocked as we’d registered the Lone Wolf name for our bar over a year ago, although we didn’t think to trademark it because we thought it was just a building.
“We got some legal advice and were told we had a good case to take it to court but as we had spent all our money on launching the bar – we had nothing left to fight their lawyers.
“After they sent a second letter demanding we take immediate action we began the arduous process of changing the name to The Wolf including signage and everything else.”
Up until Mr Watt’s tweet, the small bar believed the matter still had not been resolved to BrewDog’s satisfaction.
Mr McFadyen said: “This could have all been avoided with a simple phone call early on rather than the heavy handed way they dealt with us.”
Miss McFadyen told the Post: “We did feel bullied at the time. We’ve come round to the name change now but it was a bit hypocritical to make a lot of public statements saying how much they support independents and they don’t like a big corporate attitude. It seemed to go against what they stand for.”
BrewDog’s stance against the bar was all the more surprising considering it has been on the receiving end of infringement accusations itself in the past.
Last year the brand was warned it could face legal action by Wolverhampton Wanderers football club – ironically over the same Lone Wolf bottle branding, which has a similar design to the club’s badge.
BrewDog’s co-founder James Watt told the Post: “It appears our lawyers did what lawyers do and got a bit carried away with themselves, asking the owners of the new ‘Lone Wolf ’ bar to change its name, as we own the trademark. Now we’re aware of the issue, we’ve set the lawyers straight and asked them to sit on the naughty step to think about what they’ve done.
“Of course, we’re more than happy for the Lone Wolf bar to use the name.”
He added: “If they prefer their new name of The Wolf, we’re cool with that too. Although they wear suits and are mostly sensible folks, lawyers can sometimes go a bit crazy and forget the kind of business we are and how we behave.”
This could have all been avoided with a simple phone call early on The Wolf co-owner Joshua McFadyen