Hotels chain ‘bullies’ pub over its name

A HOTEL chain has been accused of attempting to bully the landlord of a community pub for describing it as a village inn.

Chris Swarbrick was preparing to reopen the Bay Horse inn and called his company BH Village Inns Ltd. But then national chain Village Hotels claimed the word ‘village’ is its trademark.

DWF solicitors told Mr Swarbrick in a letter: ‘Our client owns an international portfolio of registered trademarks, including registrations for Village.

‘Your use of the company’s name is highly likely to cause considerable confusion in the minds of the public.’

Mr Swarbrick, 53, an IT specialist who is running the pub in Roughlee, Lancashire, after it closed following a fire and was then bought by the local community, was given 14 days to change the name of his trading company. He said: ‘It is ridiculous. I checked with Companies House and there are 4,800 other companies with ‘‘village’’ in their name.’

Local businessman Paul Dawson, 70, added: ‘This is big business using regulations to bully a traditional English pub.’

But as fighting the case would cost too much Mr Swarbrick is changing the company name to BHVI. DWF solicitors did not respond to requests for comment.