Pub strikes a pose against Vogue to win name fight

MAGAZINE GIVES IN

For an unassuming British pub perched on a country lane and offering all-you-can-eat burgers and hotdogs for 10 pounds ($15.80), a letter from the most iconic fashion magazine raised eyebrows.

But when Mark Graham, the landlord, opened it to discover that Vogue was demanding that his pub change its 200-year-old name or face legal action, that curiosity quickly became a fierce determination to resist.

The magazine sent a ceaseand-desist letter to the Star Inn at Vogue, based in a rural hamlet called Vogue near the town of Redruth, arguing that its name might confuse readers.

They said they were “concerned that the name which you are using is going to cause problems because as far as the general public is concerned a connection between your business and ours is likely to be inferred.” The letter, seen by The Daily Telegraph, added: “Please reply within seven days or we will take remedial action.”

In what has been dubbed a classic David versus Goliath battle, residents rallied together and were prepared to go to court, with the pub declaring it has no plans to change its name.

It said it intended to “crack on the way we always have,” pointing out that Vogue was first published in 1916 — nearly a century after the pub was established. On Friday, lawyers for Vogue’s parent company Condé Nast changed their minds following the protest, admitting in a letter to Graham that “you are quite correct to note that further research by our team would have identified that we did not need to send such a letter on this occasion.”

Graham said: “I was astonished that in this day and age that a company that big could not be bothered to do any background checks before sending such a nasty letter.”