Landlady will put up a fight for Shropshire pub name
It has been known as the Fighting Cocks for decades – and landlady Sandra Jeffries is in no mood to change it now.
The pub is one of a number across the UK under pressure from animal campaigners to change its name.
Peta – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals – says pubs should not promote an illegal sport that is cruel to birds.
But Sandra, who has been at the Fighting Cocks for more than a decade, says the name is simply reflective of the history of the building.
The pub, at Stottesdon, near Bridgnorth, was first known as the Cock Inn and its first recorded licence was granted in 1830.
Thomas Jones, it's first landlord, would advertise a 'cock-pit' at the inn, although cock fighting was banned in 1849.
Peta has written an open letter to Ye Olde Fighting Cocks in St Albans in Hertfordshire to change its name to Ye Olde Clever Cocks in a bid to highlight that chickens are "intelligent, sensitive and super-social animals".
It says it will be sending the letter to all Fighting Cocks pubs across the county.
Sandra said: "I have been here 17 years and I have never had anyone ask us to change it. There are a few different pubs around the area that have similar names. Some years ago this was called the Cock Inn, I'm not sure why it was changed."
The St Albans pub, which is in the Guinness Book of Records as the UK's oldest, has had its name since 1872 because of the history of cock fighting.
But in an open letter to the chief executive of Mitchells and Butlers and pub landlord Christo Tofalli, special projects manager of Peta, Dawn Carr urged the pub – and others with a similar name – to end its association with the sport.
She said: "The name Ye Olde Fighting Cocks calls to mind the violence and gore of cockfighting, a hideous blood sport so cruel that it has been outlawed in the UK.
"A change of name to Ye Olde Clever Cocks would help highlight the fact that chickens are intelligent, sensitive and super-social animals."
Christo, who has been at the pub for more than three years, said he had a responsibility for preserving the history and the heritage of one of the oldest pubs in the country. And Bridgnorth pub owner Sandra said she did not think the pub's name showed any association to promoting the sport.
She said: "Obviously I don't agree with cock fighting, and I don't think that pubs that have the name agree with it.
"I really don't think that when people see the name they think that it is promoting those things. Where would it stop? There are a lot of pubs with names that might not be politically correct.
"But The Fighting Cocks has been here for years – I don't think it is an offensive name and it is staying put."
