Pub name change concerns locals

10-Jul-2006 - Last updated on 26-Aug-2011 at 23:52 GMT

Pubgoers in Exeter have launched a petition over fears Heavitree Inns is considering changing the name of their local. Heavitree owns the Horse and...

Pubgoers in Exeter have launched a petition over fears Heavitree Inns is considering changing the name of their local.

Heavitree owns the Horse and Groom in the city and locals say they have heard the company is planning to change its 200-year-old name to the Heavitree.

Terry Wheatley, of Heavitree Inns, told the Exeter Express and Echo: "We might be and we might not be. I can't say yes and I can't say no. It is something we have done at pubs in the past and it is something that is being considered by the company but to be honest I don't know."

However, customer Dawn Pearce was more certain.

She told the paper: "I was told they were changing the name to the Heavitree and I checked with the licensing people at Exeter Civic Centre and they said they had an application to change the name.

"It has devastated some of the old boys who use the place and I think it is terrible."

Local historian Den Perrin said: "It has been the Horse and Groom for at least 200 years. It was one of the main public buildings in Heavitree, holding auctions and coroner's inquests. It was also a popular stopping-off point for the crowds going to public executions in Ringswell."