Black Bitch campaigners are staging a third rally this weekend, saying they have “no intention of giving up the fight”.
The pub’s owners, Greene King, announced last week their intention to change the name to the Willow Tree.
The campaign’s action committee said they had met last night and agreed on a number of measures which will be deployed in stages depending on Greene King’s attitude to their “reasonable request” for them to drop their “continuing insults” that the town’s mascot is racist and offensive.
The Rally will take place outside the pub on Sunday (February 13) at 2pm with the hope there will be pipers entertaining the crowd before the committee announced the planned actions.
Alistair Old said he was delighted to hear news of the campaign had reached as far as France.
He continued: “Many thanks for your continuing support folks. Apparently the story has made its way into Europe now. My brother in the South of France has heard about the campaign recently.
“We have no intention of giving up the fight to protect our heritage from this unjust accusation from a corporate giant who need to explain in detail what is racist or offensive about the term Black Bitch when used in Linlithgow in its proper context.
“Greene King only need to place Linlithgow’s Dog or something similar above the existing sign and no one can deny its referring to a Black Greyhound Bitch.
“Once again this week Greene King the sent out the corporate blurb stating that they understand the historic significance of the name and changing the name is not meant to disrespect the heritage of Linlithgow.
“This is exactly what they are doing by using their continuing statement that our heritage is offensive.”
Greene King announced last week that the pub’s name will be changed to Willow Tree.
The name is a nod to the nearby statue of drover Katie Wearie and Katie Wearie’s willow tree, which was planted originally in 1832 to mark the Reform Act in Scotland.
Greene King CEO, Nick Mackenzie, said: “Changing the pub’s name has been something we’ve been considering for some time and I’d like to thank people who’ve written to us to offer their views.
“There’s been plenty of publicity around those who don’t agree with our decision, but we’ve also had letters of support from people in Linlithgow.
“This is a difficult balance and throughout this we have continued to highlight our respect for the history of Linlithgow. Our decision is not meant to diminish or denigrate the heritage of the town but at the same time we recognise that language has changed and the name can be extremely offensive to people.
“Our commitment to changing the name is unwavering, as we strongly believe it is the right thing to do for our teams and our customers, but we do understand why our original idea to just change the one word on the sign from Bitch to Hound was not well-received by all.
"It was done with the best of intentions to retain the spirit of the story, but we’ve listened to people who felt it would impact negatively on the town’s emblem.
“We’re pleased therefore to be instead changing it to The Willow Tree, which retains links to the town’s heritage, and look forward to this next chapter of the pub’s history.”
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