Animal rights campaigners Peta demand award-winning pub change its name from the Woolpack because 'the wool industry is cruel to sheep'
Animal rights campaigners Peta are demanding an award-winning pub change its name from The Woolpack because of their concerns that the wool industry is cruel to sheep.
The campaign group, which also advocates for veganism and an end to all scientific experiments on animals, has written to The Woolpack Inn in Slad, Gloucestershire, and called for the pub to be renamed.
Activists want the venue to be called The Plant Woolpack instead, in reference to environmentally friendly alternatives it says are available - and is offering to pay for it.
But owner Dan Chadwick told the Daily Mail he has no intention of changing the name, which is routed firmly in the pub's 300-year history.
Mr Chadwick, who first purchased The Woolpack Inn in 1999, said it was 'sad that this idea has been given life'.
He said: 'The whole area was built on wool and it is impossible to deny.
'A woolpack was a sack of wool, our sign depicts a mule carrying two of these sacks.
'The Woolpack Inn is a famous cultural landmark and I don't think it would be very popular if the name was changed.
'I hate it when pubs get their names changed as it upsets the history.'
Peta has written to The Woolpack Inn in Slad, Gloucestershire, and called for the pub to be renamed
But owner Dan Chadwick told the Daily Mail he has no intention of changing the name, which is routed firmly in the pub's 300-year history
There are at least 50 pubs in the UK named The Woolpack, with the most famous being the public house in long-running soap Emmerdale.
It is not the first time it has come under scrutiny: a high-profile campaign saw activists try and change the name of the Emmerdale's inn to 'The Hemppack'.
Peta claims the wool industry sees animals abused and exploited and is 'problematic'. The group says wool is 'violently taken from sheep' and animals are subjected to being 'treated like disposable machines'.
The group is targeting the Slad venue after the cosy country pub was named as one of Britain's pest public houses.
It was given the accolade of being in the top 50 gastropubs in the UK in December.
Mr Chadwick said he was unaware of cruelty in the wool industry, but his inn was named after the rich history of the Gloucestershire valley.
The industry employed thousands of people in the area before the industrial revolution and produced some of world's finest quality wool.
Wool produced in Gloucestershire was shipped all over the world and, according to historian of industry Jennifer Tann, clothed the British Army and was even used to make the Pope's robes.
Writing to Mr Chadwick, Peta said it would be 'happy to help contribute to the costs of rebranding' if The Woolpack Inn does change its name.
Yvonne Taylor, Vice President of Corporate Projects, said: 'Sheep are thinking, feeling beings who love their families, but in the wool industry, they’re punched, kicked, and treated like disposable machines.
'PETA encourages the Woolpack Inn to to compassion and embrace a kinder future for animals and the planet as the Woolpack Inn.'
In her letter she added: 'To raise sheep for their wool, swaths of land are cleared, negatively impacting biodiversity.
'Ruminant animals, sheep emit vast amounts of the potent greenhouse gas methane, while toxic sheep dip and wool cleaning chemicals pollute waterways.'
She added that so-called plant wool, which includes materials such as organic cotton, hemp, flax and bamboo, are environmentally friendly as they produce oxygen while absorbing carbon.
The Woolpack Inn has stood for more than 300 years and punters can choose between a fireside tavern, dining room and vine-covered terraces to enjoy their pints and meals.
It was a favoured spot of acclaimed English poet, novelist and screenwriter Laurie Lee, who was brought up in the village and regularly visited his local pub.
