People in Linlithgow campaigning to stop the UK’s biggest pub chain from changing the name of the town’s historic Black Bitch tavern have vowed to fight on after it was announced it would become the Willow Tree.

Despite the opposition from local residents and the wider community, Greene King have decided that the name “Black Bitch” is too offensive and must be changed.  Without much debate or discussion.

It is strange how Greene King are selective in what history they believe! The Willow Tree was planted to commemorate the Reform Act of 1832. The original founder to the Greene King pub chain was Benjamin Greene. He was a slave owner and was was extremely opposed to the Reform Act, which when passed changed the rules as to who should be allowed to vote. The Act was intended to extend democracy by “easing the property requirements for voting, granting well to do middle class men the right to vote “

While this seems archaic to us, it was a huge step forward for democracy in the UK, and was marked in Linlithgow by the planting of a willow tree.  By choosing the name Willow Tree to replace the name Black Bitch, those in charge at Greene King are showing both their ignorance of their own company history and their disregard for the people in Linlithgow. 

Benjamin Greene owned 231 slaves at the time of the Reform Act; and campaigned relentlessly against allowing the spread of democracy, and also against the abolition of slavery.  Despite this, the Greene King pub chain has chosen to rename the Black Bitch (which has no connection at all with slavery). See our previous article on this here: https://patriotsvoice.uk/2021/12/20/support-the-local-people-of-linlithgow-against-cancel-culture/

And throughout the whole process there is a feeling amongst the Linlithgow community that there has been no real consultation, as well as a wilful misunderstanding of the story of the faithful dog after whom the pub was named, the Black Bitch. 

Mr Alasdair Old who represents “the Black Bitch action group” is quoted as having said “This company continues to pretend that they have some sort of mandate to proclaim that the historic name of the Black Bitch is racist and offensive” 

Local residents feel like they are being branded as racists, and have said they will vote with their feet and simply eat and drink elsewhere, rather than accept a vague and bland new name being forced on them.

Such is the opposition that the locals are considering a crowdfunding exercise in order to buy the pub and to retain its name. This will only go ahead if Greene King agree to sell the pub!

To quote Mr Old again, “Greene King seem to be offended by the name of the pub, and therefore they’re going wipe out our history. If this means so much to them in terms of bad publicity or whatever, why don’t they sell the pub? And if that were the case, then we would look seriously at it.” He confirmed that the Local Action group would indeed be interested in buying the pub as a community venture.

This has previously happened in the nearby village of Culross, where residents obtained partial government funding to allow the local people to own their own local pub.

It is becoming relentless but predictable how the “woke” mob are complaining about history and historical facts as well as the traditions known to local communities for centuries, and to quote a local: “The Black Bitch is part of Linlithgow’s history, it’s living history and they are in fairyland.”

We should oppose all attempts to white wash (are we even allowed to say that?) or airbrush events and place names which are currently regarded as offensive by the “woke” crowd.  The United Kingdom has a rich and important heritage and attempts to change the names of streets or pubs because they might make things uncomfortable for anyone are ridiculous and also offensive to local people.

Remember, pubs exist to make money, and we should vote with our feet and refuse to spend money in companies intent on destroying our heritage and history.

Please consider subscribing to our FREE email newsletter by simply typing in your email address and hitting the subscribe button at the bottom of this page or on our home page.

Remember to share this post with everyone in your contacts and on social media. 

Thank you.