Counter-petition in 'offensive' pub name row

The pub had been named after the MG car that had been built in the town

Thousands of people have signed a petition to reverse plans to change the name of a pub after it was labelled "offensive".

Owners Greene King announced last week that The Midget in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, would be changed after more than 1,300 people signed a petition.

Since the announcement, a counter petition to restore the pub's name has received the support of 2,600.

The pub was named after the eponymous MG car that had been built at a factory in the town until the 1970s - but the term is more-commonly known as a derogatory way of referring to people with dwarfism.

Greene King said the pub's name would be changed to The Roaring Raindrop in tribute to the last ever record-breaking car by MG to be manufactured in Abingdon.

The pub had originally been called The Magic Midget when it opened in 1974 after a former land speed world record car produced by MG, but dropped the word Magic in 2002.

Dr Erin Pritchard, who launched the original petition, told the BBC: "That name is very offensive because it is screamed at you in society, it is shouted at you whilst people giggle at you with their friends going 'ha look over there, there's a real life midget'."

The MG factory in Abingdon closed in 1980

But Abingdon resident Amanda Buckingham said the pub name was "only offensive if it is used as an offensive term about a person".

"People don't go into the pub and think that it's about a person - there's a sign with a picture of the car outside, the decor of the pub is all about cars," she said.

"Changing the name is not going to stop people from calling it The Midget, and it's not going to stop people using the term in a derogatory way."

Dr Pritchard retorted that pub names "change all the time", yet the venues "still remain a piece of local heritage".

She said: "The people in Abingdon might say 'oh it's because of the MG car', but it's still putting that word out in society."

"Where do you think the name for the car came from? The word midget was derived from the Victorian freak shows to refer to people with dwarfism," she added.

Zoe Bowley, managing director of Greene King pubs, previously said the company had thought "long and hard" about changing the name.

"We hope that making the change in this way helps to preserve our pub’s historic links to Abingdon’s past while simultaneously ensuring our pub can be a place where everyone feels welcome," she added.