Linlithgow pub is 'not racist' and Greene King must stop name change, urges protest organiser

The Black Bitch pub in Linlithgow is to be rebranded to The Black Hound by its owner Greene King, sparking a campaign led by Alastair Old to save the pub's original name.

The petition has achieved the support of 11,000 people who "want the name to stay", revealed its organiser in an exclusive interview with GB News' Scotland reporter Davie Donaldson.

Alastair Old said that the company's move to change the historic name "totally rejects our heritage".

It is said the pub takes its name from the story of a black female hound that would swim across the loch in Linlithgow carrying food to her master, who sentenced her to death.

Greene King, which has already changed the name of pubs called The Black Boy and The Black's Head, argues the decision has been taken after a dialogue with the pub's landlord Nick Mackenzie.

Alastair Old said: "We finally met up with Green King management on the 22nd of December outside the town.

We tried to negotiate with them in a compromise on the change of the name, saying that maybe a bit more signage would help in the the the name of the pub.

However, that was rejected totally out of our hands and they said that they were gonna change the name. So basically there was no change in the position from their management team."

Alastair Old told GB News that he had "raised our concerns about the level of abuse and racial abuse that had started to raise in the town. Because of the issue, I had personally put out stuff on social media to ask people to be respectful of people's opinions and and not to inflame the situation."

The protest organiser said that he had informed the Greene King management team of his concerns but said "they rejected that and had said they were going to continue with the the name change."

Police Scotland have launched an investigation into the “racist messages” allegedly sent to the activists.

The police said that they were treating the complaints as a “hate crime” but highlighted that investigations were at an early stage.

When asked about the pub's future, Alastair Old said: "To be honest, not sure what's next. It's up to Greene King. Now they may change the the pub name. If that does happen, I think they will damage their own reputation further."

Additional reporting by Davie Donaldson