A South London brew house named Fuckoffee was forced to change its sign by the building owner because the name was offensive. The unique name was causing complaints among the residents and the local authorities.

A letter was sent to the establishment's proprietor, Adrian Jones. The owners of the building threatened to tear down the sign if he did not change the name.

When Jones got the letter, his first response was a Twitter post featuring the letter with the words:

"No humour please. We're British."

According to a letter from the building owner's lawyer, the business needed to remove the sign, have it removed by the owner, or face court proceedings requiring the removal of the offensive sign.

Facebook Petition In Support Of The Coffee House

The social media post Fuckoffee owner sent got a lot of attention, especially from the proprietor's loyal followers. These fans even created a petition to try and help the coffee household on to its name.

The petition read in part:

"There is a small, indie coffee shop in Bermondsey called Fuckoffee. They have had a few anally retentive and gormless people complain about their name and how they have their money-grabbing corporate landlord demand they take the sign down as it is deemed to be "offensive." We, the undersigned, confirm we have a sense of humour and find the continued attack on our beloved Fuckoffee an insult to freedom of expression, freedom of speech, and humour."

Local officials also revealed that even though the name might be offensive, it is not actually illegal.

The Restaurant Eventually Changed Its Name

Although the coffee house appeared to be winning the fight to hold on to its name, the business owner was increasingly concerned about the controversy. So, he eventually decided to change the restaurant's name.

However, he had something to say about his right to name his restaurant whatever he wanted:

"I was doing coffee before Starbucks, so I can call my shop anything I want."

The building owner had promised the brewhouse owner that if the name was not changed, steps would be taken to bring down the sign. The police had received calls from police about the coffee shop's name, although the authorities did not look very keen on taking any action despite admitting that the name was offensive.

Eventually, the restaurant changed its name, although it wasn't much of a change for those concerned about the original name's cheekiness. In place of the name Fuckoffee, the restaurant put up a sign saying F*ckoffee.

However, this is not the first business to have faced criticism over its name choice. In Texas, a restaurant named Fat Ho Burgers stirred a controversy that culminated in forming a Facebook group against it.