Inside Vogue magazine's feud with a small Cornish pub

A 200-year-old Cornish pub has found itself in a feud with international fashion magazine Vogue over the pub's name. The magazine wrote to the landlord of The Star Inn at Vogue threatening to sue them if they did not change the name of the pub.

Condé Nast, the owners of Vogue, sent the cease and desist letter to the pub to stop it from using the name. The landlord's response to the litigious magazine was somewhat less than impressed.

When publicans Mark and Rachel Graham told CornwallLive that when they received the letter, Mark initially thought that the letter was a joke. It turned out that the letter was in fact deadly serious, and that Vogue magazine appeared to be genuinely concerned its readers would not be able to tell the difference between their high fashion publication and a 200-year-old pub in Cornwall.

READ MORE: CCTV appeal after man has 'corrosive substance' thrown over him answering door

Vogue is a hamlet which blends into St Day near to Redruth. While the pub is 200 years old, the village it's named after is older still.

“When I opened the letter I thought some bugger in the village was having me on,” Mark, the 60-year-old Truro-born publican said.

“Surely these people can’t be serious. In this modern day and age someone couldn’t be bothered to go onto Google and see that Vogue is a Cornish hamlet that’s been here for hundreds of years. It seems common sense has taken a backseat on this one.”

Condé Nast's chief operating officer Sabine Vandenbroucke's concern over the small village appeared to be genuine. In her letter she expressed concern that Vogue the hamlet and Vogue the magazine could become somehow mixed up in people’s minds and lead to global trade being diverted from Milan, Paris, London and