20-year old “Hobbit Pub” told to shut doors by Hollywood film company

the Hobbit pub - 20 years serving Lord of the Rings inspired drink, now told to stop

Residents of Southampton, England have been enjoying the Lord of the Rings inspired drinks at The Hobbit pub for 20-years.  However, thanks to the greed that is Hollywood, it seems the local pub might be no more.

Film rights holder to The Hobbit, Saul Zaentz Company, have issued a cease and desist order to the local pub with strict instructions to stop using any reference to the famous JR Tolkien book the establishment is based on.  No more Frodo or Gandolf cocktail. Get rid of any images and change the front of the pub. Nothing, in any way can look like the book, because now this Hollywood company has the rights and they obviously want all merchandising possibilities to stay with them.

What does it matter that the pub was there first?

Owner Stella Mary Roberts is simply not going to fight it because they don’t have the money to do that. It would be costly – probably a multimillion pounds worth of court costs and legal fees. For a small pub in Southern England that’s just impossible.

But it might not be the end of the battle. The big mean Hollywood film company might not be able to just walk in and take over or force a change.

Thanks to Facebook a page has been created to save The Hobbit Pub and it has more than 58,400 people behind it, including actor Stephen Fry who is actually in the film adaptation of the movie. Fry took to Twitter to also express his dislike of the cease and desist order. “Honestly, @savethehobbit, sometimes I’m ashamed of the business I’m in. What pointless, self-defeating bullying,” Fry tweeted on March 13.

And honestly, I don’t understand why they even care about a small pub in England. There’s more than enough room for a theme park to make loads off in various other countries in the world.  Source.