I read this morning about Newcastle Brown Ale and I felt really sad. It is completely iconic with Newcastle and utterly synomonous with the City itself. Heck, the blue star is as famous as the black and white stripes. I guess I would rather see the brand moved to cut costs rather than see it disappear altogether.

I have to say though Paul, I come from Melton Mowbray and the protected status is thoroughly deserving for the Pork Pie. They fought a long and protracted campaign for it to be recognised because more and more companies were simply making a Pork Pie and slapping Melton Mowbray on the front (there are differences, they are subtle, but they are there).

What I understand about Newky Brown though is, they took the protected status away because they realised they had it trademarked and that they were the only ones that could call it Newcastle Brown Ale. The brand was bigger than the recipe shall we say. With all the other protected foods, there are several companies within the areas themselves that make it, in the case of Melton Mowbray Pork Pies we have Walkers and Dickinson and Morris. So i guess the differences are there between Newky Brown and Pork Pies.

It is still sad though, we should always try and preserve what makes a region great.