WHETHER or not the new name of the Slaughtered Lamb for the former Bull and Butcher pub in Burnley is "repulsive", as local historian Ken Spencer complains, there is another aspect to this tinkering with the traditional titles of the nation's inns.

Mercifully, the new monicker of the old Bull and Butcher is not as naff or silly as some.

But why, in all of this, is any interference at all allowed with institutions that are part of our heritage?

Pubs are often also local institutions and landmarks.

Imagine if someone decided to give Buckingham Palace or Trafalgar Square a quirky "modern" name.

Is it not time our planning authorities in the town hall were given powers of veto?