Brewery announces the new names of the Black Boy pubs

A Suffolk brewery has announced the results of a public vote to rename the Black Boy pubs in Bury St Edmunds and Sudbury.

Calling time on old pub names over Suffolk brewery's 19th Century links to slavery

In January, Greene King announced it would be renaming the pubs because of the racist connotations of the names.

So they put it to a public vote - which closed yesterday (Wednesday 10 February)

After 3,450 votes the Black Boy in Bury St Edmunds will be renamed

The West Gate: The pub is built close to where the town’s old West Gate once stood and towards the rear of the pub are remnants of the old town wall that used to join up to the West Gate.

After 760 votes, the Black Boy in Sudbury will be called:

The Lady Elizabeth: Named after Lady Elizabeth de Burgh, who in the 14th century invested in creating the Market Hill in Sudbury, where the pub and hotel sits today.

Don't expect to see the new names soon though. Greene King say it is still likely to take a few months to change the signs at each pub, because of the timescales required to get the necessary planning permissions to carry out work on the buildings.