M&S pulls T-shirt from sale after being accused of 'ripping off' London craft beer pub

M&S removed the T-shirt from sale after The Craft Beer Co. accused them of copying their design. Credit: Marks and Spencer

Marks and Spencer has pulled a brewery-themed T-shirt after a London craft ale pub chain accused the retailer of "ripping off" its design.

The Craft Beer Co., which has seven pubs across London, including The Bear in Paddington near M&S's headquarters, tweeted the high street stalwart asking them if they could "expect a royalties cheque in the post!?"

The T-shirt features a logo and the slogon "Craft Beer Co. Pale Ale" and "proper good beer brewed in the UK".

The pub company wrote: "Hey @marksandspencer what’s the idea with these T shirts!? Can we expect a royalties cheque in the post!?"Surely one Iconic British Institution shouldn’t be ripping off another…!!?"

The row threatened to brew over, but M&S replied saying it had removed the item for sale why its team investiaged and offered to talk about the matter over a pint. "Hey @thecraftbeerco, we didn’t mean to cause any ‘bitter-ness’ so have removed the tee from sale so we can investigate. Can we chat about it over a (craft) beer @TheBearPub_CBC later? On us of course!"

The family run business, which launched in 2010, told the retailer they were "very chilled". "The most iconic name on the British high street paying homage to us has been taken with the respect it was no doubt intended," the company replied.

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The T-shirt also drew critisism from shoppers for its "sexist" slogan "for proper good blokes" that featured in smaller type on the front.

"Unbelievable sexist wording in this day and age!!!!," one online shopper commented.

Budget supermarket Aldi, who M&S launched legal action against claiming the former's Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake infringed on the its iconic Colin the Caterpillar trademark, could not resist commenting on the latest copyright row, tweeting on Thursday: "OH HOW THE TABLES HAVE TURNED."