Stars of The Hobbit film, Stephen Fry and Ian McKellen, appear to have helped save a pub called by the same name.
…the two actors have offered to help the owners pay a yearly fee to keep the place open.
Lawyers representing the Saul Zaentz Company – the American firm which owns the copyright to a number of JRR Tolkien’s works – ordered the owners of the Southampton, England pub to change the name or face legal action.
The pub has been trading as The Hobbit for more than 20 years and landlady Stella Mary Roberts insisted she didn’t have the funds to fight the legal threat.
Advertisement: Story continues belowMcKellen, who played wizard Gandalf in The Lord of The Rings movies, and Fry, who will appear in the upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit, threw their support behind a campaign to keep the bar open.
Now the pair have put their money where their mouths are by promising to pay the licence fee, reportedly about $US100 ($A95) annually, needed to prevent further legal issues.
Have you ever been to The Hobbit bar?