AN AMERICAN burger chain with 300 restaurants has hit a British pub with a 'cease and desist' order to stop it serving its 'smashed' burgers. Smashburger have issued the legal notice to the Colebrook Inn, who started offering Howey's Smashed Burgers after an unplanned lockdown revamp of their pub. They began offering food for the first time, and Rob Maylor, owner of the pub in Plymouth, Devon, crafted a menu inspired by his favourite American cuisine. He then went to trademark his product and was shocked when he received a cease and desist notice, but said he intends to fight the American burger chain. Rob, 56, said: "During the first lockdown we redecorated the whole pub because we had nothing else to do. "We never used to do food but we decided to do smashed burgers, it's basically just a burger menu. It's easy to manage. "We did all the logos and the bits and pieces and went live at the end of August, it started taking off well and I applied for a trademark - it was just something to do really. "I went through the first stage of the process and then received a letter last week, from a solicitors called Bird & Bird, it was on behalf of Smashburger in the states. "It was a cease and desist letter, about 12 pages saying that any derivative of smashed burgers we can't use - there was a form we had to sign saying we wouldn't use it any more."

%image('12052760', type='article-full', caption='The Colebrook Inn in Plympton, Devon. 19th November 2020 See SWNS story SWPLsmashed. An American burger chain with 300 restaurants has hit a British pub with a 'cease and desist' order to stop it serving its 'smashed' burgers. Smashburger ', alt='The Colebrook Inn in Plympton, Devon. 19th November 2020 See SWNS story SWPLsmashed. An American burger chain with 300 restaurants has hit a British pub with a 'cease and desist' order to stop it serving its 'smashed' burgers. Smashburger ')

Rob has been running the pub for the past three and a half years, and although he's only just started offering the burgers he already feels attached to the product. He feels they are integral to the pub now, and intends to legally fight Smashburger so he can continue using the name. Rob continued: "Smashed burgers is a process of cooking a burger - it's like saying you can't use the phrase fried chicken because it's too similar to KFC. "I got an email last night from a solicitor saying he'd like to take on the case, I'll be speaking to him later today. "I'm not a legal person, my whole objective of this is to use the two words 'smashed burgers'. "I'm a small pub in Devon that's created something different that's not available around here, maybe we'll get some investors and grow it then it'll be a problem, but I don't see what the issue is right now." Rob's burgers start at £6 and come with extras including cheese and bacon, but he also offers vegetarian and chicken alternatives.