The sister restaurant to a Bib Gourmand venue in Bristol has been forced to change its name before it opens its doors next month, after a restaurant with the same name threatened legal action.
The team behind Cor, a family-run restaurant on North Street in Bedminster, are due to open a second restaurant in Bristol next month, which they had originally planned to name ‘Luca’s’ after their son. In a post to Instagram on Wednesday (March 5) however, they gave an update on the recent turn of events.
The post, from owners Karen and Mark Chapman, said: “We are sad to announce that we have been forced to change the name of our new restaurant. We had wanted to name the restaurant after our son, however another restaurant in London has threatened us with legal proceedings if we do not change the name.
“We had contacted the restaurant’s representatives to seek to resolve amicably however our request was ignored. We are gutted and hope you will understand that we have had no choice but to change. It seems there can only be one Luca in our lives.”
Speaking to BristolLive, Mark confirmed that the new restaurant would now be called ‘Ragu’ and is still set to open at Wapping Wharf in April. He said: “I would rather not say or target the restaurant [that made the complaint].
“But I would like to mention that we were very disappointed to receive threatening legal proceedings from a London restaurant with a similar name. ‘Luca’ is a popular Italian name and as such variations of ‘Luca’ have been used as the name of Italian restaurants all over the world.
“In the UK alone, there is a ‘Luca’s Kitchen’, ‘Luca’s Bistro’, ‘Di Luca’, ‘Luca’s Pizza’, ‘Da Luca Restaurant’, ‘Luca Mio’, ‘De Luca’, ‘Luca Dsq’, ‘Luca’s’, ‘Enoteca da Luca’ and ‘La Luna di Luca’, amongst others. There is even a restaurant ‘Luca’ in Liverpool, using an identical name [to the one raising the complaint].
“We are certain that the average customer would easily distinguish the two and so cannot see the reason why a London restaurant is concerned or why we in particular have been targeted.”
When first announced, the couple’s new restaurant was described as being based around an Italian sharing plates concept. They went on to describe it as a ‘love letter to the wonderful food, culture, warm hospitality and adventure experienced in Italy. A place that will always be very special to us’.
Since opening in October 2022, Cor has become one of Bristol’s top flight restaurants. It has attracted rave reviews from the likes of national critics like Tom Parker-Bowles and appeared in the Good Food Guide and Michelin, which awarded it a prestigious Bib Gourmand for ‘good quality, good value cooking’.