Ale giant Tetley's axes huntsman logo in branding shake-up

An advertising shake-up is brewing at Tetley’s, with the Carlsberg-owned ale brand axing its huntsman logo in a bid to win new customers, the Evening Standard can reveal.

A recent filing to the intellectual property office shows a fresh trademark has been registered for the beer giant.

It features a new interpretation of the Tetley family’s coat of arms, with no huntsman featured.

The 196-year-old brand, which was founded in Leeds and is stocked nationwide, first introduced its huntsman logo in 1920 before dropping it in 2000. However, the image was revived a decade later in a more contemporary form.

There had been some speculation the decision to re-brand could be linked to a move to woo millennials and anti-fox-hunting customers. However, Tetley’s today said that it has never experienced any complaints from those opposed to hunting and that the re-brand is actually as a result of the firm looking at how Tetley’s could stand-out in a busy market place.

Tetley's added that consumer research revealed that customers preferred the original logo, used for the first 100 years of the brand’s existence.

A spokesman said: ‘We realised that the first ever logo used by Tetley’s actually looked very modern and of the moment, so we are excited to be able to draw inspiration from this and bring it back in a new incarnation and make it more relevant to today’s aesthetic."

Danish brewer Carlsberg took over Joshua Tetley & Son as part of its £7.8 billion acquisition of Scottish & Newcastle in 2008.

Tetley’s is brewed in Northampton, Wolverhampton and Hartlepool.