A Hackney Wick brewery says it may take Waltham Forest Council to court over the council’s continued use of its name at a Walthamstow food and retail site.
CRATE Brewery, which runs a brewery and pizzeria in Hackney Wick, says the council-run CRATE St James Street infringes its registered trade marks.
The council told the brewery in April that the site would be renamed by July 2026. It now says new branding will be in place by early 2027, a date the brewery says it first heard from the Citizen, not the council.
Neil Hinchley, co-founder and director of CRATE Brewery, said: “The council’s response is extraordinary, frankly.
“Nobody is questioning the council’s decision to step in and protect local businesses when the previous operator failed. We fully support that. We’re an independent business ourselves, and we understand the importance of protecting local traders. But what on earth does any of that have to do with continuing to use someone else’s registered trade mark?
“The council has known about this dispute for years. In April, it told us that a rebrand would be completed by July. July came and went, our solicitors’ correspondence has gone unanswered, and we’re now being told it might take until early 2027. We’re talking about changing a name, not rebuilding the town centre!”
Promises
The St James Street site is a cluster of 28 shipping containers on a former car park in Walthamstow. Crate Places UK Ltd leased it from the council from January 2019.
That lease ended on 31 December 2023. In a letter agreement dated 29 December, seen by the Citizen, the council took over the containers for £1.”
Crate Places UK also gave up its £43,260 rent deposit. It licensed the “CRATE St James Street” name, brand and trade mark to the council “in perpetuity”.
CRATE Brewery’s solicitors, Sharpe Pritchard, sent the council a letter before action in April 2025. Correspondence seen by the Citizen shows they then waited months for a substantive reply.
In February 2026, Emma O’Hara, the council’s head of commercial estates, wrote that the council would rename and rebrand the site.
On 22 April, after the solicitors warned they were preparing to issue a claim, she wrote that a design and marketing consultant had been engaged. The rebranded site would launch in July, when new agreements with traders began, she said.
Silence
The brewery says its solicitors wrote again in May, June and July and received no reply. Photographs taken in July show the CRATE name still on the site’s awnings, directory and signs, and Hinchley says nothing has changed since.
A privately-run venue elsewhere in Walthamstow that also used the CRATE name agreed to rebrand within weeks after a similar complaint.
Hinchley said: “So why is it that a private company can act responsibly and resolve the issue, while the council, with all its resources, appears incapable of doing the same?
“The council says it’s working with local stakeholders. Yet it seems to have forgotten one rather important stakeholder: the independent business whose trade mark it’s using!”
He said the work involved, removing the name from awnings, wayfinding signs and the website, “would be cheap and quick”.
The brewery says the shared name has led to misdirected bookings, calls and supplier invoices. In January 2024, a customer asked it about a country music night that was being held at St James Street.
Court
Hinchley said the brewery’s lawyers had advised that court proceedings may be necessary.
“Think about how ridiculous that is,” he said. “A local authority potentially spending public resources defending its continued use of an independent business’s brand, rather than simply changing the name. That is the last thing we want to do, but our hand is being forced.
“At this stage, you have to wonder whether this is bureaucratic incompetence, institutional arrogance or simply a belief that the council can ignore a small business until it gives up.
“We’re not going away!”
Crate Places UK holds its own registered trade mark for a CRATE logo. CRATE Brewery’s solicitors say that registration covers services such as renting out space, not selling food and drink.
Incubator
A council spokesperson said: “The council stepped in to save CRATE from immediate closure in December 2023, protecting small local businesses and traders at an important time for them during the festive trading season.
“We are working closely with key local stakeholders to rebrand the site, which will ultimately become an incubator hub for not-for-profit enterprises and new local businesses. A collaborative approach with these local organisations will be key for the project’s success.
“We expect that our work with these groups will be concluded and new branding in place by early 2027. We look forward to helping more local businesses thrive and giving residents and visitors more great shopping options.”
The council said it had incurred no legal costs, because its in-house legal team had handled the matter.
It did not say why the July date was missed, or name the consultant. It also did not say whether it accepts the brewery’s claim of infringement, or why the solicitors’ letters went unanswered.
CRATE Brewery made a Freedom of Information request about the rebrand on 29 September. The council told the Citizen it would respond by 25 October. The brewery says it is still waiting for a reply.
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