The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has called on Leicester City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby to change the name of the Pork Pie Roundabout in Leicester to ‘Vegan Pie Roundabout’.
In a letter addressed to Sir Soulsby earlier this week (Tuesday, August 9) PETA’s senior campaigns manager Kate Werner said:
“This timely name change would inspire healthier food choices that help the environment, celebrate Leicester’s heritage and prevent animal suffering.”
According to PETA, the word ‘vegan’ was originally coined in Leicester by Donald Watson in 1944.
However, Sir Soulsby has said that there is a ghost of a chance that Pork Pie Roundabout will change its name.
“Any talk of changing its name is just pie in the sky,” he said ironically, as PETA said it is not a “pie-in-the-sky request” in its letter.
“It’s a funny and quite clever way of drawing attention to themselves [PETA] and their cause – but there is no way we could change the name people have given to the library and the roundabout next to it,” said Soulsby.
The library next to the roundabout, he explained, has been known locally as the Pork Pie Library since it was built in the 1930s, thanks to its distinctive circular shape.
The Leicester City major is not the only person who sees this as an attention-seeking act.
James Aris, a spokesperson for Countryside Alliance called the organisation “desperate attention seekers”, and urged Sir Soulsby not to take this request seriously.
“Leicestershire is a proud rural county, steeped in so much farming history and home to many culinary delights. It’s no surprise that so many parts of county recognise that where they can,” he said.
“With everything going on in the country today, not least the cost-of-living crisis, you’d think PETA would read the room and appreciate that our political representatives have more pressing matters to attend to.”
