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Hotel in Northern Quarter issues public apology and renames ‘controversial’ bar

The Cow Hollow Hotel has changed its previously "ill-advised" named bar after an outcry on social media.

The Manc - 26th August 2020

A boutique hotel in the Northern Quarter has issued a public apology this week and has confirmed the renaming of its ‘controversial’ on-site bar.

The Cow Hollow Hotel – located on Newton Street in the heart of the city centre – has now changed its previously “ill-advised” named bar after an outcry on social media.

The hotel’s bar was originally named ‘The Plantation Bar’.

Screenshots posted to Twitter late last week appeared to show the bar advertised on the hotel website as having “colonial vibes”, which lead members of the public to point out the negative connotations associated with plantations – which were slavery sites in the colonial era – and saw the bar name labelled “disgusting” and “controversial”.

In response to the outcries, The Cow Hollow Hotel took to Instagram to address the situation and issue a public apology. It said: “As many of you have pointed out on social media, we have made an ill-advised choice on the naming of our bar.

“To give some background, the plantation name was referring to the owner’s family wood plantation in India [and] the ‘colonial’ reference was to the furniture and architecture style.

“We would never, in a million years, seek to cause any offence or draw parallels to colonial-era crimes.

It closed out the statement with an apology stating: “Our sincerest apologies. We have renamed the bar with immediate effect and taken the website down.”

The bar is now confirmed to be operating as the Cow Hollow Bar.

The Cow Hollow Hotel first opened doors in the Northern Quarter in early 2018 in a former textile warehouse and has received rave reviews nationally. It’s operated by husband and wife duo Muj and Amelia Rana, and is named after the chic neighbourhood in San Francisco.