A POPULAR Musselburgh restaurant has changed its name after a trademark dispute with a London-based business.

The High Street-based Buenos Aires Cafe & Grill is now known as Parilla Bueno Ayres following talks.

Boss Nazim Ahmed, 39, said: “Buenos Aires is East Lothian’s first and only Argentine-inspired restaurant.

“Our idea behind this establishment was to bring something unique to East Lothian, while using locally sourced core ingredients.

“Since opening the business, it’s been really popular and most of our clients are fairly regular.

“However, last year, during the lockdown, we received a letter from a business based in London asking us to change our name as they were trading under the same name for a longer period of time.

'Absolutely devastated'

“We felt absolutely devastated.

“We pointed out that their business is based in London and we are in Scotland, geographically really far from each other, and it is unlikely that the clients will get confused.

“However, following an intense negotiation, both parties were in agreement that we adopt a slightly different version of Buenos Aires.

“We came up with the idea of Parilla Bueno Ayres.”

He added: “Honestly speaking, we really like the slightly changed name, Parilla, which refers to the actual open-fire hearth and grates where meat is cooked – a traditional Argentine way of cooking meats – whereas Bueno/Buenos means ‘great’.

“Our newly adopted name is pretty similar to the one we originally started with, representing the same brand image.

“We are pretty confident our clients will understand our position and will not be confused with these changes as we live in a close community.”