Omitting any reference to how it all began

Letter to Editor, The Courier, 22 October 2001

Sir, I refer to the article ‘Residents fear Dunhill will bring few benefits’ (11 October), in which brief mention was made of Dunhill branded products.

I refer, also, to the disproportionate and misleading response from Alfred Dunhill Ltd. (15 October), in which they wish to disassociate themselves from Dunhill tobacco brand names.

Alfred Dunhill Ltd may wish to disassociate themselves from their embarrassing tobacco past, but in the minds of many people around the world, tobacco is to Alfred Dunhill Ltd as jute is to Dundee.

Is this not the same company: which presents the ‘Alfred Dunhill of London Retailer of the year’ award to the tobacco retailer that “has done the most in terms of raising visibility, promoting the Dunhill brand name, and having the highest volume of sales”; which originally registered the trademarks to be found on Dunhill branded tobacco, cigars and cigarettes; which recently transferred its tobacco related trademarks to close neighbour Dunhill Tobacco of London (ultimate owner BAT); which has had an association with Dunhill Tobacco of London (nomenclature on recent ‘Mixture 965’ tobacco tins); which allowed the use of its own tall-tail ‘dunhill’ logo on ‘Virginia Filter’ and ‘Luxury Length’ cigarettes, and ‘Mixture 965’ tobacco; whose chairman Richard Dunhill has recently designed a coat of arms which includes tobacco leaves ‘symbolising the origins of the company’?

In their letter, Alfred Dunhill Ltd manage to omit any reference to Alfred Dunhill’s own beginnings in business - his early experiments with wind resistant pipes, his development of a range of pipes and tobacco, and his opening of the Duke Street tobacconist shop which evolved to become Alfred Dunhill Ltd.

As a resident of Kingsbarns, I am not proud to be associated with the Dunhill Links Championship, and I note the omission of the word Alfred from the title. I associate the event with the worldwide promotion of all Dunhill branded products - including the large range of tobacco products bearing the original Dunhill trademarks.

Nick Lunan, Kingsbarns