Fancy a drink at The Swan?

The Shed will be changing it’s name to The Swan, despite a vote against the change last year.

The Union held a meeting  on Tuesday to discuss what they described as a “sensitive issue.”

Last year at Lincoln’s AGM the Students Union they announced that they had bought The Shed and saved it from closure.

Later SU held a vote about the name of the popular student bar and students had the choice of keeping the name as it was or changing it to The Swan.

Over 2,000 students voted in the election which ultimately decided to keep the name the same and stop any changes to their beloved bar.

However a union rep said Tuesday’s meeting was to discuss changing the name of the bar despite the vote that took place last year.

“The student council has decided to change the name of The Shed. So it shall be known as The Swan which was the second most preferred name in the referendum.”

The Shed on the university campus

When we approached the students union about this they declined to comment and referred us back to their press release, which said:

“For a variety of reasons including the Student Experience, commercial and legal, the Students’ Union’s Student Council and Executive Committee have decided to rebrand The Shed from 14^th November.

“This decision is not made lightly but after a long period of consideration and consultation, as well as feedback from our Fresher’s Week review where our members told us that there was considerable confusion over two SU venue’s called The Shed and The Engine Shed.

“We have also recently been made aware of a legal challenge on our use of the name “The Shed”. There is no appetite to fight to protect the use of the name given the inevitable costs of doing so and in light of the numerous other reasons which make a change of name desirable.  Student Council and the Executive Committee have therefore decided to expedite this change now.

In March 2014, The Students’ Union asked students their choice of name following the takeover in January.

This was done through a referendum in which 2603 of our members voted, The Swan came second, after The Shed.

This was before the Students’ Union took over the Engine Shed on the 1^st August and the confusion over our venues took place.

Brian Alcorn, Students’ Union President said: “Whilst we recognise The Shed has been an important part of many Students’ lives whilst they have studied in Lincoln, the feedback we received from Freshers, as well as the commercial problems the two similar names cause [The Shed and The Engine Shed], as well as potentially a legal challenge on the name, I am pleased Student Council have voted overwhelmingly to support the Executive Committee on this change.”