Developers give housing estate 'rude' name after neighbours' objections

Developers have given a new estate a rude name after neighbours opposed their planning application.

Proposals to demolish an Edwardian home in Old Bath Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, and replace it with six new houses was agreed by Cheltenham Borough Council this week despite objections from locals.

The O'Gorman family who owned the property have given the new development the name Pogue Muhone Court.

Owners Kevin and Susan O'Gorman say the name refers to their family village in County Tipperary, Ireland.

Irish folk band The Pogues were founded in 1982 as Pogue Mahone, being the Anglicisation of the Gaelic pog mo thoin, meaning "kiss my a***".

Caroline Donnelly, 48, who has lived next door to the O'Gorman family, for 13 years told the Gloucestershire Echo: "We found out what it meant when my husband and I were on the internet trying to find this village.

"We were shocked. We've managed to conduct our campaign in an adult way.
But this is just completely rude."

Nigel McLoughlin is a reader in creative writing at the University of Gloucestershire and a linguist expert.

"Pogue Muhone is a phonetic rendering of the Irish Gaelic phrase Pog mo thoin, which breaks down as Pog - imperative form of the Irish verb 'to kiss'," he told the Echo.

"Mo, a possessive pronoun in the first person singular, and thoin is a mutated form of the noun 'toin' meaning 'a***'."

Cheltenham Borough Council received around 40 complaints about the O'Gormans' proposals and three previous planning applications were rejected.

Two of these were also dismissed at appeal.

The council said they have not received an official application to name the development Pogue Muhone Court.

A spokesman said while the developers can choose to name the building as they wish, it will not be officially recognised as such because it is not registered.

Helen Thomas, from the council's built environment team, said: "To register an address, occupants have to apply to the council by completing an application form.

"There hasn't been a request for a name change.

"There's nothing to prevent people from erecting a sign on their property calling it whatever they wish, however this would not be a registered address."