A WORCESTER restaurant has been forced to change its name after a trademark claim by Gordon Ramsay.

Lucky Cat in Worcester is now known as Maneki Ramen, after the owners received a letter from the celebrity chef's lawyers.

A post on the restaurant's Facebook page said: "We were amazed to receive a letter from Gordon Ramsey’s solicitors recently, regarding the use of ‘Lucky Cat’ in our name.

"It seems that Gordon has a restaurant called ‘Lucky Cat by Gordon Ramsay’ and holds a trademark for the use of the Lucky Cat name.

"Well, we guess great minds think alike.

"But, like Gordon’s lawyers, we would hate for anyone to confuse us with him and we’re glad they brought it to our attention before we get equally famous.

"So, we’ve had to change the name and have a quick temporary re-brand, as such we will now be known as Maneki Ramen.

According to the post, Maneki-Neko means lucky cat, and the restaurant, which is still building a permanent restaurant in Arch 44, Worcester, is fundraising for its new premises.

The post added: "We’re still building a new permanent restaurant in Arch 44, which is going to look stunning.

"We would like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologise to Gordon for any distress caused and we have sent him a voucher to use in our new restaurant once it is open.

"Huge thanks for your support, we can promise that we will make ourselves known by the quality of our food, no matter what we are called.

"This also sadly means we’re having to prematurely end our crowdfunding project, but to those of you who’ve already pledged, all is not lost.

"We’re hosting our own crowdfunding project of sorts over on our website where you can buy vouchers and tasting experiences - all of the money will go towards building a fantastic new restaurant in Arch 44."

To visit the fundraising page, go to https://manekiramen.com/crowdfunding