Neighbours see red at joke bid to name estate 'Pogue Muhone Court'

Neighbours of a planned housing development reacted angrily to a joke by developers that they would call the estate a rude name after objections to the proposals.

Plans to demolish an Edwardian home in Old Bath Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire in England, and replace it with six new townhouses was agreed by Cheltenham Borough Council this week.

Owners Kevin and Susan O’Gorman joked they might give the new development the name Pogue Muhone Court, claiming the name refers to their family village in Co Tipperary.

The Pogues were founded in 1982 as Pogue Mahone, being the Anglicisation of the Irish póg mo thóin, 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.”

But Mr O’Gorman, a solicitor, today said he suggested the phrase in jest in reaction to objections to the development, but neighbours took it seriously.

Work on the development has not yet begun and Mr O’Gorman said there are no plans to erect a sign bearing the name.

He said: “I was asked to make a comment by the local newspaper after the application was approved and I said we think we might call it Pogue Muhone Court after my family village in Ireland, which anyone will know is nonsense, and anyone who knows the Pogues will know it.

“My mother used to say it in our house all the time, it usually means don’t take yourself too seriously.”

Cheltenham Borough Council received around 40 complaints about the 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 would not be officially recognised as such because it is not registered.

Helen Thomas, from the council’s built environment team, said: “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.”