Locals have been split over the name for Kenilworth's new Wetherspoon which some have described as "terrible".

The pub chain confirmed last week it will be calling the new boozer at The Square 'The Dictum of Kenilworth' in a nod to the town's rich medieval history.

Signed in October 1266, the dictum was a peace treaty signed to bring an end to the siege of Kenilworth and the Second Barons War.

But with some pointing out what the name may be unfortunately shortened to, locals have taken to social media to voice their feelings.

"Awful name for a pub and obviously made up by someone at 'Spoons head office in Watford, sat looking up Kenilworth on Google," one Facebook user said.

Another added: "What a terrible name! Come on Whetherspoons you can do better than this!"

And another said: "Ridiculous name, given the most obvious abbreviations."

Meanwhile one local said they had written to Wetherspoon to ask them to change it.

Suggestions for alternative names included: The Robert Dudley or Earl of Leicester, The White Wallaby, The Globe, The Pleasance and The Walter Scott.

Others were more positive about the name.

"I agree with the name they have chosen," one person said.

"People don't understand the importance of the dictum.

"It's not what was in it, it's that the parliament that agrees it is effectively the establishment of the right to vote."

Another Facebook user said: "We are a lucky town. With this unit taken, I believe all of the retail and business premises on the Warwick Road and The Square will have an operating business.

"Lots of new companies over the last three or four years have invested a lot of money on that street.

"Other areas such as Leamington and Coventry are not as fortunate with many vacant properties."

Work on the new pub began last week, nearly three years after Wetherspoon announced it was coming to town.

What was the Dictum of Kenilworth?

Between June and December 1266 Kenilworth Castle was besieged by the royal forces under the control of Prince Edward (later Edward I) to wrestle it from the control of those rebelling against the English King, Henry III.

Civil war had persisted in England throughout the 1260's after the rebel Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, had raised an army against the king.

De Montfort was actually killed at the Battle of Evesham before the siege, but the rebellion raged on.

The dictum was delivered to the castle in October 1266, allowing the rebels to buy back the land that had been stripped from them, effectively pardoning them.

But they rejected it until finally giving out in the December when starvation and disease forced them to submit.

As per the dictum, they were allowed to leave with their horses and weaponry, and the castle was taken over by the royal forces.

Read more about the siege of Kenilworth here.