Pub bosses have been accused of dropping a clanger over a new sign hung outside a Kent inn which has got regulars crying into their beers.

It follows the decision by Admiral Taverns to replace the much-loved swing sign of The Eight Bells in Canterbury with a new one, depicting the Bell Harry Tower of the Cathedral.

But Kent pub history expert Rory Kehoe says the company has not only upset regulars with the move but got their new interpretation wrong.

“It’s a schoolboy error,” he says, “because the fact is that Bell Harry only houses one bell, which it is named after, not eight.

“The artwork of the new sign suggests that if one stands under the tower (at the crossing of the nave with the transept) and looks up, lots of bells are visible. But not so. Even Bell Harry is out of sight, as it’s actually mounted on the roof of the tower.

“The Cathedral's main ring of 14 bells is hung in the SW (Oxford) Tower, with the other 6 bells being located in the NW (Arundel) Tower.”

But Mr Kehoe is relieved that long-serving landlady Kim Truelove has kept the old sign, which features a maiden and eight bells - a design believed to hark back to 1908, when The Eight Bells was a tied house within the estate of Ash's Dane John Brewery in the city.

She is also miffed the old sign has been written off by Admiral Taverns, having previously asked it could be restored then rehung in its rightful place.

“It all started when the front of the pub was having a spruce-up and my area manager said they would also replace the sign which had become a bit weathered,” said Mrs Truelove, who has run the local boozer in London Road for 19 years.

“But he said that it wasn’t possible to restore the old one and gave me two design options for a new one, which I felt obligated to agree.

“It’s just sad the old one, which all the customers loved and has so much history, has been replaced.

“The new one has been very nicely done but just doesn’t fit the pub.

“I’ve kept the old one and am hoping a local artist might volunteer to restore it for us, so it can be displayed in the pub.”

Admiral Taverns, which runs more than 1,600 “community pubs” across the UK, was approached for comment.