An ice cream shop in Hitchin and Letchworth has been asked to rename one of its new flavours by M&S.

Fabio Vincenti, who runs Fabio's Gelato with his wife Hannah, recently launched a flavour based on M&S's popular Percy Pig sweets.

But when the retail chain picked up on this, they sent him a "polite and fair" letter asking him not to use the 'Percy Pig' name.

The letter from M&S came with a packet of the sweets attached, and told Fabio that he can continue to use his new flavour - just not the trademarked handle.

On Fabio's Facebook page, he first posted an image of the flavour - tagged 'Perky Pigs' - on May 2, saying it was "coming soon to Letchworth".

Then, on May 10, another post said that Fabio's Gelato had made 25kg of the new flavour and that it would be available soon in both Hitchin and Letchworth.

READ MORE: Met Police sergeant sacked after Hitchin wedding attack

But the following day he received a letter from M&S, dated May 5, asking him to avoid using the 'Percy Pig' name.

Speaking to the BBC, Fabio described the letter as "polite and fair".

"It is what it is, they've got to protect Percy Pig".

The letter from M&S said: "While we are flattered that you have been inspired to create a flavour based on our Percy Pig sweets, and in no way wish to stop you selling this flavour or from using our sweets to to it, we would be grateful if you could avoid using the name Percy Pig to do so.

"We hope you understand how important it is for us to protect our brand.

"However, we also understand that mistakes are easily made in this area and we are keen to resolve this amicably.

"We would therefore be grateful if you could confirm to us within 14 days of this letter that you have renamed this flavour to one which does not use the Percy Pig mark or anything similar to it."

The new flavour has now been renamed 'Fabio's Pig', and customers have been asked on the Fabio's Gelato Facebook page to come up with a long-term name. The winner will receive a voucher for the shop.