Actors Stephen Fry and Sir Ian McKellen have agreed to help a UK pub owner pay a copyright license fee so the establishment can continue doing business as The Hobbit.

The actors paid the sum after the pub was approached by the Saul Zaents Company last year. The firm accused the pub of copyright infringement, and had asked it to remove all references to characters, the BBC reported Wednesday.

The landlady of the place, Stella Roberts, said she was "very shocked" to hear the offer to pay from Fry's business partner and manager.

Fry, who will appear in an upcoming movie of the same name as the pub has been a supporter of the pub. Last week he called the company's threat "pointless, self-defeating bullying." Fry will play 'Master of Laketown' in the upcoming movie. McKellen will play Gandalf.

The company says its license for a nominal fee for articles is approximately $100 per year.

Roberts says details remain to be worked out. She said she didn't know whether the license would only cover the name of the pub, and wondered if she would still have to get rid of artwork, cocktail names and "everything" in the place.

"We just don't know what's entailed," she said.

Among the items featured in the pub are "Frodo" and "Gandalf" cocktails and the face of Elijah Wood on its loyalty card.

Tags: The Hobbit