A hotel in St Albans has removed a controversial dish from its menu after an online protest from animal rights activists.

Foie gras can be produced by force feeding ducks and geese through metal pipes. 

Hertfordshire Animal Rights Spokesperson, Tod Bradbury, said: "We sent an email to the management of The Brasserie at Sopwell House last week, to which they did not respond.

"As a result we asked people to leave polite comments on their Facebook page asking the restaurant to remove foie gras from their menu.

"Eight hours after we started the campaign, we received a polite response from the management of the restaurant confirming that they will remove foie gras from their menu. We were very happy about this and sent our best wishes and gratitude to the management team. 

"Hertfordshire Animal Rights would like to publicly thank Sopwell House for listening to the concerns of the public. Foie gras does not belong in a civilised society - it is undeniably cruel and hope Sopwell House can be an inspiration to other purveyors of foie gras in the area."

The hotel posted a message on its Facebook page confirming it has removed the dish.

The statement said: "Regarding Foie Gras on our menu: We are pleased to confirm that we have reconsidered our offerings and this dish will now been removed by our Executive Head Chef.

"Kindly note that it will take a couple of weeks for our menus to be reprinted, however please be reassured that we are no longer serving Foie Gras from this point."

Hertfordshire Animal Rights has said that they intend to continue their campaign against purveyors of foie gras until Hertfordshire is foie gras free.