I was dumped in 2000, no longer fitting in with the trendy drinkers of the brave new millennium.

Marketing gurus decided the word "ale" on a bottle of Newcastle Brown carried an "olde-world" image that could not compete with modern lagers.

So, with a large fanfare, "ale" was dropped from the label for the first time in 70 years to give the brand, according to the Press release at the time, "a contemporary new look."

But now the three-letter word has, ever so discretely, re-appeared on the label after bosses realised their contemporary new look was making absolutely no difference to sales.

An estimated 400 million bottles have been sold during the four `ale-less' years - roughly the same rate as in previous years. The brewers really aren't sure how many customers even noticed the change. The decision was taken last month to bring back the `ale' as part of a label re-design to incorporate sensible drinking advice for the first time.

David Jones, spokesman for Scottish Courage (owners of Scottish and Newcastle Brewers), said yesterday: "I think The Journal is one of the first to notice the return of the `ale' - so congratulations.

"I am not sure many other people will have noticed the word is back or that it was even missing in the first place."

However, Scottish Courage certainly made a big deal of the 2000 decision, claiming it was part of a market re-positioning exercise that they hoped would move it away from the outdated images suggested by the word `ale.' Mr Jones explained: "We took the opportunity to remove the ale descriptor as part of a label redesign and label reprint for year 2000 so the cost of the change was minimal.

"However, it was a decision based on our consumer research at the time that suggested the lagers of the day were rising in popularity and that we needed a shift of image to compete.

"It was left as Newcastle Brown Ale in the rest of the world, it was only in the UK that we experimented with the name change.

"During the four years there was no sales difference and now with the sensible drinking advice going on the labels, the redesign gave us the chance to bring the `ale' back."

Mr Jones denied there was any embarrassment at the brewery - soon to transfer to Gateshead's Federation Brewery from its traditional Gallowgate home - over the U-turn.

He added: "We like to freshen up the packaging every few years and will continue to do so.

"We didn't make a song and dance about it because we weren't sure it mattered that much to people - they still called it Newcastle Brown Ale regardless of the label."