Simon Freemanthe managing director of Henderson'sjokingly stated that he would order "an internal investigation to find out how it got out of Yorkshire"; a local newspaper, the "Sheffield Star", launched a Twitter campaign with the hashtag #Hendogate to defend Henderson's, attracting support locally. Dowd later stated his "amazement" at the backlash his comments had caused, which he said included threats of violence. The assistant manager of the Hare and BilletAdam Beastonclaimed that Dowd branded Henderson's a "blatant copy" of Lea and Perrins at the time but that he warned the MP that such a view would be "blasphemy in Sheffield".