When Ben Denner, the founder of pop-up fast food bar Lucky Chip, decided to name his burger of the month after Hollywood beefcake Mark Wahlberg, he thought it was just a bit of fun.

The last thing he expected was to receive a letter from the actor’s legal team.

Unknown to Mr Denner – whose pop-up is at the Old Queen’s Head in Islington – the Planet of the Apes actor also has an interest in the fast-food industry.

Mr Denner said lawyers acting on behalf of Wahlberg accused Lucky Chip of exploiting his name to sell hamburgers and said the actor’s family have their own burger business – called (you guessed it) Wahlburgers.

Mr Denner said that the fact that the actor might have a stake in a burger chain had never occurred to him. “It was just a bit of a coincidence,” he said.

He said many of Luck Chip’s burgers have been named after famous actors including Goldie Hawn, Antonio Banderas and Kevin Bacon.

“In the three years we’ve been open, we’ve probably done about 20 to 30 actors – but this is the first time we’ve received a cease and desist letter,” said Mr Denner.

He has changed the name of the burger to Dirk Diggler – the name of the porn star Wahlberg played in the film Boogie Nights.

“I thought about the movies he’d been in and thought about what we could get away with. The other option was to change the burger – but I thought it’s such a fantastic burger and I don’t want to stop serving it because we’ve had such good feedback.”

Mr Wahlberg’s legal team has not responded to a request for comment by the Gazette.