Nasser Kamali at the ‘Box Coffee’ stand near  Swiss Cottage tube station

COFFEE giants Starbucks has revealed it wants to open a branch in full view of the one-man kiosk which it threatened over its name.

Star Box Coffee – the hot drinks hut next to Swiss Cottage underground station – removed the “Star” in its name after the multinational company claimed the apparent similarity weakened its global brand.

Part of the mystery surrounding the row – which involved legal letters to kiosk owner Nasser Kamali – was why Star Box Coffee had been able to trade without any complaints about its name for half a decade.

The New Journal revealed earlier this year how Starbucks had offered Mr Kamali a £300 “goodwill payment” and how he made the name change to avoid an expensive trademark case in the courts. Now, it has emerged Starbucks could soon be a head-to-head rival across Finchley Road following its application for permission to move into a former Lloyds bank branch.

Mr Kamali removed the ‘star’ in the name of his business earlier this year after receiving a letter from Starbucks

Mr Kamali this week issued a defiant “bring it on” battle cry. “It doesn’t bother me. Starbucks has the money – but I have the people,” he said. “They may be coming here but I am stronger than before. A lot of people have come to the kiosk to support me.” More than 270 people have signed a petition calling for an apology from Starbucks after it demanded the name change.

Mr Kamali, 52, said he believed Starbucks officials may have seen his kiosk when they visited Swiss Cottage for their new store. He maintains that the Star Box name and red-coloured kiosk was merely a nod to the red star symbolism of socialist movements and the history of working-class struggle. The political refugee and proud Marxist, who came to London from Iran in the 1990s, is a popular face around Swiss Cottage.

Starbucks have submitted a planning application for the old Lloyds bank

Lloyds shut its branch last year as part of a national trend with banks leaving the high street as more people move their money around online. The outlet is beneath a major 10-storey development, Centre Heights, made up of “luxury studio” and one-bedroom apartments next to the west entrance to Swiss Cottage tube station.

In its change-of-use planning application, Starbucks says the former bank branch could be easily transformed into a coffee outlet “consistent with its standard model of operation across 850 stores throughout the UK”.

It says the proposal would not only “return a vacant unit into use” but also “greatly improve its relationship to the public realm”.

A Starbucks spokes­man said: “Trademark law is there to protect brand identity. In this instance it was too close to our brand and could lead to such confusion.”