And Finally

North London businesses ask TFL to end Abbey Road confusion

By | Published on Thursday 18 October 2012

Abbey Road

Some local businesses in St Johns Wood, North London which get more than a little trade out of the Beatles fans walking from the local tube station to the near by Abbey Road Studios, and that zebra crossing, are reportedly calling on Transport For London to rename a new East London station, current name Abbey Road.

According to Reuters, St Johns Wood businesses reckon tourists are getting confused when plotting a trip to the legendary studios on a London transport map, and are ending up in completely the wrong part of town, via a newish stretch of the Docklands Light Railway network opened last year to serve the area of East London near the Olympic Park.

It’s not clear how many tourists have made the mistake, but the assumption is that a not insignificant number have, and some of those that do will give up rather than trek back across town to the more famous Abbey Road in North London, or might just assume the studio complex no longer exists, have their photo taken on a random pedestrian crossing in East London, and carry on none the wiser.

Zoe Waterman from the St Johns Wood based Beatles Coffee Shop told Reuters: “It was a bigger problem over the summer when everybody was already out in East London and using the DLR for the Olympics, but it’s still an issue for us, as numbers are down”.

But a spokesman for Transport For London didn’t seem to be suggesting there are any plans to change the name of Abbey Road station, telling reporters: “It is unfortunate that some visitors sometimes get confused by the odd duplicate place names in our large and varied city… but this situation is also a reminder that nothing beats some in-depth research”.



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