So what will the terminus at Braintree be called, 'Braintree Town'? It would be a little confusing if there was a village followed by the town itself without there being a discrimination between a commercial location and a geographical one.
You actually raise a great point here. I feel the renaming is just to compete with Bicester Village which is more well known. I think renaming it to something more generic like Braintree Parkway for Village Outlet or something like that would do better and then the terminus as Braintree Town?
Which as I said could create confusion when the previous station is Braintree Village. Not every passenger knows North Essex that well, especially as the outlet park has its own station specifically to attract visitors from London. It seems that 700007 understood my post.How about just calling it "Braintree"!
I think that any notion of 'competition' between two retail outlets which are a 2.5+ hour car journey apart is somewhat fanciful!
So they will pay for all the NR publicity, all the changes to ticket names and routings, the re-programming of train and station CISs; - it's not just a lick of paint and a few new platform signs.
Isn’t a “freeport” a very specific sort of warehousing zone with special customs privileges? Sort of outside the tax and VAT area? I’d definitely agree with your point that it’s a confusing name for a shopping centre...I think that any notion of 'competition' between two retail outlets which are a 2.5+ hour car journey apart is somewhat fanciful!
More likely, I'd suggest, is that 'Freeport' is confusing because it sounds nothing like a shopping centre. More like an industrial complex or, indeed, a port.
There's far less of a mental leap between the words 'shopping' and 'village' than 'shopping' and 'port'!
Not a chance I would say. Their eyes would water when given an estimate
It's not a cuddly name. Conjures up images of windswept dock areas with cranes and warehouse surrounded by tall electrified fences, cctv and checkpoints. Full of burly men in hardhats and high viz conforming to few rules and driving around furiously in white vans. Is that the right image for shifting designer gear, albeit at a discount? It is in Essex, though...
