Could station names be sponsored to raise cash?

[Palmerston]

It's not exactly near Coventry either, so Coventry station could have those signs as well.

The Midlands rail hub plan proposed a future Warwick University station, between Kenilworth and Coventry. That wouldn't actually be that close either.

 

[Class15]

Not a great fan of ‘Emirates Drayton Park’ and ‘Infinite Athletic Fulham Broadway’ if you ask me…

 

[RAPC]

I did wonder. Any examples? And if so, should this be extended nationwide?

It is an available option to advertisers nationwide. It doesn’t add much in the way of commercial value due to messaging limitations, hence it is almost exclusively done by organisations based in the location of the station.

 

[Mikey C]

The following, recently updated, webpages on the railwaycodes website claim to be a comprehensive list of sponsored stations, although I would consider many of them informational rather than sponsored.

West Ealing was one that came to mind, as I remember being quite surprised that it was sponsored by a commercial organisation, rather than a University or sports facility, where it might be useful to lots of people.

"Home of the Positive Internet Company"

West Ealing railway station sign

West Ealing is apparently home of "The Positive Internet Company".

www.flickr.com

 

[Ashley Hill]

All you need is the name of the station. Nobody other than the person receiving the money cares who the station is home to.

 

[Russel]

Nottingham has been sponsored by Nottingham Trent University. Not sure if it still is - I'm probably another one that doesn't ever look at it.

Was Nottingham also sponsored by a credit card company at one point, maybe in the early 2000s?

 

[edwin_m]

True, but there’s a bus service from Coventry from memory, I only went there by public transport once, I know I drove there after that and it was much less hassle.

Yes, Coventry is the best station to visit Warwick University by train, but it remains something of a hassle.

Was Nottingham also sponsored by a credit card company at one point, maybe in the early 2000s?

Rings a bell, although it may have been Experian (credit checking, quite big employer in Nottingham).

 

[6Gman]

The following, recently updated, webpages on the railwaycodes website claim to be a comprehensive list of sponsored stations, although I would consider many of them informational rather than sponsored.
Quote:


Link:

Sponsored station name signs, location A

A list of commercially-sponsored UK railway stations with photos of all known variations of station signs: stations beginning A

www.railwaycodes.org.uk

That's a fabulous resource and confirms my recollection that the signs at Stafford used to say:

"Stafford
University of Wolverhampton".

Which seems likely to cause confusion to anyone looking out of a restricted view window and only seeing the Wolverhampton bit.

(Happily now replaced by Uni of Staffordshire branding.)

 

[stevieinselby]

People lose their shirt when TfL has any sort of brand partnership, it's weirdly a taboo to have any sort of commercial tie ins even though some can be very effective like the various PlayStation tie ins.

There's a big difference between rebranding a station and replacing the station name on signs with a brand-based pun and adding advertising, sponsorship or branding to signs that still clearly show the name of the station and all other key relevant information. If TfL had done their brand partnerships differently, and in a way that didn't involve taking away essential information for passengers, no-one would have batted an eyelid ... just look at how much advertising there is (and always has been) on the Underground!