Deansgate station changed to ‘Olivia Deansgate’

[Winthorpe]

Northern has temporarily renamed Deansgate station to ‘Olivia Deansgate’, in a stunt to mark BRIT awards being held in Manchester.

Unsurprisingly there is a mixed response. What do you make of it?

Deansgate's name has been changed as baffled rail users dub it 'confusing'

Northern has reassured rail users that the name change is temporary

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

Deansgate station's name has been changed as baffled rail users dub it 'confusing'​

Northern has reassured rail users that the name change is temporary​

The Deansgate train station has had a quirky name change as the city prepares to welcome the UK's biggest music awards show.
For the first time in its history, the BRIT Awards will be held in Manchester with superstars like Harry Styles, ROSALIA and Mark Ronson set to perform on the night.
Promotional material has been spotted all around Manchester, and today train company, Northern, found their own way to mark the forthcoming occasion.
To celebrate the awards night and one of its nominees, Deansgate railway station has been aptly renamed as Olivia Deansgate.
The move is a clever play on words which references the similarities in the names of the singer, Olivia Dean and the historic Deansgate area of Manchester.
The new signage was put up this afternoon. Some baffled rail travellers have voiced their frustration at the stunt on social media. One said: "Seems that @northernassist are currently in the process of renaming ‘Deansgate’ station to Olivia Deansgate.
"A project designed to confuse tourists and those who rely on these signs including PRM. Silly."
Responding to the post on X, one user said: "We've just had to suffer London St Pancake, and next month we'll probably have London St Patrick's... Doesn't really help non English speakers or those with disabilities."
Responding to the post, Northern confirmed that things will be returned to normal once the BRITs are over, they're reply read: "I am sorry for any confusion this may cause, this has been done to celebrate the Brit Awards and the signs will change back after."
Dean is one of the most nominated artists at the BRITs this year. Best known for singles Man I Need, Nice To Each Other and the Sam Fender duet Rein Me In, Olivia was the first artist to be confirmed as a performer for the 2026 BRITs.
She will also play Manchester’s Albert Hall just days beforehand as part of an intimate BRITs Week show.
The BRIT Awards 2026 will take place at Manchester's Co-op Live on Saturday, February 28.
The show will feature performances from the likes of Harry Styles, Olivia Dean, Sombr, and ROSALIA, HUNTR/X, Wolf Alice, Alex Warren and more.
Article continues below

Thousands will be heading to the event with millions more watching proceedings live on TV, but the festivities will continue before, after and during the show itself with the next week set to contain an abundance of events, takeovers, specials, and pop-ups. Basically, Manchester is going all out.

 

[43096]

Northern has temporarily renamed Deansgate station to ‘Olivia Deansgate’, in a stunt to mark BRIT awards being held in Manchester.

Unsurprisingly there is a mixed response. What do you make of it?

Yet another example of operators (TfL, here's looking at you) messing with station naming and wayfinding in the name of commercial gain. It's absolutely unacceptable - and I'd question if it is even legal under disability legislation given the potential for confusion (in particular) with those who are blind or deaf.

 

[Pigeon]

Who the heck is Olivia Dean? There's one false assumption they've made, straight away - that everyone will actually get their silly joke.

Confusing and daft. Put it back. And while we're at it TfL can get rid of the confusing meaningless alternatives for clear and obvious names like "North London Line" etc.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

I had heard news of this but didn't even notice any changed Signs at Deansgate today.
All of them were still the old version with the GMPTE logo and old logo covered up by a sticker.

 

[jfollows]

It’s nonsense and simply confusing to anyone wanting to travel. I hate it.

The people involved are more interested in money than doing their jobs.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

I had heard news of this but didn't even notice any changed Signs at Deansgate today.
All of them were still the old version with the GMPTE logo and old logo covered up by a sticker.

Just reviewed my photos and one of mine shows the exact sign shown in the MEN article, still completely in its original form
The image in the article shows the front of a train to Blackpool North, with the station roof visible to the side therefore must be at the West end of the station, and as seen in the photo taken earlier today (uncropped full version attatched)

Either they put up the sign and took it back down again for the photoshoot, or someone did a good job editing.

 

[Winthorpe]

Just reviewed my photos and one of mine shows the exact sign shown in the MEN article, still completely in its original form

I can only see it reported in the Manchester Evening News. There is nothing I can see about it on the Northern website.

Very odd if the sign wasn’t actually changed.

 

[Royston Vasey]

Northern has temporarily renamed Deansgate station to ‘Olivia Deansgate’, in a stunt to mark BRIT awards being held in Manchester.

Unsurprisingly there is a mixed response. What do you make of it?

Wait til Merseyrail find out they can take a shilling to turn Hunts Cross into HUNTR/X. Whoever that is

 

[Deepgreen]

Northern has temporarily renamed Deansgate station to ‘Olivia Deansgate’, in a stunt to mark BRIT awards being held in Manchester.

Unsurprisingly there is a mixed response. What do you make of it?

I detest all this mucking about with public information for the sake of sponsorship or special occasions. Just leave it alone and celebrate/raise funds in ways that have no adverse impact on users. As a former LU stations planning manager, it depresses me how low things have sunk.

 

[waveyswirley]

I wonder if it was just a very temporary change for a photoshoot or montage as part of the Brit Awards broadcast? Rather than a big TFL-style campaign

 

[Trackman]

I wonder if it was just a very temporary change for a photoshoot or montage as part of the Brit Awards broadcast? Rather than a big TFL-style campaign

Possibly.

Seems odd there are no other photos of the replacement sign.
Anyway, Brits isn't for a week and its at the Co-Op arena, not exactly near Deansgate.

 

[Gloster]

I suspect that they just put up the new sign, took a load of photos, possibly with a ‘celebrity’ or two, and then put the original back. It is all in the minds of PR people who have to find something to explain to the customer why they have spent £XXXXXX on their services. For that matter, Olivia Deansgate sounds more like the name of a scandal.

 

[ChilliSauce]

Northern has temporarily renamed Deansgate station to ‘Olivia Deansgate’, in a stunt to mark BRIT awards being held in Manchester.

Unsurprisingly there is a mixed response. What do you make of it?

More money wasted by the industry ..

 

[skyhigh]

More money wasted by the industry ..

Errr surely they wouldn't do it if they weren't being paid.......?

 

[Gloster]

More money wasted by the industry ..

I suspect that the railway has charged enough for this to make it a profit. It’s still a right silly idea.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

I suspect that the railway has charged enough for this to make it a profit. It’s still a right silly idea.

They replaced a sign at an area of the platform barely anyone would be, took a few photos, and put the old one back.
Every other system and sign was still calling the station by the same name.

 

[Peter0124]

They replaced a sign at an area of the platform barely anyone would be, took a few photos, and put the old one back.
Every other system and sign was still calling the station by the same name.

I see nothing wrong with this then

 

[Darandio]

Wait til Merseyrail find out they can take a shilling to turn Hunts Cross into HUNTR/X. Whoever that is

You scoff at it but then clearly know who it is if it's a thing. Yet i've got no idea who you are talking about.

 

[Oxfordblues]

What was wrong with "Knott Mill"?

 

[Royston Vasey]

You scoff at it but then clearly know who it is if it's a thing. Yet i've got no idea who you are talking about.

The name was in the quote in the opening post as someone featuring at the Brits. I don't know who it is.

 

[Darandio]

The name was in the quote in the opening post as someone featuring at the Brits. I don't know who it is.

Ah i see. Well i'm not Googling to find out!

 

[JordR]

I think I would lean towards provided it's substantially profitable and only removes a sensible number of wayfaring signs (say less than half and in a distributed manner so unaltered signs are visible at regular intervals) then take the money. It's less needing to come from fares, taxes or borrowing.

 

[Western Lord]

If this sort of thing had been going on forty odd years ago we would no doubt have had Jayne Torvill and Christopher Deansgate.

 

[JKF]

Didn’t notice anything at all at Deansgate yesterday so it obviously failed to work. Though I think it’s a pretty harmless/fun thing to do, whoever Olivia Deansgate is.

 

[takno]

Didn’t notice anything at all at Deansgate yesterday so it obviously failed to work. Though I think it’s a pretty harmless/fun thing to do, whoever Olivia Deansgate is.

Seems to me like it worked perfectly - they spent about 30 quid on a nameplate. Got some social and conventional media, and then got rid of it all before it had any impact on passengers at all.

 

[YorksLad12]

She’s a BRIT school graduate, sings R ‘n’ B / soul / pop, and would probably be a bit miffed that Deansgate was momentarily named after her, given its general state.

 

[faltskog36abba]

They did this over at Victoria ten years ago, It was changed to -Manchester Victoria wood station- For the day. Just a bit of fun but could be confusing to out of towners.

 

[alex397]

I partly quite like fun ideas like this. Such as with Gareth Southgate Station.
However, as others have said, it is potentially confusing for passengers, especially if they are new visitors or if they have certain disabilities. That issue trumps the bit of fun, and shouldn’t really be allowed.

 

[pdeaves]

One sign, out of the way, for just long enough to get some publicity photos, does not seem to be a genuine cause for confusion (as opposed to several for multiple days or even hours). It seems that no one has actually seen the changed sign, just reports of it or the publicity photos.

 

[Peter0124]

One sign, out of the way, for just long enough to get some publicity photos, does not seem to be a genuine cause for confusion (as opposed to several for multiple days or even hours). It seems that no one has actually seen the changed sign, just reports of it or the publicity photos.

Exactly