Useless Geography
A quick look at McDonald's branch finder (don't ask!) is quite revealing about this problem, though other chains with lots of branches have similar problems. In the case of the massive burger chain, here's the problem of inconsistency by them, but also difficulty.
1) Dagenham. They have 3 branches in postal Dagenham, which they call Dagenham Fs-Dt, Dagenham 2 and Dagenham 3. In each case they give the address as DAGENHAM - in capitals as if it's a postal address. I think their place names could be a little more descriptive, though naming parts of Dagenham is problematic. There's the general problem of calling one of them just Dagenham - the problem writ large by Newham Council calling one of its three leisure centres 'Newham Leisure Centre'. I don't think Showcase Cinemas have another outlet in Newham, so calling their Beckton place (in postal Barking) 'Newham' is unambiguous but inconsistent with their apparent naming system. I do notice though that one branch is in RM8, another RM9 and the third RM10. That may be their salvation here as postcode areas are quite popular as a way of splitting up Dagenham
2) Ilford. The major problem with Ilford is that the post town includes such places as Barkingside, Goodmayes, Seven Kings, Newbury Park, Redbridge, Clayhall and others. But there's a difficulty with what you call the Ilford that's left over when all these other localities are deducted. McDonald's plumps for Ilford 1 which is rather silly as above. Their Newbury Park and Seven Kings branches are so-called - fine, and the address is given as ILFORD - the correct post town, but their Barkingside branch they very odly call Barkingside-London and they give the address BARKINGSIDE (not a post town) rather than ILFORD.
3) London. Well Mc D's seem to have mainly eschewed the LONDON post town in their addresses. Their three branches in Beckton (part of LONDON E6) are called Beckton, Beckton Asda and Gallions Reach Beckton (inconsistent with the Dagenham system above and leaving doubt about 'Beckton' as a reference). Their East Ham, Canning Town, Forest Gate and Walthamstow branches are so called and have those place names given in capitals as if they are post towns, though they aren't. Leytonstone is treated similarly though the branch name is Leytonstone-Dt and Stratford (also see below) takes Stratford The Mall as its branch name and STRATFORD for its address
4) Romford. This is a similar problem to Ilford. Most people would want to call RM6 (in the post town of Romford) Chadwell Heath, I would say, but Marks Gate as a part of RM6 (or of Chadwell Heath?) is good and that's what McD's have gone for, though the address is given as ROMFORD.
5) Stratford and E20. This is rather odd situation where the big Westfield Shopping Centre got its own postcode area (E20) and is semi-detached from Stratford, although E20 may be Stratford City. Westfield has another shopping centre right on the other side of London so each needs a unique name. McD's have gone for WESTFIELD STRATFORD CITY as their pseudo-post town for their branch of the same name.
6) Woolwich. Woolwich 2 branch is addressed as LONDON, whereas Woolwich Church Street takes WOOLWICH and not LONDON.
7) Harringay. A special mention. The branch right next to Harringay Green Lanes station is called 'Haringey', after the borough in which McD's have at least 4 branches. This Harringay/Haringey thing has foxed many people but the powers of observation seem low given the station right next door.
Of course lots of organisations face these problems. Barking Park is not the only park in Barking. The local rag once confused people with this because they wanted to refer to a park in Barking (not Barking Park) and in headline syntax 'a' and 'in' are dispensed with so Barking Park was rendered to mean a park in Barking.
1) Dagenham. They have 3 branches in postal Dagenham, which they call Dagenham Fs-Dt, Dagenham 2 and Dagenham 3. In each case they give the address as DAGENHAM - in capitals as if it's a postal address. I think their place names could be a little more descriptive, though naming parts of Dagenham is problematic. There's the general problem of calling one of them just Dagenham - the problem writ large by Newham Council calling one of its three leisure centres 'Newham Leisure Centre'. I don't think Showcase Cinemas have another outlet in Newham, so calling their Beckton place (in postal Barking) 'Newham' is unambiguous but inconsistent with their apparent naming system. I do notice though that one branch is in RM8, another RM9 and the third RM10. That may be their salvation here as postcode areas are quite popular as a way of splitting up Dagenham
2) Ilford. The major problem with Ilford is that the post town includes such places as Barkingside, Goodmayes, Seven Kings, Newbury Park, Redbridge, Clayhall and others. But there's a difficulty with what you call the Ilford that's left over when all these other localities are deducted. McDonald's plumps for Ilford 1 which is rather silly as above. Their Newbury Park and Seven Kings branches are so-called - fine, and the address is given as ILFORD - the correct post town, but their Barkingside branch they very odly call Barkingside-London and they give the address BARKINGSIDE (not a post town) rather than ILFORD.
3) London. Well Mc D's seem to have mainly eschewed the LONDON post town in their addresses. Their three branches in Beckton (part of LONDON E6) are called Beckton, Beckton Asda and Gallions Reach Beckton (inconsistent with the Dagenham system above and leaving doubt about 'Beckton' as a reference). Their East Ham, Canning Town, Forest Gate and Walthamstow branches are so called and have those place names given in capitals as if they are post towns, though they aren't. Leytonstone is treated similarly though the branch name is Leytonstone-Dt and Stratford (also see below) takes Stratford The Mall as its branch name and STRATFORD for its address
4) Romford. This is a similar problem to Ilford. Most people would want to call RM6 (in the post town of Romford) Chadwell Heath, I would say, but Marks Gate as a part of RM6 (or of Chadwell Heath?) is good and that's what McD's have gone for, though the address is given as ROMFORD.
5) Stratford and E20. This is rather odd situation where the big Westfield Shopping Centre got its own postcode area (E20) and is semi-detached from Stratford, although E20 may be Stratford City. Westfield has another shopping centre right on the other side of London so each needs a unique name. McD's have gone for WESTFIELD STRATFORD CITY as their pseudo-post town for their branch of the same name.
6) Woolwich. Woolwich 2 branch is addressed as LONDON, whereas Woolwich Church Street takes WOOLWICH and not LONDON.
7) Harringay. A special mention. The branch right next to Harringay Green Lanes station is called 'Haringey', after the borough in which McD's have at least 4 branches. This Harringay/Haringey thing has foxed many people but the powers of observation seem low given the station right next door.
Of course lots of organisations face these problems. Barking Park is not the only park in Barking. The local rag once confused people with this because they wanted to refer to a park in Barking (not Barking Park) and in headline syntax 'a' and 'in' are dispensed with so Barking Park was rendered to mean a park in Barking.
Comments
Post a Comment