Residents of London Road in Ipswich, home to serial killer Steve Wright (not the Radio 2 DJ), are apparently considering asking for the road name to be changed in order to avoid the stigma attached to the murders.
Now I am no expert on Ipswich other than having a natural allergic reasdtion to the whole place (I am a season ticket holder at Norwich City and it is common for us all to have this problem with Ipswich), but presumably London Road has more than just a few houses on it. No doubt businesses are based along the road which would require new letter headed paper, business cards, new road signs, and, let's face it, a lot of expense.
Looking too at Multimap it seems that London Road is a long road which heads south towards, er, London, which is presumably why it has that name. So are they suggesting the Road that leads to London be called something else ? Presumably as it is the road to London it ought to have the word "London" in it ? Unless, of course, London is desperate for a new name.
I don't wish to make light of the deaths in Ipswich and the terrible situation. But id were were to rename every street where someone terrible has lived in the past, we'd be constantly be changing road names.
There might be a case for the house being pulled down where Steve Wright lived, although unlike other murderers, as I understand it the murders did not take place in his house. But I cannot see how changing a road name will make any difference.
2 comments:
AFAIK they didn't rename Cromwell Street in Gloucester, just pulled down number 25 where Fred West lived and killed.
I don't see how the conduct of Steve Wright leaves a stigma on residents and business premises in London Road.
As you point out, it's called that for a reason, unlike Anystreet in Anyothertown.
Even if the residents got their wishes, Goulishtours would drive by and tourists would be informed that Whatever Street used to be called London Road, and on this site where the Tesco Express now stands used to be the house where etc, etc.
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