MidTown Misnomer

Lindsey
By Lindsey Last edited 170 months ago
MidTown Misnomer

centralstgiles.jpg
By only lines via the Londonist Flickrpool
A twitstorm's been brewing over the Evening Standard's rather alarmist piece about the alleged "rebranding" of St Giles, Bloomsbury and Holborn as "Midtown". As most of us realise, Midtown's been around as property speak for the area for a good 10-15 years and yet has never caught on, probably due to the fact it's a bland Americanism that is incorrect geographically and stamps all over the distinctive area's history and culture.

Still, Business Improvement Districts like InHolborn have a job to do and perhaps Midtown means more to US and other businesses that might be looking to set up in our fair city. After all, there's Central St Giles to fill and the area could do with more investment to smarten up New Oxford Street and work on the perennial problems of homelessness and drug abuse that still haunt St Giles.

This piece of "news" has certainly got people talking about the area. Here's a taster from the Twitterage....

@jonerr Midtown? Madness. Worst idea ever, or today at least. And for once all ES commenters agree. http://bit.ly/8GMh4w

@surrealistical Last I checked we weren't a USA outpost.

@timcwood Remember when they tried to call the area north of this "Cityside"?

@mercerdavid Utter nonsense. We're Londoners not New Yorkers!

@bat020: Loathsome moneyed cretins plan to rebrand Bloomsbury as "Midtown"

@brandarling Bloomsbury good; Midtown bad. Lame mktg attempt

@phillipsidaway boris, holborn is just that, 'holborn', not 'midtown', which is some horrid americanism

@oneeyegrey What's wrong with Lord Southampton's Little Town, it's original name?

@grindrod Virginia Woolf, Lytton Stratchey, Vanessa Bell... I love the Midtown Group.

And most succinctly:

@darryl1974 Midtown? Piss off.

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Last Updated 22 January 2010