It's Ceroc Sutton Coldfield in my book.

You've come to this page because you've said something similar to

It's not Ceroc Sutton Coldfield. It's actually in Castle Vale, not Sutton Coldfield.

This is the Frequently Given Answer to that question.

It's Ceroc Sutton Coldfield in my book. If you argue otherwise, you're going to obtain Bromford as a result.

This has come up many times over the years. From the perspective of someone who arrives by motorway, it's just Sutton Coldfield. After all, if one sticks a pin in my road atlas, one finds that the venue is immediately beneath the big yellow-on-green words "Sutton Coldfield". That is, literally, Sutton Coldfield in my book.

But many locals all want to draw a fine distinction. I've had people insist to me many times that it's "actually Castle Vale, not Sutton Coldfield". I had several people attempt to correct me for writing Sutton Coldfield when I first put it on the 2004 events list. I still, after more than two years, get people saying "You mean Castle Vale." when I mention Ceroc at Sutton Coldfield.

My view, frankly, is that if one is purporting to correct others for using the wrong name, one should make sure that one is actually correct in the first place. Despite claims, by the Royal Mail and those who unquestioningly take the Royal Mail's word for things, it isn't actually Castle Vale either. (Don't take Royal Mail's word for things. Look how wrong the postcodes for Walsall Town Hall and the Goodyear Pavilion are. Royal Mail's idea of geography is a convenience for the benefit of Royal Mail. It isn't physical fact.)

If you look closely at your Ordnance Survey maps, you'll see that Castle Vale is the other side of the A452, the east. The west side of the A452, where the Jaguar plant and the social club are, is labelled Bromford. If you check out the Birmingham Unitary Development Plan 2005 page 210, you'll find that the industrial/commercial land bordered by the Tyburn/Kingsbury Road (A38) and the Chester Road (A452), which includes the Jaguar plant, the Gravelly Industrial Park, and the Fort Industrial Estate, is all officially Bromford. So if you're going to be picky and start arguing that it isn't Sutton Coldfield, Bromford is what you're going to obtain as a result.

It remains Sutton Coldfield in my book.


© Copyright 2007 Jonathan de Boyne Pollard. "Moral" rights asserted.
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