More than a year after a large sign was erected outside Clapham Junction station welcoming people to the "heart of Battersea" people are still mistaking the station for being in Clapham, a Wandsworth Guardian survey has found.
Of ten people at the station asked whether they thought Clapham Junction was in Battersea or Clapham, seven said Clapham, one said Battersea and two said they didn't know.
People who got it wrong included Oge Ngadi, 44, who works on the railway platform and lives on an estate off St John's Hill and student Karis Knight, 16, from Brixton.
The only person to get it right was Lisa Callender, 30 a travel agent who said she has been researching property in the area.
Travel agent Lisa Callender was the only person we asked who knew she was in Battersea
The common mistake - even made by this newspaper's editor Chris Caulfield and former editor Nick Hitchens - has riled campaigners who spent more than five years working with Wandsworth Council to install a "Welcome to the heart of Battersea" sign which was erected at the station's St John's Hill entrance in April last year.
Philip Beddows, a chair of Love Battersea who co-founded the campaign to get the station's name changed 10 years ago, said: "I think many many more people now know they are in Battersea and are proudly telling other people and getting it right.
"Battersea is a global brand with the Nine Elms development and Clapham is a wonderful place and both areas have their own identities."
But he said it was “remarkable” that some people were still getting it wrong after the new sign was erected and bins around the station all proudly declare to rest in Battersea.
Who got it wrong?
Scott Stevens 42, said there was as much confusion where he lives, on the border of Brixton, Streatham Hill and Balham.
Student Karis Knight, 16, from Brixton, was convinced she was in Clapham
Jack Brown, who is retired and in his 60s, also got it wrong
Jason Varghese, 40 a customer assistant at Asda from Croydon, said he didn't know where he was. Nor did Sofia Baulson, 34, a care assistant also from Croydon.
The common misconception comes from the station's name.
Built in 1863, it is thought that the station was named after the more affluent Clapham, a mile east of the site in Lambeth, to attract upper class travellers at a time when Battersea was associated with industry and poor working people.
Clapham Common, although named after Clapham, is also partly in Battersea.
The borough boundary can be easily remembered as the bandstand is in Battersea but the cafe in in Clapham.
Mr Beddows said he would like to work with MPs, councillors and Transport for London to get the station's name changed to Clapham Junction Battersea.
Love Battersea has already successfully got hundreds of people and businesses to change their registered addresses from Clapham to Battersea, including the Co-op food store, Fired Earth restaurant and Aux Merveilleux de Fred patisserie in Northcote Road.
The campaign was backed by Wandsworth Council, MP for Battersea Jane Ellison and community groups.
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