First Corporate names on Tube Map?

Is the Emirates Line for the cable car over the river the first time that stops on the Tube map have been named after a company?


I was quite surprised to see these on the map and must admit that I only noticed it when @Jemimah_Knight and myself where sitting in a mock up of the cable car at London Transport Museum last weekend.  The northernmost of the three steel pylons that will hold up the cables has already been completed. Once completed the cable car will move 2,500 people per hour (according to TfL figures) between North Greenwich and Royal Victoria. Or rather Emirates Greenwich Pennisula and Emirates Royal Docks.

A lot of stations around the Docklands area have corporate names added to them, but this is more of a use to show which station to use for the arenas & exhibition centres around there. It's not as if Custom House (for ExCel) is called ExCel Custom House. However, as this is the first time (I think) a part of London's Transport infrastructure itself has been sponsored, it makes sense for the stops to be called after the sponsor.

Or does it? How much money would a company need to pour into corporate sponsorship of station to get the station name changed, even if only temporarily?


Last June, TfL were in discussions with a wine brand, Oxford Landing, who wanted to re-name Oxford Circus Tube and run "takeover" advertising throughout the station. The wine brand offered TfL a rather large amount of money in order to do this for a three month period over the summer but, TfL knocked back the idea.

Perhaps the branded London Underground Map shouldn't be just a collection of puns of station names that sound like brands. Maybe in the future there could be a case for brands naming stations in return for a huge investment.


What do you think? Main line railway stations seem to get away with it. On South West Trains I often go through stations that have "The home of rich estate agent" or "The home of large insurance company" on platform signs.   Should we have the same for the Tube?

Would you welcome branded stations if the additional investment meant that fares weren't increased every year or there was an improvement to the service?

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