[WillowTheWhisp]

Yes some people within the UK do tend to have heard the name Accrington although certainly not all. Those who have usually follow it up with "Accrington Stanley, who are they?" in a Liverpool accent and make a joke of it. Trying to tell them something positive about Stanley often falls on deaf ears. I've never met anyone outside of the area who has heard of the Accrington Pals, but then again there were other "Pals" and many young lads lost their lives in the Somme. Perhaps the local battalion registers more with those of us who have Accrington connections than it does with anyone else.

As for exploiting the name - how does not changing the title of the council stop us from doing that? People outside the borough still hear about Accrington and have done for the past 30 odd years whilst we've been paying our taxes to HBC.

If we were back in time at the creation of the borough and it was a case of choosing a name because it didn't have one then I think I would plump for a whole new name rather than being named after one of the towns anyway because that way the 'and district' bits are as equal as the main town.