Northern re-records 34 mispronounced station names including Kirkham and Wesham

Northern said it had updated its announcements earlier this year, but faced a backlash for still getting many of them wrong.

The company then appealed for locals to help get them right and has now wrapped up recording of 34 station names to “ensure local pronunciation was respected”.

Tricia Williams, chief operating officer at Northern, said: “This has been such an interesting process and proof if ever it were needed of the passion our customers have for the North.

“Some of the stations on our network are pronounced very differently to how they appear in writing – it’s important to get these things right.

“I’d like to thank Pete, Laura and all of the on-board systems team for their persistence with this project – and to everyone that took the time to get involved and speak-up for their hometown.”

Northern, which had previously recorded the names of over 500 stations across the network, received 47 formal requests to re-record announcements.

One of which was Kirkham and Wesham, which should be pronounced Kirkham and Wess-am.

Other names that caused controversy were Accrington, Ilkeston in Derbyshire and Sowerby Bridge in West Yorkshire.

Station announcer Laura Palmer, who re-recorded the names along with Pete Corley thanked passengers for their help with the project.

She said: “People were quite rightly really passionate about how we pronounce their local hometowns.”

The 34 station names re-recorded were:

- Accrington

- Ardwick

- Ashburys

- Aspatria

- Barnsley

- Barrow-in-Furness

- Bentham

- Burneside

- Cark-in-Cartmel

- Chesterfield

- Dodworth

- Doncaster

- Dore & Totley

- Elsecar

- Euxton Balshaw Lane

- Gathurst

- Hall i' th' Wood

- Handforth

- Heighington

- Hessle

- Ilkeston

- Kirkham and Wesham

- Langwathby

- Lazonby & Kirkoswald

- Lostock Gralam

- Mossley Hill

- Redcar

- Roose

- Slaithwaite

- South Elmsall

- Sowerby Bridge

- Thurnscoe

- Todmorden

- Wombwell