"The" London street names

[HushabyeMountainGoat]

Anyone know why there is a custom sometimes to refer to streets in London using "the". E.g. "the Tottenham Court Road". I don't ever hear it used when referring to anywhere else.

Just reading a novel set in London and the author is doing it a lot. Got me wondering.

Destinations and directions eg the London road, the Hatfield road, the West Road etc are quite normal around the country.

Quite probably Linoleum, although I lived in Arbury (well, King's Hedges) and I never really heard it called that. I was an incomer though so can't claim to be an expert in all the local terms, I guess.

Yes places of work in Brum too and football clubs eg The Villa, The Albion etc

Isn’t it generally used when a Road is going in the direction of a place? Eg the Newport Road in Cardiff would have been called that because it went to Newport, therefore you’d say take the Newport Road or the road to Newport and the name stuck?

Presumably there’s a new road to Kent etc?

We also say The Gower locally instead of Gower.

Isn’t it generally used when a Road is going in the direction of a place?

depends ... why do you think I gave both names for the A4123 .... ("Wolverhampton"/"Birmingham New" road ....). I wonder if I had to ask for directions whether I'd get abuse for using the "wrong" term .

Mind you, I gave up asking directions when I found I couldn't understand the answer

I definitely used to work on the King’s Road.

Blues for Birmingham City FC though, not The Blues.

I've never heard The Gower called just Gower either.

Surely it comes from when road names were literal descriptions of what they were? So the King's Road was originally a private road belonging to the King, so literally the King's Road. And the Old Kent Road was the old road that went to Kent, so literally the old Kent Road.

I agree with NotDavidTennant - it's for roads that are called that because that's where they take you or that's what they actually are. So the Bristol Road is the road that goes to Bristol. The Strand was originally an actual strand by the Thames estuary.

So the Bristol Road is the road that goes to Bristol.

or Burton ....

In Liverpool people refer to supermarkets at The Asda and The Aldi.

I've only ever heard 'the King's Road' and I assumed that was because it referred to the king

The historical region of Gower corresponded more or less to the current county of Swansea, not just to the peninsula on it's own.

And the Gower Constiuency includes more than the peninsula too but tends to be referred to as just Gower in that case.

Large roads get a the. Sometimes even a nickname. Caledonian road is The Cally.

I say “the Angel” - does that make me ancient?! I agree with PP that it’s mostly for the road TO somewhere (eg, the Harrow Road, the Edgware Road). I’d never say the Golborne Road, though - that would be weird and wrong!

I've lived in London, Bristol and Birmingham and agree with PPs on the usage there. Now in Manchester and can't think of any 🤔 maybe the Mancunian Way?

I definitely used to work on the King’s Road.

There was a Kings Road in Harrow ... just "Kings Road".

But then you have the "Uxbridge Road" ... (and of course, the "North Circular" ...)

”There was a Kings Road in Harrow ... just "Kings Road".”

I suppose I would imagine that’s how people would know which one I meant- I would imagine “the” is only used in reference to the Chelsea one.

Kings Road in Harrow is a relatively modern road so it was probably just called that by the developers who built the houses in the 1930s.

Kings Road in Harrow is a relatively modern road so it was probably just called that by the developers who built the houses in the 1930s.

Alexandra Avenue, Imperial way and George V Avenue bear that out .

Gawd I feel homesick

yes to the old Kent Road, the Holloway road, the Archway road, the Kings Road...

no to the Tottenham court Road - that is just pretentious.

DGR I lived on Pinner Road for a time. I think we used 'Pinner Road' and 'The Pinner Road' interchangeably depending on the context.