please empty your brain below
Tower Hamlets would surely have done better applying to be a Royal Borough, on the strength of having the Tower of London within its bounds.

Timbo | 03.02.12 - 7:32 a.m. | #

I thought Bolton was on the list too?

Mark Garth | Homepage | 03.02.12 - 7:43 a.m. | #

Bognor, Lyme, Salcombe etc Regis? King's Lynn?

Royal *King*ston seems a bit excessive.

Andrew | 03.02.12 - 8:00 a.m. | #

The wannabe cities is not exactly a list of places that score highly on must-visit status. Perth is probably the nicest on the list that I have visited.

Neither Colchester nor Chelmsford could ever win something like this because they are such bitter rivals.

Dg, now your jar of London Boroughs is empty, why don't you fill it up with Britain's cities, and visit these one by one.

Max Roberts | Homepage | 03.02.12 - 8:16 a.m. | #

One city from each country will be chosen for city status, so one for England (Reading et al), Wales (St Asaph et al), Scotland (Dumfries, Perth)and Northern Ireland.

Rick Berej | 03.02.12 - 8:39 a.m. | #

Royal Kidbrooke Village in Royal Blackheath.

Craigavon is grimmer than Goole. A lot grimmer.

Dominic | 03.02.12 - 8:47 a.m. | #

Reading is already the 'great biscuit city' so my money (no not literally) is on Milton Keynes.

Richard | Homepage | 03.02.12 - 8:57 a.m. | #

Well since Brighton became a city I have not seen much change, except for the road signs as you enter. I still call the place Brighton so I guess it won't really make much difference to the public which town gets city status. Maybe Southend. But I'm not a betting man.
I had though about going to some of the Greenwich festivities but it's turned too cold outside for me to stand and watch a fireworks display.

john | 03.02.12 - 9:45 a.m. | #

'Dg, now your jar of London Boroughs is empty, why don't you fill it up with Britain's cities, and visit these one by one.'

What an excellent idea Max.

Would grouping distant cities such as Lancaster and Preston, or Truro and Plymouth together for long weekend visits be spoiling the fun I wonder, or perhaps a practical way for DG to complete the list before retirement?

Lorenzo | 03.02.12 - 10:26 a.m. | #

Each city visited by DG will, after his suitably lubricated chat with the local dignitaries, have conferred upon it the accolade of Diamond City. The Queen has enough to do and this would help her enormously.

Herb of Romford | 03.02.12 - 10:54 a.m. | #

Does this change of name mean that GMT is now officially "Royal Greenwich Mean Time"?

Joachim | 03.02.12 - 11:26 a.m. | #

I thought Dumfries was already a city. So that's where my money is!

Audrey | 03.02.12 - 11:50 a.m. | #

Because of your unwarranted dismissal, I'm going to be support Goole. Come on Goole!

Mark | 03.02.12 - 12:30 p.m. | #

Dorchester an "urban district", I think that may be stretching it. Colchester seems a sensible choice, I believe it was at one time the capital of the UK?

As to the celebrations in Greenwich, I hope the council is only replacing street signs that need replacing? Replacing every one across the borough no matter how recent, seems a huge waste of money.

Jon Combe | 03.02.12 - 1:10 p.m. | #

It won't be Dumfries. Although its name was on the original list, it turned out it wasn't actually the council that had applied, but the local civic society which hadn't bothered to let the council know. Red faces all round, application swiftly withdrawn. As the local wags have it, 'Dumfries a city? It'd be a start if it was a proper town first.'

disgruntled | Homepage | 03.02.12 - 2:41 p.m. | #

While Greenwich becoming a Royal Borough is all very well, I do wonder what difference it's going to make in real life. For example, I hear the town formally known as Royal Leamington Spa more often than not just called "Leamington Spa" or even just "Leamington". Even the railway station drops the "Royal" from the town's name.

Somehow, I think we'll be calling the borough the "London Borough of Greenwich" for a long while yet.

Andrewh | Homepage | 03.02.12 - 2:46 p.m. | #

Colchester claims to be "England's oldest town", and I'm surprised it wants to lose that distinction, but if it were to become England's newest city, what will then be the "oldest town"?

Timbo | 03.02.12 - 5:34 p.m. | #

I've updated the list of would-be cities (Bolton on, Dumfries off).

As for post-jamjar tours of British cities, they'd be a bit difficult to visit at a moment's notice. But you never know...

diamond geezer | Homepage | 03.02.12 - 8:01 p.m. | #

Great post - I was just watching the fireworks at Woolwich. All pared back as a nod to straightened times, but pretty impressive. A rousing soundtrack of the usual patriotic 'hits' - it was like the Last Night of the Proms in south-east London!

The other civic honour that is being dished out this year is the elevation of a city's mayoralty to a Lord Mayoralty - I imagine the mayor who gets this bauble will be very pleased - I wonder if he'll get some new furs and gold chains?

Ian Curry | Homepage | 03.02.12 - 8:31 p.m. | #

Ah you've got to feel sorry for Croydon which tried hard for city status back in the late '90s, and didn't get it then, and now no one's saying they'll get it this time either.

SJM | 03.02.12 - 8:33 p.m. | #

I think that Dorchester could be the dark horse in the race:

1) There are currently no cities in Dorset (so Bournemouth also stands a chance, but it is not 'Dorset proper')
2) It would keep Prince Charles happy as his Poundbury project is based there
3) It would keep Member of the Cabinet Oliver Letwin happy as he is the local MP
4) I think that the likes of Reading, Milton Keynes et al. are ruled out for being in the South-East

James | 04.02.12 - 7:28 a.m. | #

Scotland has lots of Royal Burghs, but the term hasn't meant an awful lot since 1975. Some, such as Linlithgow, still use it on, say, their road signs as you enter the town.

martin | 05.02.12 - 9:03 a.m. | #

'Royal Burgh' means something different in Scotland, though; it's just a burgh which has (or had) a charter from the Crown, not one that has a special connection with royalty.

As for Colchester, I'm not sure that 'newest city' and 'oldest town' are incompatible - 'town' is a broad term that can cover places with various precise statuses. It has also had, since 1973, a specific local government sense, but Colchester isn't a town in that sense anyway, but a borough.

Andrew | 07.02.12 - 6:28 p.m. | #











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