Here is an interesting tale. Residents of Wood Street have had the benefits of the Plaza for a short while before the redevelopment of Marlowe Road destroyed it! Recently the first building to be completed opened as the Coop. Little known to most people, hidden away in the Town Hall, there is a department which manages the street names in the Borough. A list is kept of names that are suitable for new streets - these can not duplicate existing streets, must be acceptable to the Royal Mail's national postcode system and mean something to residents. Locally people were happy with the Plaza as a name but it was never officially an address.
When planning for the redevelopment of the Marlowe Road was underway it was clear some new street names would be required. Out of the blue the new address for the Coop became 7-8 Troubridge Square. So where did that come from! Well there is a very good answer below from the Council.
The naming of Troubridge Square was undertaken in
April 2016 in line with long standing practices whereby the developer and SNN
Officer propose relevant names. Their suitability is ultimately agreed by
the SNN officer to ensure the name is unique within the surrounding area as not
to cause confusion for emergency services, delivery services and other relevant
service providers. The assessment also endeavours to ensure that the address
has some historical relevance to the borough. Troubridge met these criteria.
This name has previously been used for a street in
the Borough, “Troubridge Avenue“ in Walthamstow, as documented from the
Walthamstow Historical Society website. This street was demolished and the name
previously lost.
The name comes from the Ship HMS TROUBRIDGE a WW2
Destroyer and was “Walthamstow’s Ship” having been funded by residents in an
early incarnation of Crowd Funding, whereby a community was asked to raise
funds to buy a ship in the 1942 “WARSHIP WEEK”. The scheme was successful and
Walthamstow adopted HMS Troubridge.
With regards to the name “wood street plaza” to my
knowledge this had never formed part of any official address including that of
the Co Op which was 164-166 Wood Street. My understanding is that the name wood
street plaza was coined as part of the 2013 regeneration works when the granite
blocks were installed. It would not have been possible to recognise this
officially on the grounds of duplication with Wood Street which may have caused
confusion.
If you need any further information please do not
hesitate to get in touch.
Best wishes,
Andy Skilton
Senior Network Performance and Information Officer
London Borough of Waltham Forest
Tel: 020 8496 2531 | Ext: 2531
Mob: 07875 604 586
