News

The reason why Stockport station has been temporarily renamed to ‘Scottport’

No, don't worry, you weren't just seeing things.

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 27th January 2025

Anyone passing through Stockport station this morning may have been a bit confused and potentially panicked that they got on the wrong train after seeing the name ‘Scottport’ out the window.

But fear not, they arrived at their destinations as intended and it wasn’t just a badly spelt new sign either – here’s why…

You may or may not have heard that North West broadcaster Zoe Ball recently finished her final show as the host of BBC Radio 2’s Breakfast Show, having spent six years in the popular radio slot.

This Monday (27 January) was her replacement’s first day at work and if you haven’t already put two and two together, we’ll happily walk you the rest of the way there.

With fellow radio veteran Scott Mills being chosen as her replacement, the Eastleigh-born presenter made his debut as the new Breakfast Show host to kick off not only a new week but a new era – and to mark the occasion, Stockport railway station has changed its name for Scottport for the day.

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As far as we know, the former Radio 1 has no other connection to Greater Manchester or SK in particular, but the route does connect the BBC’s Broadcasting House in the capital to their Northern hub in MediaCityUK, Salford Quays.

Having stepped away from Radio 1 back in 2022 a whopping 24 years, Mills previously replaced Steve Wright in the Afternoon on Radio 2.

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The 51-year-old stood in for Ball back in September 2024 after she took a few weeks off which looks to have proven a more than worthy trial shift as he now takes over the early morning slot full-time.

Speaking from the Radio 2 helm for the first time, Mills began by saying: “As a radio presenter and a radio fan all my life, I’m still finding it quite hard to process that this is happening, if I’m honest.

“If I think too much about the previous occupiers of this show it becomes mind-blowing to me for a kid who wanted to be on the radio, but wasn’t sure he had the self-confidence to be able to actually do it.”

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This, of course, isn’t the first time a similar rail-related PR stunt like this has been carried out as Brighton train station famously changed its name to ‘Blyton’ last year as it welcomed back 14-year-old Paralympian, Bly Twomey, following her double bronze medal success.

Meanwhile, Trevor Nelson (who presented in the evenings from Monday to Thursday) will now replace Mills as the presenter of the 2-4pm weekday afternoon show from today onwards.

Not everyone has welcomed the change, however, as many listeners switched off within minutes of the latter’s first show after taking issue with his first song choice: ‘Rock DJ’ by Robbie Williams, who later came on the phone to congratulate him.

What do you make of the appointment – is Scott Mills a good fit and will you be listening?

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — El Pollock/Helen K (via Geograph)/@natewwlie (via X)

News

95% of Mancs apparently want the city to be ‘cashless’, new study reveals

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant Contactless payment

An eye-opening new study has found that only 5% of Mancs still use cash as their preferred method of payment nowadays.

It comes as no surprise that cash is less of a ‘king’ nowadays than it used to be, but now a new report by global financial technology company SumUp has suggests that only 5% of people in Manchester prefer to pay with cash, while 59% choose debit and credit cards, so that leaves one question… is Manchester on its way to becoming a cashless city?

To discover how payment preferences are evolving, SumUp conducted a nationwide survey to gather insights from UK consumers about their payment habits.

The company was particularly intrigued to not only discover payment methods people prefer, but what their concerns around certain payment methods, alongside how they feel about businesses that don’t accept digital payments.

95% of Mancs apparently want the city to be ‘cashless’ / Credit: Mylo Kaye (via Unsplash) | Pexels

Firstly, before we go any further, it’s important to note that almost two thirds (63%) of Manchester residents said they have changed the way they make payments over the past year.

Unsurprisingly, debit and credit cards remain the top choice for the majority of Mancs, with over half (59%) saying it was their preferred method of payment, followed by mobile payment methods such as Apple Pay and Google Pay at 24% – which is likely thanks to their ease of use and the ability to have multiple cards on one device.

While a third (31%) of Mancs said that they ‘don’t mind’ cash and still opt to carry it for situations where digital payments aren’t an option, a growing number of people in the city are feel that digital payments are more favourable, with 25% thinking that businesses should adapt to modern payment methods and whilst 28% finding it ‘inconvenient’ when a business doesn’t accept digital payments. 

A further 11% of people even say that cash-only businesses wouldn’t be an option they’d consider, and would actually avoid them wherever possible.

Card payment
Only 5% use cash as their preferred method of payment / Credit: Rawpixel

When it comes to concerns around digital payment methods, where do Mancs stand then? Well, the survey found that a third (33%) of people are worried about their reliance on technology, especially being unable to pay if their phone dies, for example, while an additional 32% of people are concerned about security risks such as hacking, fraud, or stolen card details.

Among other things, 26% of survey respondents also said they worry about the privacy aspect of digital banking and the tracking your data.

“While debit and credit cards continue to dominate as the preferred payment method, it’s clear that cash is slowly declining in use, particularly among younger generations,” Corin Camenisch, who is the Marketing & Growth Lead at SumUp, commented on the report.

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“That said, cash still holds its place for many.

“Looking ahead, we can anticipate a rise in innovative payment methods like digital wallets, especially as younger consumers increasingly embrace the convenience and flexibility they offer.”

Featured Image – Pavel Danilyuk (via Pexels)

News

Met Office predicts UK is set for ‘hotter than average’ summer

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant Sunbathing in the park

The Met Office is predicting that the UK is set for a ‘hotter than average’ summer this year.

Fresh off-the-back of the news that 2025 is already the hottest spring on record, with a recorded 630 hours of sunshine from 1 March until 27 May, beating out the previous sunniest spring in 2020 by just four hours, the Met Office is now predicting that the UK is on the verge of a summer that’s ‘hotter than usual’.

According to its three-month outlook, the Met Office has predicted that it’s 2.3 times more-likely than ‘normal’ that it will be hot in the UK between 1 June and 31 August.

The average temperatures during those months are set to range from 10-17°C.

After it was revealed that this has also been the UK’s driest spring in more than a century, meteorologists are warning Brits that there could heatwave conditions could be reached at various times throughout the summer.

The release of the long-range forecast – which gives an indication of possible temperatures, rainfall, and wind speed over a period as a whole – comes after temperatures soared to 8°C (46F) above the average for this time of year this Saturday just gone (31 May).

It is important to note, however, that the Met Office thinks these predicted temperatures are similar to those in recent years, and it does not guarantee ‘prolonged’ hot weather.

The Met Office is predicting that the UK is set for ‘hotter than average’ summer this year / Credit: Mylo Kaye (via Unsplash)

The Met Office said in a statement: “While the current three-month outlook shows an increased chance of a hot summer, the temperature signals for this summer are similar to those for recent years and consistent with our warming climate.

“The increased chance of hotter than average temperatures is not a guarantee of prolonged hot weather or heatwaves, but it does mean that heatwave conditions could be reached at times.

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“However, it’s important to bear in mind that an increased chance of hot conditions could also reflect a mix of hot and cool days, warm nights, or less extreme levels of warmth rather than continual heatwave conditions specifically.”

Featured Image – Garry Knight (via Flickr)

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