Liverpool locals fume over bizarre train station pronunciation error

We all know that visitors often struggle with pronunciations of our local towns and villages, due to silent letters and bizarre spellings.

But, train operator Northern are claiming that Liverpudlians themselves led them to get the pronunciation of South Liverpool suburb Mossley Hill completely wrong.

There are now three different utterances being bandied about for such a seemingly simple place name.

Currently pronounced on rail services as ‘Mozzley-ill’, Northern say local residents informed them the correct pronunciation is actually ‘Mose-ley Hill’ and are planning a change. But, locals are adamant that the correct pronunciation is in fact ‘Moss-lee Hill’ and they are not happy with the other versions.

One annoyed local told BBC Radio Merseyside: “It’s ‘Moss-Lee’ Hill. The same as my name is super short and people call me Susan. Don’t call me Suzzanne, because my name is Susan, spelled ‘S-U-S-A-N’ not ‘S-U-Z-Z-A-N-N-E’... Go back to the person who invented the map and how dare they want to change names.”

The train company is currently rerecording the announcements for many stations on their routes, following complaints that they are being pronounced incorrectly. Disgruntled customers have until the end of the month to submit their suggestions and corrections to Northern, before ‘Mose-ly Hill’ is finalised.

While the Mossley Hill debate rages over a mispronunciation we’ve never heard before, there are many place names that do catch visitors out, such as Kirkby (Ker-bee) and Gateacre (Gat-akker).

Below are the most mispronounced place names in Liverpool and Merseyside, guaranteed to catch people out.