Stratford on Avon or Stratford upon Avon ?

I have lived in Stratford on Avon on for over 25 years having moved from Birmingham by way of London in the early 90’s.

On arrival I was aware that there was a slight difference with some addresses , some people said ‘Stratford upon Avon’ while others would say ‘Stratford on Avon’ . I thought that the use of ‘upon’ was the posh way of saying the same and it took little research to find out what was going on and where did I live .

If you are in the town of Stratford upon Avon , the physical town ,it is ‘Stratford upon Avon’ .

The town is well signposted and has a well defined boundary ,if

however you are on the outside of this you are in the district of Stratford on Avon ,yes its ‘Stratford on Avon’ , simple ?

Well ,not quite that simple as the district of Stratford on Avon is huge and even living miles from Stratford upon Avon town ,you will be in the District of Stratford on Avon .The area extends to the Worcestershire Border at Bidford on Avon , to the North West it extends to the Redditch ,the North West it extends to Warwick & Royal Leamington Spa ,south to the Oxfordshire Border near Edge Hill .

If you live in Henley in Arden ,you are still in Stratford on Avon district,but you would not use the address of the district you would use Warwickshire and your post-code is strangely B95 ,a Birmingham Code.

My personal take on this is that Stratford on Avon is the area that has the post code CV37 , so living in Welford on Avon ,I consider myself still in Stratford on Avon ,but not Stratford upon Avon .

My studio base is at Clifford Chambers ,again this is a Stratford on Avon address

so when a client enquires where am I based ,I say Stratford on Avon ,but to further complicate matters ,I also have a base in London & Leeds .But that’s another complex story.

The District of Stratford on Avon.

The Post-Code area CV37 Stratford on Avon