A Wiltshire digital agency has launched a campaign to rid Bradford on Avon of a punctuation problem which has been irritating residents for generations.
Varn Search Marketing is taking on Google, Tripadvisor and Great Western Railway in an attempt to remove the hyphens which regularly appear in the town’s name.
The agency, which is based in Wiltshire, says there are around 5,800 incorrect references to Bradford-on-Avon online, with Google Maps, Tripadvisor and Wikipedia among the biggest offenders.
The campaign has received backing from Bradford on Avon Town Council and the town’s mayor, Councillor Sam Blackwell, while Varn is also working with Great Western Railway and Wiltshire Council on physical signs.
The problem dates back to 1899, when the Great Western Railway renamed the town’s railway station Bradford-on-Avon. Although the station retained the hyphenated version, the official name of the town itself is Bradford on Avon.
Varn says the confusion has now spread well beyond railway signage, with the hyphen appearing across websites, maps and other digital services.
Even artificial intelligence has apparently fallen into the trap. Varn claims that Gemini, ChatGPT and Claude all use the hyphen when asked how to spell the town’s name.
According to the agency, searches for “Bradford on Avon” are more than five times as common as searches using the hyphenated version.
Tom Vaughton, founder and CEO of Varn Search Marketing, said the agency had decided it was time to take action.
“The horizontal hate crimes have persisted for far too long. Now, Varn is taking a stand,” he said.
“Our team is currently working on updating the online mentions that use the dashes and we’re grateful for the support of Bradford on Avon Town Council and GWR to sort the physical signs.”
And, in a dig at the growing influence of artificial intelligence, he added: “AI loves an em-dash, and it also loves adding erroneous hyphens to our town’s name. We can’t let the robots win this one so we’re doing what we can to change the data that they use.”
Councillor Sam Blackwell, Mayor of Bradford on Avon, said the town council was happy to support the campaign.
“Bradford on Avon’s Great Dash Debate has been rolling on for decades but as a Town Council we are clear that our town’s name is perfect without punctuation,” he said.
“We are glad to support Varn’s push to undraw a line through the matter and de-hyphenate for good!”
The campaign will see Varn work through online references while discussions continue over physical signs, including those at Bradford on Avon railway station and on local roads.
It may be a small line on a page, but for Bradford on Avon, the great dash debate appears to have entered a new chapter.
