Stockport has been renamed Scottport to celebrate Scott Mills taking over the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show. The signage and information screens at the station in the Greater Manchester town were all changed for the day as the DJ started his new role on Monday morning.
The 51-year-old has taken over from Zoe Ball, who announced in November last year that she was stepping down to “focus on family”, having replaced Chris Evans in the slot in 2019. As she sanctioned the name change, the mayor of Stockport Suzanne Wyatt told Mills on air: “I’m very happy. I think it makes people smile. The more we can do to make people smile, the better.”.
Alongside the changes at the station, the bridge over the M3 at Fleet Services was also renamed for the day. Earlier in the show, a Stockport station spokeswoman told Mills their team has been “working so hard right the way through the night” to change Stockport to Scottport.
“All the information screens have been changed. All the signage has been changed from Stockport to Scottport. A whole new town, a whole new name, just to welcome Scott Mills”, she added. Mills, who said he used to live “quite near” Stockport, described the changes as “bonkers” and “like a fever dream” as he thanked the station team.
The Northants Sings Out choir, who were finalists on Britain’s Got Talent, also serenaded Mills with a medley of songs which were altered to celebrate the radio host. Among the tracks they tweaked the lyrics to included The Only Way Is Up by Yazz to “the only way is Scott”, Donna Summer’s Hot Stuff to “Scott stuff”, and Spice Girls’ Stop to ‘Scott right now’.
