Transport for London has sold the naming rights to a tube station for the first time in the underground’s 152-year history in a deal with Nestlé.
Canada Water will be rebranded for 24 hours as Buxton Water on Sunday 26 April, the day of the London Marathon.
The station’s roundel signs will feature the name of the Nestlé-owned mineral water and there will be branded artwork throughout. The main sign at the entrance and tube maps will remain unchanged.
More than 35,000 runners take part in the marathon each year and about 750,000 spectators line the route from Blackheath in south-east London to the Mall, with Canada Water situated near the start of the race.
A spokesman for the RMT union, which represents tube workers, said the sponsorship undermined the public service ethos of the city’s transport network.
“It’s part of the whole marketisation and corporatisation of the transport service when people are struggling to get access to tube and DLR services because of pressures on them. We think it’s the thin end of a very long wedge. You could have the whole tube network with branded stations for private gain.”
He said the RMT would resist any attempts to rename stations permanently or to make staff wear uniforms bearing corporate brands.
TfL did not disclose how much Nestlé would pay for the sponsorship. It said the deal was part of an effort to raise £3.4bn of non-fare revenue over the next 10 years for investment in London’s transport infrastructure.
Madrid agreed to sell sponsorship rights to metro stations in 2012, prompting speculation about London doing the same. A report by Conservative members of the London assembly argued for station sponsorship in 2013, but TfL countered that the costs made it unviable.
Barclays sponsored TfL’s bike-hire scheme from 2010 until this month when Santander took over.
Graeme Craig, TfL’s commercial development director, said: “This is a significant deal and the revenue will be reinvested back into our network for the benefit of our customers.”
