Is Exeter Britain's poshest place?

Less than two weeks to go now until the nation votes… but it’s ANOTHER election campaign that is capturing the public’s imagination: The Exeter Monopoly election.

And today (Friday) at 10am at Parliament Street (High Street end) in Exeter city centre London games boss Dan Taylor from Winning Moves heads west to Exeter from London sporting colourful election style rosettes as he asks the Exeter public to vote for an Old Kent Road on a new official MONOPOLY board for Devon’s capital city.

The public has been polling for landmarks to fill the board and very many organisations are running imaginative campaigns that rival – arguably surpass – the current main party election campaigns which has seen the recruitment of high profile celebrities.

One – the Exeter Deaf Academy – has even posted a You Tube video.

However it appears Exeter could perhaps be TOO POSH to have its own Old Kent Road equivalent.

Mr Taylor – kitted out all ‘posh (walking stick and top hat) - will be in Exeter tomorrow asking: “Is Exeter too well healed to have an Old Kent Road equivalent?”.  He will be wearing rosettes in a mix of colours and also will have a giant yellow dice. “We may have to throw this to find an Old Kent Road,” he says.                                                                                                                            

The public has been voting in their many thousands for landmarks to fill the board, with some from as far away as New Zealand and Canada. Exeter had beaten the capital cities of the West Country to land its own board in a vote earlier in the year. It beat the capitals of Cornwall (Truro), Somerset (Taunton), Dorset (Dorchester) and Wiltshire (Trowbridge).

Now the makers are asking themselves if there is ANY Exeter landmark that can replace Old Kent Road from the board’s London original. There has been a dearth of votes for this first location on the board, which is the most moderately priced site compared to every other location (there are 22 streets in all).

Old Kent Road costs just sixty MONOPOLY dollars (dollars are the universal MONOPOLY currency) to buy.  Rentals are extremely low for anyone landing on this space, particularly in comparison to today’s ever spiralling rental prices.

But the site has a very high cachet. “It’s our most talked about site and one we are extremely proud of,” says Dan Taylor, Head of Custom Games at Winning Moves UK, the company making the board under official license from MONOPOLY owners Hasbro. 

“Over the years we have produced boards for perceived well-heeled places - such as Oxford, for example - but we have never come across a situation like this. We have had a dearth of suggestions for an Exeter equivalent of Old Kent Road compared to every other location so Exeter could well be the poshest place in Britain.                                                                      

“But we HAVE to fill this space,” adds Mr Taylor. “As we do every one of the 22 locations from the London original is handed over to an Exeter landmark or address.”

The new board will be out in time for this Christmas.