People in one Merseyside town are struggling to pin down where they belong.
Newton-le-Willows is a town of around 26,000 people- officially part of St Helens borough, there is a large contingent of the population who don't agree with this. Many feel more akin to their Cheshire neighbours, Warrington- with just six miles and a short drive down the A49 separating the two towns.
For St Helens and Warrington, rugby league plays a huge part in the culture history and identity of the towns. The people of Newton-le-Willows are somewhat split however, when it comes to deciding which team to back- St Helens or Warrington Wolves.
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The question was raised in a St Helens Reddit forum, with one user asking whether there are more Saints fans or Wolves fans in the town. User pb-86 said: "I lived there for five years, it’s definitely St. Helens as it goes off the council but I believe it used to be Warrington? Could be wrong there. I lived on a new build and to be honest it was mostly Saints fans from what I remember."
This is not the case for all however, Aidan Mitchell lives in Newton and is a massive Warrington Wolves fan. He told the ECHO: "I've always supported Warrington and consider them my local team to be honest, it's less than ten minutes on the train."
There's more than just rugby however, with some generally just feeling a sense of belonging to Warrington rather than the Merseyside council they are under. One person said: "I think it depends massively who you ask. I know we're under St Helens but I would never tell anyone I'm from St Helens. It just doesn't feel right to me."
Newton-le-Willows, like most of St Helens, does in fact have a Warrington postcode, WA12, but this may not necessarily mean the town lies in Warrington. According to Royal Mail, an area's postcode is worked out based off the nearest sorting office, with St Helens' closest sitting on the Omega business park on the M62.
According to local historian Steven Dowd, Newton-le-Willows was originally a subservient manor of Warrington. He said: "It is the only place in the British Isles to bear this name, and is possibly more widely known than Warrington, to which it was originally a subservient manor."
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