Fans of Sacha Baron Cohen’s Da Ali G Show and its 2002 film adaptation Ali G Indahouse will surely recall that the titular wannabe gangster portrayed by Cohen hailed from the supposedly mean streets of Staines, a small market town in northwest Surrey, England. The delusional Ali G is also the leader of a so-called gang known as Da West Staines Massiv, made up of his friends from the area. The joke, of course, for anyone in the know, is that Staines is nothing like the inner-city ghetto the group makes it out to be. In fact, it’s just a typical suburban English town.
As such, some residents of Staines weren’t exactly thrilled to have their community be associated with Ali G and his crew. In 2011, members of the Spelthorne borough council voted in favor of changing the name of Staines to Staines-upon-Thames in an attempt to distance the area from Cohen’s character and “improve the town’s historic image.”
Alex Tribick, who’s the chairman of the Spelthorne Business Forum, and apparently not the host of Jeopardy!, was quoted as saying, “There’s no doubt Ali G put Staines on the map—but for all the wrong reasons. He put the stain in Staines.”
Sacha Baron Cohen’s Ali G Put This Town on the Map, Then It Changed Its Name
“The town was derided,” Tribick continued. “Despite its situation along both banks of a beautiful stretch of the [River Thames], property prices are well below average.” Though a few councilors abstained from voting or voted against the name change, 25 out of the 35 who participated supported the idea.
According to Tribick, the vote was “a ringing endorsement of what the public wanted,” but not everyone agreed with his opinion.
“Changing the name exposes the town to ridicule; it turns its back on 1,500 years of history and is not necessary,” said Steve Parsons, the secretary at Staines Town Football Club. “How about if 500 people wanted to change the name back next year? You could do it, or we could go one better and change it every year. That is the reason why people see this as ridiculous. Places that change their names are places like Stalingrad.”
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