A red-faced Government department quickly changed an 'insulting' digital ad on display in North Staffordshire - after it boasted of a £7m levelling up fund boost for the wrong Newcastle.
The electronic poster, which appeared next to the Guildhall in Newcastle-under-Lyme this week, flagged up the multi-million pound investment in Grainger Market in Newcastle upon Tyne - around 200 miles away.
After shocked residents took to social media to complain about the gaffe, the Geordie advertisement was swiftly replaced by one highlighting Stoke-on-Trent's £56m levelling up funding, StokeonTrentLive reports.
READ MORE: See how work is progressing on the Northumberland Line as rail project takes shape
It's not the first time the Government has confused the two places.
Back in 2008, it was discovered that the Department for Communities and Local Government had mistakenly handed £2.7m to Newcastle-under-Lyme instead of Newcastle upon Tyne almost two years earlier.
Ali Burdon, who lives in May Bank, spotted the ad as she walked through the town centre on Wednesday and took a picture, which she shared on Twitter.
She said: "I thought it was typically hapless Tory propaganda - wasting money on advertising that they can't even get right. It would be funny if it wasn't so insulting to the residents and business people of Newcastle. And given how some people in Newcastle feel about Stoke, the updated version could be just as irritating."
Another huge digital billboard on the Vue cinema overlooking Newcastle's ring road also highlights Stoke-on-Trent's funding. It is not known whether this one originally focussed on Newcastle upon Tyne.
Newcastle City Council is set to spend the £7m levelling up money on sprucing up the historic Grade 1-listed Grainger Market, as well as improving its accessibility.
Stoke-on-Trent's £56m levelling up fund award will be spent on a number of different schemes, including the Etruscan Square development, the regeneration of the Goods Yard and projects involving the former Tunstall Library and Baths, the former Spode Pottery Works in Stoke and the Crown Works in Longton.
Residents did not know whether to laugh or cry about the Government's clanger, with one joking: "The fog on the Lyme is all mine, all mine".
Another said: "I saw that sign a couple of days ago and wondered where Grainger Market was. Now I know - not round here!". A third added: "Tory efficiency. It's all part of the northern wasteland, so what do they care?"
And even when the billboard was changed to focus on Stoke-on-Trent, residents were still far from happy. One lady said: "This is a joke, isn't it? First time the poster was about Newcastle on Tyne, and now this? Which idiots have put these posters up?". Another added: "This would be funny if it wasn't just so depressing."
Newcastle Borough Council and Newcastle City Council both declined to comment on the Government's error.
But posting in a social media group, Newcastle under Lyme MP Aaron Bell called it 'very embarrassing' and said the department had given him a 'grovelling apology'.
He said later in a statement to StokeonTrentLive: "I have seen the department's second effort – closer, but still not right!
"Last night I spoke in person to the secretary of state, Michael Gove, making clear that Newcastle and Stoke are very different places with their own identities.
"The ad has been taken down and a replacement will be approved via the levelling up minister, Dehenna Davison MP, and myself. The Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme has received over £50 million of central Government funding to level up, through the Future High Streets and Town Deal schemes, and contracts should be signed shortly on number of these projects, transforming our town centre."
A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said: "Our levelling up campaign is providing important information to communities across the UK, helping to spread opportunity to historically overlooked areas. Our advertising contractor made an error in the advert. We were made aware of the issue and it has now been taken down."
It is understood ads placed elsewhere in the district advertising Stoke-on-Trent's funding have also been removed after feedback from residents.
- How tip offs helped DWP fraud investigators catch these benefit cheats
- Iceland confirms closure of Berwick town centre store
- The Northumberland Tolent projects that have ground to a halt after firm goes bust
- Northumberland council rent to rise despite calls for plan to be scrapped after £20m Government funding
'Children bathing in streams': The harsh reality facing 350 Northumberland families living off-grid
