Barking and Dagenham Council’s regeneration arm has returned fire at Hilton Hotels for mocking the area in adverts placed on Tube trains.
The luxury hotel chain ran adverts that read: “Next Stop Dagenham East,” with Dagenham East crossed out and “Dubai” scawled across a picture of the Gulf city’s skyline.
In response, the council’s regeneration firm, Be First, released an advertisement of its own showcasing the ‘Hollywood-style’ film studio being built in Dagenham.
The riposte, a parody of Hilton’s original ads, replaced “Dagenham East” with the multimillion-pound studio, dubbed “Dagwood”.
“It will soon be a destination for movie moguls, film stars, and hotels (perhaps, even a Hilton),” it read.
Pat Hayes, Be First’s managing director, said: “We saw this as a great opportunity to come back with a bit of humour with our cheeky advert, which shows why Dagenham is fast becoming a dynamic part of London.”
“Dagenham used to be famous for footballers, factories and Fords,” he added. “Now the area will be famous for films.”
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