19 Oct 2024
The long-awaited St Albans edition of perennial family favourite Monopoly was officially launched this week.
Businesses, charities and other organisations featuring on the board were invited to a special launch event at The Odyssey Cinema on Monday.
St Albans Cathedral replaces Mayfair from the classic London original, joined in the top set by the iconic Clock Tower instead of Park Lane.
At the other end of the board is the Roman Theatre, replacing Old Kent Road, the game’s most affordable square, because as the game’s makers say, it is “so very old”.
In between are the great and good of the city including St Albans Market, the Odyssey Cinema and Verulamium Park, with the St Albans Times occupying one of the Community Chest spaces.
Editor Matt Adams said: “Community is at the heart of everything we do at the St Albans Times, so we are honoured to be represented on the Community Chest slot.”
“We have been absolutely spoilt with choices when putting this Monopoly board together,” said Ella Gibbs, custom games executive at Winning Moves UK, who created this edition under licence from Hasbro.
“We produce official Monopoly games based on places all over the world, including Beach, Dubai, Phuket and The Hamptons. Now St Albans has joined the world’s Monopoly elite!”
The board is themed in sets from tourism to heritage, shopping to leisure and more – all to reflect the history and vibrancy of the city.
St Albans Mayor Cllr Jamie Day said: “It is wonderful to see the historic city of St Albans celebrated as an official game of Monopoly.
“I’m particularly glad to hear that some of our local charities and businesses are featured on the board, a recognition of the sterling work that they do for our local community.”
Bethany Nicholson, front of house manager at The Odyssey Cinema, which features on a ‘leisure’ set of three yellow squares,
said: “We are thrilled to be featured, as well as be the chosen launch venue, for the new St Albans Monopoly board.
“The Odyssey Cinema is a magnificent 426-seat venue nestled in a beautifully restored art deco building in the heart of St Albans. Our cinematic gem has revived the spirit of movie-going in the city following a near 10-year hiatus, bringing everyone together – just like Monopoly!”
As there are not four mainline St Albans train stations to fill the quartet of train station spots, that part of the board has been handed over to a quartet of streets: St Michael’s Street, St Peter’s Street, Fishpool Street and George Street.
The launch event saw copies of the game presented to the various organisations featured on the board, including Faye Ferriday from OVO, producers of the Roman Theatre Open Air Festival, who said: “We’re really pleased that both the historic and cultural importance of the Roman Theatre have been recognised as part of the St Albans Monopoly.”
Richard McCann, head of prep at St Columba’s College, said: “It is an absolute honour to be here and to be represented on such a national and global institution of Monopoly. We all associate Monopoly with our childhoods what I’m most looking forward to is our families playing together and celebrating St Albans as such an iconic and historic city.”
Two charities feature in the game as well, following a nominations process earlier in the year: Youth Talk and the OLLIE Foundation.
David Barker, chief executive of Youth Talk, the local charity supporting 13 to 25-year-olds struggling with their mental health, said: “It’s an absolute honour to be on the Monopoly board on so many levels.
“One of the reasons we were really keen to try to be featured on the board is if one young person plays this and becomes aware of Youth Talk and then reaches out to us this would have achieved amazing things on so many levels.
“Not just being a great game to play but actually helping. We talk at Youth Talk about changing and in some cases saving the lives of young people. So if Monopoly helps us to do that, it’s an absolute win-win.”
The other charity present for the launch was suicide awareness organisation The OLLIE Foundation, set up by three local parents who tragically lost their sons to suicide.
One of the co-founders Stuart Falconer said: “It’s such a sad fact of life that suicide is the biggest killer of men under 45 in this country, and we want to raise awareness to make people realise what a problem it is in our country.
“From a personal point of view, I grew up in St Albans and I’ve been here for 55 years, so it’s actually really touching to think that the OLLIE Foundation will be on the board for future generations, and that’s a testament to our three kids – TJ, Morgan and Christopher.”
Foundation CEO Debi Roberts added: “Being featured on the new Monopoly: St Albans Edition board is more than just landing on a square. It is an opportunity for us to land our message of hope and support in every home. This nomination means so much to us and recognises our community’s dedication to our charity. Together, we’re building a community where everyone has a chance to thrive.”
Not present at the event, but also included on the board, is Highfield Park, and chair of Highfield Park Trust, Tim Abbott, said afterwards: “We were all thrilled when the news reached us. Highfield Park is a much loved and increasingly popular destination. We are entirely charity managed and funded and our inclusion is a testament to the hard work of so many people over so many years. A huge thanks to everybody who took the time to support our inclusion.”
Jane Tickey, who won a competition run in the St Albans Times and other media asking for members of the public to say why they love St Albans in 25 words or less, was also presented with her own copy of the game.
Her winning entry was: “I wrote a little ditty because I love St Albans city. It deserves its wide-held fame and its place on Hasbro’s famous game.”
Finally, St Albans Times photographer Toby Shepheard not only attended the original event announcing the city’s Monopoly edition, but actually took the picture of the Cathedral which is in the very middle of the board.
He said: “The Cathedral asked me to put my drone up to try and get a good picture of the building, and now I see it’s in the centre of the board, so I’m very happy!”
You can buy a copy of the St Albans edition of Monopoly now from Waterstones and WHSmith, as well as extensively online.
All photos by Toby Shepheard.
