In message , at 14:34:58 on Sun, 22 Mar
2020, MikeS remarked:
My opinion, based on quite a lot of research, being: having earlier
specified mileages to various gateways like Marble Arch, the AA decided
for its maps to consolidate on Trafalgar Square. This has become a meme
about "Charing Cross" (the original one only having a plaque) and an
unspoken implication that it has always been the case (long before the
AA)

The Post Office one can be as well. The mystery about the Charing
Cross/AA one is that as far as I can tell no-one has ever been able to
expand on what it says on that fairly recent and vague plaque.

I think I'll do a FOI on Westminster City Council, and see what they
have to say.

I don't understand what all the "mystery" is about.

The BBC website has a nice item on this which gives a perfectly
reasonable explanation of why a very distinctive landmark was at placed
this location and subsequently made a convenient choice as the "centre"
of London.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/...aringcross_fea
ture.shtml

What exactly are you trying to discover?

Sorry for posting earlier (finger trouble, and nothing new added).

What I'm trying to discover is why the BBC and others are peddling this
old wife's tale, the details of which are discussed earlier in the
thread.
--
Roland Perry