It must also be noted that claiming to be an "Atherstonian" follows a strict social order. One must have been "born and bred" within a one-mile radius of Long Street to claim this status however since the opening of the George Eliot maternity hospital in neighbouring Nuneaton during the 1960s this rule has been somewhat relaxed on condition that one's parents were born in Atherstone. To this day anyone residing in Atherstone who was not born there and who's parents are not from the town is classed within the social order as an "Outsider".