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It's not just hairdressers who have witty names these days

Melville's picture

such as Hair Razors. I had a flyer through the door today offering gardening services from Rake's Progress. And I saw a waste disposal lorry go past recently with the slogan "Ring us and we'll talk rubbish," and an ironing shop (yes, they exist) called Pressed for Time.

It all adds a little something to the day. Any other business names or slogans which have mildly amused you (even if they haven't won your custom)?

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What does Laurie Anderson call hubby Lou Reed

when he is gardening?

Hoe Superman.

Gets silk bomber jacket...

2
Beany | 3 June 2010 - 7:27pm

Liverpool gardening business

Hoe, Hoe, Hoe. Would only really work if they only operated over Christmas.

0
PaddyH | 8 June 2010 - 10:12pm

I used to do business

with a pig farmer whose trucks bore the legend:

'Service with a Grunt'

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The Californian | 3 June 2010 - 7:39pm

My local favourites are

Dog groomers called For The Love Of Dog

and ironing company, Pressing Matters.

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hazeyjane | 3 June 2010 - 7:55pm

There was a brothel (no , seriously)

to the south of Madrid, some years back with the name " Cow Woman".I used to see it on my way to work on the side of the road. I could see what that they were aiming for " Cow Girls" but someone`s translation skills were not up to it.

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On The Fence | 3 June 2010 - 8:01pm

A catering firm in Spain

called Catering Hepburn.

Always smile when I see the sign for solicitors Shaidy & Co in Queensway.

0
Norwegian Blue | 3 June 2010 - 8:13pm

Chicken wholesalers

Photobucket

1
PaddyH | 3 June 2010 - 8:25pm

:-)

1
Norwegian Blue | 3 June 2010 - 8:32pm

A fantasy book store

Force of Hobbit

0
Sam Fiddian | 3 June 2010 - 8:29pm

A fantasy music and jazz mag retailer...

Seedy Emporium

0
Patrick Crowther | 3 June 2010 - 8:38pm

Just by Bristol Airport

A roadside van selling Fried Food in buns - "Breakfast at Timothy's"

1
el hombre malo | 3 June 2010 - 8:36pm

Klaze*

a woman's clothes shop in Falkirk c. 1982

*may lose something in translation

4
James Blast | 3 June 2010 - 8:40pm

and for the kids' klaze:

Weans' World in Wishaw

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The Californian | 4 June 2010 - 8:51pm

Blimey!

I'm back working in Motherhell but there is no way I'm venturing back to Pishaw.
I went there back in't 90s, it was closed.

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James Blast | 4 June 2010 - 10:18pm

Ouch!

I'll tell my mum not to expect you for tea anytime soon James.

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The Californian | 4 June 2010 - 10:34pm

sorry

but you're in California... mind you, your Mum is probably closer to my age :)

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James Blast | 4 June 2010 - 10:55pm

The shop I always wanted to open...

in Munich, where I live, is a shop selling floor coverings called: Carpet München

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Brookster | 3 June 2010 - 8:46pm

Meanwhile in Copenhagen...

1
Norwegian Blue | 3 June 2010 - 9:08pm

Athlete's Foot

Athlete's Foot is a global franchise...

0
Red Umpire | 8 June 2010 - 9:53pm

Prog gardeners

Close To The Hedge

0
Beany | 3 June 2010 - 8:49pm

A van used to go past my office

on the A30 with "John Ryan's Express" on the side.

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Leedsboy | 3 June 2010 - 9:03pm

Tanning salon in Glasgow...

...called Pierce Bronzin'.

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stuartpwilson | 3 June 2010 - 9:29pm
Lenny Law | 3 June 2010 - 9:33pm

There is (or was) a hairdresser in Shoreditch

called pragmatically if not wittily, 'It'll Grow Back'

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Beezer | 3 June 2010 - 9:38pm

I remember that place!

Just near Kingsland Road wasn't it. A few streets away, you had the off-licence just called CHEAP BOOZE

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Slotbadger | 4 June 2010 - 11:35am

Gents hairdresser where I live

called the Deben Barber. Of course it helps when you know that it is by the River Deben...

0
BryanD | 3 June 2010 - 9:54pm

In Brisbane Australia ...

... Baldrick's Cunning Plan Cafe

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Steerpike | 3 June 2010 - 9:58pm

A ceramic tile store near Harrogate.

went by the name of The Bonnie Tiler.

1
JQW | 3 June 2010 - 10:01pm

Bargain Booze

Saw a lorry t'other day owned by a firm called Bargain Booze.

The tag line?

"Making Life Richer for the Pourer."

I saw it just as the Today programme on Radio 4 were discussing minimum pricing for alcohol.

0
stumpy | 3 June 2010 - 10:16pm

There used to be....

...a kebab van in Durham called Jason's Doner Van.

2
Bob | 3 June 2010 - 10:34pm

Coming out of Birmingham

on the way to Stratford was a hairdressers called

Butt Hair Designs.

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illuminatus | 3 June 2010 - 10:41pm

We have a business here in Portsmouth.

A chap who will collect your old furniture, remove the upholstery and then remove all paint and varnish from the wooden frame.

Called Jack The Stripper.

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Lenny Law | 3 June 2010 - 10:52pm

In Ironbridge

Photobucket

2
Steerpike | 3 June 2010 - 11:00pm

I see your cock, Steerpike. And I raise you a Scarlet Knob.

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There's a photo somewhere of me and my mate Andy standing by this sign doing our best Finbarr Saunders stances.

Which is in Ohiopyle, PA. Very near Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. And his other great house Kentuck Knob (Fnar! Snick!) owned by Lord Palumbo.

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Lenny Law | 3 June 2010 - 11:13pm

Touche Lenny

But it is the instruction to 'ask your bootmaker for cock' which gets me every time

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Steerpike | 3 June 2010 - 11:19pm

I ask my grocer for cock..

Akram's store in Southsea sells this.

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And this. Which does what it says on the tin..

Shito is a Ghanaian fish paste made with a LOT of chilli. It's very similar to Jamaican Solomon Gundy (Walkerswood do one).

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Lenny Law | 3 June 2010 - 11:36pm

Norwegian Spam

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Norwegian Blue | 4 June 2010 - 12:47am

For simple pleasures

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Beany | 4 June 2010 - 9:01am

Shoe shop in darkest Wales.

Now sadly closed luxuriated in the name Pero Shoes.

0
Pencilsqueezer | 3 June 2010 - 11:02pm

Liverpool tanning salons

Walton's 'Tannerife' and Toxteth's 'Look at the colour of you, la'. (Think about the latter one).
Although, honourable mention must go to the Toxteth sandwich shop 'Soupherb Sandwiches' on Park Road and the Wigan hairdressers 'Shearlocks Home'. The latter had an impressive deer stalker/ pipe logo.
Martin Parr has some great photos in a similar vein, but I really need the loo and bed.

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PaddyH | 4 June 2010 - 12:56am

There used to be an umbrella shop in Warrington

called simply "It WILL Rain".

0
skirky | 4 June 2010 - 1:03am

Ayr is awful for this

Ayr Cuts being a particularly horrible example!

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styrofoam plates | 4 June 2010 - 1:29am
Ricardo | 4 June 2010 - 1:46am

Pun Street

This has been a theme on Dave Gorman's show on Absolute for a while now - see more on this link

http://www.absoluteradio.co.uk/djs_shows/shows/dave_gorman/features/pun_...

1
fortuneight | 4 June 2010 - 4:21am

I've seen a picture

of a fridge shop in North London called "Sell Fridges"

0
Joe R | 4 June 2010 - 7:54am

It's in Stoke Newington

not far from our house

G

0
IanP | 7 June 2010 - 5:00pm

I often see

a van on the way to work : 'Blott's Landscaping'.

Clearly a Tom Sharpe fan.

0
PeteWingrave | 4 June 2010 - 9:34am

Not sure if it's witty but

There's a Derbyshire Landscaping Company called "Uphill Gardeners"

0
Sebastian Beach | 4 June 2010 - 9:38am

There is a driving school called

'Start key and Clutch'.

There's a fish and shop by Waterloo Station in London called Fishchoteque

And let's not forget Jim'll Mix It

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Peckham For The... | 4 June 2010 - 10:07am

I see

Jim'll Mix It trundling round North London loads - always raises a smile.

Also, Junk and Disorderly - house clearance place in Crouch End.

Austin Flowers - Florist, York Way.

Years ago in Sheffield there was a chippy on Abbeydale Road called 'A Salt and Battered' - don't know if it's still there today...aah the innate comedy of domestic violence!

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cathtrish | 4 June 2010 - 11:08am

Fishcotheque

As seen on the front cover of the mighty Jazz Butcher album of the same name?

http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/albums/fishcotheque.html

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theboyblunder | 4 June 2010 - 4:13pm

Good chippy,

The Fishcotheque. When in London, I'd often nip there for a steak and kidney pie and chips.

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Brookster | 4 June 2010 - 9:52pm

The Rock and Sole Plaice

in London fabulous Covent Garden is worth a visit

0
Sheev | 5 June 2010 - 5:30pm

London courier firm

This has been mentioned elsewhere I'm sure but I often see courier vans in this locale belonging to 'Quicksilver Messenger Service'

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Beezer | 4 June 2010 - 10:26am

Captain Courier

in Belfast uses the slogan "To Finaghy* and beyond!"

*A Belfast suburb

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Steven C | 10 June 2010 - 7:46am

Another Hairdresser in Islington

Chris "the" Barber

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Big Guxy | 4 June 2010 - 10:44am

Just this very morning...

...a joiner/ carpenter's van drove past me - the business was called 'Chisel Me Timbers'.

I mentioned this to my workmates who all had one to offer, the best of which was an electrician friend who had a business called 'Circuit and See'

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Con Coleman | 4 June 2010 - 11:15am

There's an RSPCA shop on Archway Road

The shopfront declares in gigantic letters NEUTERING STOPS AIDS IN CATS

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Slotbadger | 4 June 2010 - 11:39am

Famous Belfast chippy

Photobucket

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PaddyH | 4 June 2010 - 12:12pm

Builder's van seen in Leicester

... in the Indian part of Leicester (Belgrave Road?). Can't recall the firm's name, just the slogan on the van:

"You've tried the Cowboys... Now try the Indians!"

2
man.of.soup | 4 June 2010 - 12:30pm

A Liverpool fruit & veg shop ...

... in Anfield, now sadly no more, was called Melon Cauli: the dilapidated shop front was Ozymandian, in its way.

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epigone | 4 June 2010 - 12:43pm

Now try the Indians!

I believe you're referring to Singh Brothers Builders.

Makes me chuckle everytime I see their van.

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Burnt_Face_Jake | 4 June 2010 - 12:47pm

Also, Coalville's finest......

A guy with a excavator and a dump truck (and potentially Boogie Nights in his DVD collection) calls his business "Dirt Digger".

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Burnt_Face_Jake | 4 June 2010 - 12:51pm
Brookster | 4 June 2010 - 12:59pm

German humour

(Or Chinese humour.)

This place is about 1km from my flat in Munich:

0
Brookster | 4 June 2010 - 1:02pm

If I ever opened a bicycle shop

I'd call it Bike Curious.

1
clivetemple | 4 June 2010 - 1:06pm

There's a bike shop...

... in Oxford called Cyclo Analysts.

0
Inky Fingers | 5 June 2010 - 9:09am

Driving

I had my first driving lessons with The Impact School of Motoring. Fortunately, it was not a crash course.

For those of you who are peckish in Kilburn:

http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/directory/1153/22733.php

0
Baskerville Old Face | 4 June 2010 - 1:41pm
Baskerville Old Face | 4 June 2010 - 1:44pm

Recently opened nearby

A dining emporium that specialises solely in the pudding course.

JUST DESSERTS.

I kid you not.

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phlanth | 5 June 2010 - 12:25am

I worked for an...

...accountant in outer north London, who had a client, a shoe repairer, went by "Terry De Havilland Cobblers To The World".

And I was always partial to the south Birmingham indian restaurant "The Shirley Temple". Nearly fell of the back of my mate's motorbike when I saw that the first time.

0
Harold Holt | 5 June 2010 - 1:26am

There's an estate agents in Kidderminster...

called Doolittle and Dalley

0
Nick Duvet | 5 June 2010 - 3:07am

Wild and Lye

Estate Agents in Bath. These seem to be the real surnames of the partners, but given their profession's reputation for, er, making slightly exaggerated statements about the condition of property, they might have reconsidered using them as their company's name.

0
Melville | 5 June 2010 - 9:53am

Meanwhile in Hastings.....

There's a business called William the Concreter.

http://www.williamtheconcreter.co.uk/index.php?page=gallery#

0
stumpy | 5 June 2010 - 6:57am

I know this isn't big or clever

And it's not actually on the sign....
But my local curry hut in Newport Pagnell, which is very good by the way, is called The Mysore. It is always referred to by the townsfolk as 'Mysore Arse'.

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drakeygirl | 5 June 2010 - 4:37pm

You probably all know this

But Hotblack Desiato (he of the band Disaster Area in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe) was named after an estate agent in Islington. (Not the other way around.)

0
Brookster | 7 June 2010 - 8:37am

The first time I saw one of their signs outside a house..

I got terribly excited. This was in about 1998. My metropolitan friends all thought of me as terribly provincial.

On a similar note, I was a huge fan of Darts as a young lad. One of their singers was called Griff Fender. You have no idea how excited I got when I saw a (real) one of these driving down the road..

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Lenny Law | 7 June 2010 - 12:43pm

I did not

know that, being one of those provincial types. But I do now, thanks.

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phlanth | 7 June 2010 - 4:37pm

I did not know that, either.

I have never knowingly been to Islington.

0
Adman | 7 June 2010 - 4:47pm

I seem to recall walking past a pub in Glasgow years ago called

... Moan Inn

Perhaps it needs a Glasgow accent to fully appreciate...

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ganglesprocket | 7 June 2010 - 8:53am
Iainso | 7 June 2010 - 5:08pm

Shakespearean

It's probably apocryphal, but I heard of a camping and outdoor shop that had a sign in its window one January that read 'Now is the winter of our discount tents'

1
Eliz | 8 June 2010 - 9:22pm

Liverpool

Landscapers: Avant Gardens.

Caribbean restaurant:

0
Red Umpire | 8 June 2010 - 10:27pm

Reminds me of one of my favourite jokes

..,.I took the wife on one of thise Caribbean holidays
.... Jamaica?
.....No, she wanted to go

0
On The Fence | 9 June 2010 - 9:32am

Not a pun, but....

There's a barbers on Stanley Road in Kirkdale in Liverpool whose tag line is 'It'll look OK when it's washed.'

0
PaddyH | 8 June 2010 - 10:09pm

today has thrown up

DMM Glazing, "what I hear you cry" they had the tagline (doesn't every business have one these days) We're only a stone's throw away" Dah-dah!

and
Achille's Heel - problems of the lower limbs and foot massage

0
James Blast | 9 June 2010 - 12:27am
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