Brummie puns
One thing I’ve noticed since living in Birmingham is the number of names of shops and businesses that feature puns. Of course there’s the usual hairdressers’ names—-like A Cut Above or Curl Up ‘N’ Dye—-but then you expect hairdressers to use puns (for some reason I’ve never been able to fathom).
No, what’s unusual here is the diversity of other businesses employing a finely-honed play on words in their name. Here’s a few of my favourites:
- Petshop Lads—-a pet shop, obviously, and it took me a few seconds to get that one
- Woodfellas—-a firm of carpenters
- Melon Cauli—-a greengrocer
I must also mention another wonderful shop name which isn’t a pun, but is just wonderfully, gloriously weird: Jeff’s Useful Shop. What do they sell? Why, Useful Things of course.
1
There's also the Indian Restaurant in Shirley called The Shirley Temple----- I like Melon Cauli, that's great!
by Ian @ 08/03/2005 9:03 am • Permalink •
2
It's not a pun, but yesterday I saw a place in Grimsby called "Booze'n'News" and it really summed up the town for me.
by Peter Cooper @ 08/03/2005 10:03 am • Permalink •
3
I am reliably informed that there is a curry house in Aire, Scotland called âAire Indiaâ!
by Ish Kolhatkar @ 08/03/2005 12:04 pm • Permalink •
4
Oh yeah, remembered another one, spotted on a van on the A34 heading out of Brum: a company who supplied tack (horse-riding equipment). Had to be 'Only Foals and Horses' of course.
by JonH @ 08/03/2005 8:03 pm • Permalink •
5
We drove through The Lye in Stourbridge on Saturday and the locals there seem to be fond of the pun too. 'The Lyebrary' is, I assume is the video rental place. and there's a curry house called Spice of Lyefe. I got the feeling there were more but I was driving and trying to concentrate on the traffic.
by JonH @ 08/03/2005 8:03 pm • Permalink •
6
It took me years to look reality in the eye and accept that a car compamy name here in sweden was NOT a very clever pun, it was so good that I suppressed all debate and good sense in myself. The company name is Kaiser Bil (bil is swedish for car). I was finally forced to acknowledge to myself what I had known all along deep inside myself for years, ie. that this was simply a car company owned by mr. Kaiser and my source of highway mirth and enjoyment was based on a lie.
by john @ 09/03/2005 8:04 am • Permalink •
7
One of my favourites (and yes, it took me an age to figure it out properly) was BDI Security.
BDI = Beady Eye, for those not with it at this time in the morning.
by Lyle @ 09/03/2005 10:03 am • Permalink •
8
In Bedminster high street, Bristol a few years back there was a weird juxtaposition of shops:
A newsagents completely decorated in Marlboro livery side-by-side the Charity shop for Cancer Research.
I had to laugh but everyone else just seemed to walk on by.
by Forget It @ 09/03/2005 3:03 pm • Permalink •
9
Colin McKane: Oh, that is classic!
Peter Cooper: :-D I forgot to mention the shop near here (selling the plastic storage boxes, bins, household stuff, mobile accessories etc.) called 'Smash'N'Grab'. Kind of sums up that area too.
Ish Kolhatkar: Groan. That's great!
JonH: It sounds like they make the most of their name there. And 'Only Foals and Horses' is superb.
john: It would be better if it was deliberate, but there's still a lot of amusement to be had from unintentional naming puns like that. I remember that when my family went on holiday to Minorca many years ago, my brother and I found the crisps called 'Bumms' endlessly hilarious. When you're about 7, that's the funniest joke in the world.
Lyle: That's actually quite subtle --- I'm not surprised you didn't get it straight away.
Forget it: Oh, that's sick. Or a warning, who can tell...
by bsag @ 09/03/2005 6:04 pm • Permalink •
10
In Loughborough there is a sandwich shop called "Only rolls and sauses"
A kebab shop called "Abra-Kebabra"
And close by in Derby another take away "Nads", Luckly they do not sponser a football team.
I can see the crowds stood on the sideline now shouting "Go-Nads Go-Nads"
by Gravydavy @ 10/03/2005 11:03 am • Permalink •
11
In New Hampshire (USA), all of the liquor stores are state owned. This has led to the intersting combination of Highway Safety Rest Area / Liquor stores which share common parking lots at various locations.
by The Plaid Cow @ 14/03/2005 3:04 pm • Permalink •
12
Another classic Brummie one, this time in the Jewellery Quarter...
Gordon Blue Cafe (and Gordon Blue Catering)
They make a great bacon sandwich!
by Josh @ 31/03/2005 5:04 am • Permalink •
13
Everyone in brum must know the indian restaurant Balti Towers..!
by chris @ 22/11/2005 4:12 pm • Permalink •
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