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.