7 August 2018

Businesses

Hair salon in Westminster, London
Once, when I was in Middleton near Manchester, I spotted a beauty salon that  specialised in sun bed treatments. It was called "Tanya Whitebitz". At first, I didn't get it. I thought that the owner, Tanya, was probably of  Polish descent. Then the penny dropped.

Over the years I have mentally noted the quirky names of several hairdressing salons and indeed fish and chip shops too. It seems that small business people are frequently filled with creativity when sitting down to come up with fresh names for their new ventures.

Here are the names of some hairdressing businesses - "Hairport", "Choppers", "British Hairways", "Comb Together", "Hairwaves", "Edge Cutters" (at Nether Edge, Sheffield), "Clippity Do-Da" and "Ahead of Time".
In Southampton
When it comes to fish and chip shops, there's "The Codfather", "Chip-In-Dales", "Oh My Cod", "Frydays",  "Fishcotheque" and "New Cod on the Block" You have also got "Our Plaice" and "Captain Haddock" after that character from TinTin.

In Britain there are many pub names that end with the word "Arms" and were invariably named after noble families. For example, around Sheffield, we have several pubs called "The Devonshire Arms" and "The Norfolk Arms". However, when I was a university student I noticed a pub in Glasgow called "The Muscular Arms".

Do you know any similarly eye-catching business names? Perhaps places you have seen or read about along the way. Please add to my little list.
Pub in St Albans, Hertfordshire

43 comments:

  1. I could tell you a few quirky names of hair salons around here, but they are in German and would not work for you if you are not fluent in the language.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Okay. Don't remind me of my linguistic failings!

      Delete
  2. You have found some good ones here! I've seen a few: BookMarx bookstore, Glazed and Confused ceramics studio, Vincent Van Doughnut bakery, Ash Wipers Chimney Sweep and I almost hate to list this bar and restuarant named Big Dick’s Halfway Inn. And yes, these are real businesses.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Big Dick's Halfway Inn? Brouhaha!

      Delete
    2. That made me laugh out loud, literally. Thanks Bonnie!!

      Delete
  3. A shoe shop - Scarpe Diem. Scarpe = shoes.
    A parlour sellings wedding dresses - Scacco Matto (Checkmate)
    Greetings Maria x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh I see! Do you mean "cheque"as in money? I know that wedding dresses cost a lot of lira!

      Delete
    2. No, checkmate as in the game of chess
      x

      Delete
  4. Ye Olde Fighting Cocks is near here (Harpenden)......it is believed to be one of, if not the oldest pub in England ! I have never been in. It is situated at the bottom of the hill down from St. Albans Abbey, next to the River Ver and Verulamium Park.
    The " bistro" just a few minutes from us is called " The Amble Inn", with a picture of Anne Boleyn on the sign! .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have actually been in "Ye Olde Fighting Cocks". I loved the name "Amble Inn" - even without the Ann Boleyn reference. You amble in, you don't dash or burst in.

      Delete
  5. Thai restaurants are the pun masters in Australia - in my local area alone there is Spice I Am, Thaitanic, Appethai and AppeThaiZing - they just go on and on. Extraordinary too, is that so many of the restaurant owners are new Australians and English is their second language. Puns must be a big thing in Thailand.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I used to teach a boy called Pun in Bangkok.

      Delete
  6. reminds me of the Public Hair Salon in Scunthorpe , some wag stole the L , it was like that for years

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I should pop in for a trim some time.

      Delete
  7. It's best to steer clear of those fighting cocks. They're a wayward lot! Nuts, the lot of them!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We used to have a nightclub on the edge of Sheffield called Fannies. I enjoyed my visits.

      Delete
  8. If there's not a Mexican restaurant called Nacho Daddy there ought to be.

    ReplyDelete
  9. My favorite name for a hair salon is Curl Up and Dye but that may or may not be a real thing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No. I do believe that is a real name Ms Moon.

      Delete
    2. Yes! There's one in South London! (Though it might be Curl Up and Dry -- I can't remember.)

      Delete
    3. I guess you have had several appointments there Steve!

      Delete
  10. That pub used to be my local when I lived in St Albans.

    ReplyDelete
  11. You've given me something to look for.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How about The Micro Manager - husband training advice shop.

      Delete
  12. There are about a hundred little cafes and bistros here in the U.S. called the Dew Drop Inn.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Central Perk would make a great name for a New York coffee shop.

      Delete
    2. Central Perk is the coffee shop from Friends, the long-running and perpetually re-run sit com about 6 friends in NYC. You know, the one show that everyone in the world has seen at least 1000 times in their life.

      Delete
    3. I have never heard of it. You must be kidding!

      Delete
  13. Well, I noticed the name of a "pot shop" while on my way through the Spanish enclave in Denver called "Da Bong". Others that I have seen are "The Green Solution", "Medicine Man", "Altitude", "Back to the Garden", "Ganjo Gourmet".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Back to the Garden"... as in Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock" song.

      Delete
  14. I can't think of any at the moment but I enjoyed the ones you mentioned and the rest in the comments. Did you ever notice that accountants and lawyers never do this? :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What abour Sodom and Spender... and Cookham and Dashov?

      Delete
    2. Dewy, Cheatum, and Howe is a popular law firm in the US.

      Delete
    3. The British way of life is changing fast. We shouldn’t worry what a chip shop is called. It doesn’t matter. The influx of foreigners is too late to do snything about.

      Delete
    4. What should we bother about then?

      Delete
  15. There is a restaurant in Pendleton, OR called "Moe Pho" :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I must be a bit thick because I don't get that one Kelly.

      Delete
    2. MoFo = abbreviation for motherf*cker in American English. "Moe Pho" in the dining sense, I am assuming, is a Pho restaurant.

      (Correct me if I'm wrong, Kelly!)

      Delete
    3. Oh my giddy aunt! You Americans can be so crude!

      Delete
  16. As you know, shopfronts are a specialty of mine, and I have photos of shops with the same names you mentioned (Codfather and Fishcotheque, for example). Whoever came up with "Tanya Whitebitz" gets a special award!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Reed!" would be a good name for a new bookshop that targets dyslexics.

      Delete

Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

Most Visits