It all started with an mice infestation and the discovery of a vermin control company in the North East called Auf Wiedersehen Pest.
Ever since then, our business team has been collecting business names that are less a global branding opportunity and more... well, a good laugh.
And with the recent news that a coffee bar is opening in Gateshead called Peaky Grinders - see what they did there? - we thought it was a great opportunity to update our list, and ask readers for any new suggestions we might have missed.
From Middlesbrough’s Cod Almighty to Newcastle-based heating engineers RU Cold, from sandwich shop Great North Bun to the Bonnie Tiler (a female tiler from Gateshead, of course), some businesses go that extra mile to make sure their customers are amused as well as well served.
Takeaways – and fish’n’chip shops in particular – appear to be a hotbed of punny business names, from The Codfather in South Shields and the Frydays chain to Wok This Way, Phyllis Up, Sam’n’Ellas and Jason’s Donner Van.
Reports of a former chippy in Stanley, County Durham, called A Salt and Battery could not be confirmed, unfortunately.
The other major source of amusing business names was hairdressers, with Curl Up ‘N’ Dye competing for our affections with Curls Aloud.
Gardening firms also seem fond of plays-on-words, with Lawn In Order and the Ace of Spades both being excellent.
In other sectors there was the rather risky Singhsbury’s in West Allotment, North Tyneside, Good Barbers (complete with Godfather-style logo), a vehicle hire firm called PG Trips and the Baguette Me Not sandwich shop in Redcar.
Take a look at the pictures below and enjoy a chuckle on us.
Have we missed any? Let us know in the comments below.
