A recent survey has revealed that, of all the independent businesses on the UK’s high streets, Pubs and Hairdressers have the most common names by far. As many as 331 British pubs are called the ‘Red Lion’, 256 called the ‘Royal Oak’ and 173 called ‘The Crown’ while there are 104 hairdressers called ‘The Hair Shop’, 97 called ‘The Hair Studio’ and 94 called ‘Reflections’.
The other most common business names include ‘One Central’ (157) and ‘Plumb Local’ (93) for Plumbers, the imaginatively-titled ‘The Flower shop’ (99) for florists, ‘Mr. Chips’ (42) for chippies and ‘The Taj Mahal’ (45) for Indian Restaurants.
Some other options seen on the High Street:
Mark Cox from ThomsonLocal.com explains: “Everyone knows a Red Lion pub or Taj Mahal restaurant, but we want to find the businesses with unusual names that really stand out on the high street and bring a smile to people’s faces. The UK’s independent businesses have had a hard time in the last two years but, as we slowly come out of recession, it’s the businesses with the most memorable, quirky names that will truly stand out.”
“We’ve already been recommended businesses including an optician called ‘Spex in the City’, a chippy called ‘A Salt and Battery’ and a hairdressers called ‘Curl up and Dye’ and are really looking forward to seeing more of the really cheeky side of British humour.”
Anyone can recommend a business in their area by uploading a photo from their phone or camera to www.britainspunniest.co.uk. Visitors to the site will be invited to vote for their favourite business name and will be entered into a competition draw to win a holiday to Las Vegas worth £2,500 while the business that ultimately wins the three week competition will win £3,000 of free advertising with Thomson Local as well a brand new sign to show off Britain’s Punniest name.
