The welovelocal Blog

It’s time to give it up for business owners who’ve either put a bit of thought into their name or sought inspiration with a few swifties down The Noose And Monkey.

OK, so you’re casually walking down what you thought was a nondescript high street, possibly munching on some chips. Out of the corner of your eye, you suddenly see something that demands you take a second look. You turn around, scan a crudely painted sign above a shop and involuntarily spit a mouthful of fried potatoes over an innocent bystander. Comedy gold has struck when you’ve least expected, the author a shop owner with the greatest sense of humour in the world.

People, it’s time to stand up and pat those shop owners on the back. We’ve got a few highlighted below, but we need you to flag up the comic heroes that staff our local shops and businesses. Someone needs to give them props after all – the recession sure isn’t putting a smile on their face.

So what have we got for you? These beauties:

Alive And Klippin, Swansea: Tucked away on an average road between two fairly average towns (Neath and Pontardawe) lies this slice of genius. We’ve never been there (hence no review), but we’ve almost crashed the car on numerous occasions as we’ve struggled to keep our hands on the wheel while laughing so hard. We’re guessing they’re Simple Minds fans, though we’ve no idea where that ‘K’ came from – hopefully it’s some sort of hairdressing jargon we don’t understand and not bad spelling.

Buy The Book, Nottingham: This one works on so many levels, which is why it’s double genius. Obviously, it puns ‘By The Book’, but we’re particularly loving the (not so) subtle command that leaves you with no uncertainty what the owner wants you to do once you step foot in his shop. Splendid work, sir/madam.

The Frying Scotsman, Paignton: A brilliant pun made even better by the sheer randomness of it. OK, so it’s a chip shop, but it’s in Devon. Devon, in case you’re geography isn’t up to scratch, is about as far away from Scotland as you can get.

So what else have you got? Your comments and reviews ladies and gentlemen, please…

The picture was supplied by dev null on Flickr

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