Pun shops

Thanks to James McKenzie for this corker of a van. Spotted by my regular correspondent Alistair in Swansea. This superb effort spotted by Tom Steinberg persuaded me to suspend my ban on hairdressers.
In Brussels, from Alistair Turnbull.
In Brussels, from Alistair Turnbull.
Spotted by Alistair Turnbull in Leeds.
Greek pun shop.
Thanks to Alistair Turnbull for this gallery that seems to have a rather small stock.
The French do love complicated puns. (Thanks to Alistair Turnbull.)
Alistair Turnbull came up with these (partly) baked goods.
One from James McKenzie, in Station Road, March.
From a friend of a friend, Sarah Sharpe.
Found by Stephen Alder in Fécamp.
From James McKenzie, in Brighton.
From James McKenzie, in Brighton.

Not just a classic French pun-shop, but with the designer of the typeface used in its name (Pablo Impallari, left) and of the Cyrillic version (Alexei Vanyashin, right).
Possibly the least bizzarre find of the day, but the only pun shop.
A parasitic pun shop found by James McKenzie in Hay-on-Wye.
Not a shop, nor a pun, but why is this house at the end of my road named after two letters?


A shop punning on the name of its street this close to the respective sign seems almost overdoing it.
Weak. One suspects the owner just wanted to open their damn shop already.
Bookshops in France are almost as likely to be punshops as hairdressers in England.
Not a shop, but the first use I have ever found in English where a Greek letter which doesn’t resemble its Roman equivalent is used with its correct phonetic value. (cf. “Kil” cars, and endless capital Sigmas being used as Es.)
Eleven years on, the shop that inspired me to collect pun shops in the first place, in the 5th in Paris.
I didn't expect to find such ardent fans of liturgical English word-play on the beach in Barcelona. “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar.”
From Mark Longair.
From Mark Longair.
Kilburn hair, found while looking for food during a recording session break.
Courtesy of James McKenzie, Pungary (seen on Andrássy út in Pest).
Another left-bank pun shop.
Un pun-shop du midi in Montréjeau: disused, sadly (two bystanders asked me if I was interested in the property, and I had to explain that my interest was purely verbal).
Pun shops have spread even to the town of my birth, Hitchin, Herts.
Found in the shopping centre at the Old Street roundabout.
A statue to Willem Elsschot, Antwerp’s literary son and author of “Cheese”.
Found during a therapeutic walk from the Gare St-Lazare to the Gare du Nord while travelling from Rouen to London.
Found by Rosemary Galton in East Finchley.
Antony Galton took this in Bar Harbor, Maine, in 2005, and says: “The bird pictured is a Common Loon (i.e., what we British call a Great Northern Diver).”
Another by Antony Galton, from Looe.
Another from Antony Galton, found in Exeter, Devon.
Found by Antony Galton in Borough, London.
Found by Antony Galton in Orono, ME.
In cheeky Harrogate.
Found by Tom Steinberg in Stoke-on-Trent.
Another utterly baffling hairdresser, in Sherbourne.
Another gem from Anna PS, found in Headington.
Not a shop, but this shocking example of public sector advertising (even if it is in motorists’ best interests) had to be exposed.
Not in Cley, so pronounced “cleye”.
“Made In Cley” is in Cley, so pronounced “clay”.
Belief systems under attack join forces?
Classic East London: no shame.
Anna PS found this chippie.
A dogmatic optician in London.
Another hairdresser, by a canal, from Tom Steinberg.
A Norwegian pun shop.
A reverse pun? Israeli confectionery displays Japanese-level branding panache.
Taken by Tom Steinberg in Oakham.
Why is an accountant called “Wired”, even in France?
In the 17th, Paris. My pun-sense says this is a pun, but I don’t yet understand how.
In Chichester, Good Friday 2009. Chichester does not have a high standard of puns.
In Chichester, Good Friday 2009.
A school on Vallance Road, E1, divides its pedestrian traffic in a way that looks ineffectual. I've not actually gone round while the pupils are arriving or leaving to see how well it works.
The Bank of Ireland has a cash machine!
This really is a pun shop. Read the small print. (In Dublin.)
A strangely unappetising smoothie bar at Stansted airport.
How the East End markets got their wacky reputation.
Why the Irish don't export bread to France.
Another Paris pun shop. It really did deal in plumbing, whereas the name really refers to engravings.
Another from James McKenzie.
One taken by James McKenzie on Catherine Street, Cambridge in July 2008.
The owners of this shop in Poissy surely can't have been unaware of the double entendre, but who would name a restaurant C(roc)RAP(ide)?
Not really a pun, but most alarming. Look at the small print. Seen in Les Halles.
The shop in the 5th that inspired the collection when I spotted it in 2002 during the Monteverdi Choir production of Obéron. I finally found time to snap it.
In the 2nd.
One snapped by James McKenzie in October 2007.
I found this hairdresser in Abingdon behind the old Town Hall. Hairdressers often have awful puns as names; what on earth is this?
Goodness only knows what this is doing in Valencia.
This nourty water was offered with lunch at the Maritime museum.
Why do so many Indian restaurants have such a snigger-inducing name? A web search reveals that it's not just restaurants, either: hotels, library supplies and several cities, to name but three, share the name. It seems to come from the French "gaillard", meaning a "merry fellow".
More of a juxtapunsition. These shops were on Northcote Road in London in 2007, when I lived nearby.
Spotted in Paris shortly after seeing the Gabriele Muccino film "The Pursuit of Happyness".
Apparently the Italians don't like free software in their car parks.
Failed highwaymen who have turned instead to providing entertainment during the Rome marathon.
Near the King's Road, Chelsea.
Near South Kensington tube.
Even in Nice the pun shops are English!
Another one for the collection.
One for the collection. In Galleria Colonna.
What is it about hairdressers? The sign is rather easier to read than the window.
A shop in the 13th.
Boston's contribution to wacky hair salon names. I didn't manage to take a picture of the one I saw in NJ called "Hair We R".

Atlas Obscura have a [http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/behold-the-ultimate-crowdsourced-map-of-punny-businesses-in-america|crowd-sourced map of US pun shops] (thanks to Anna PS for the tip-off).

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Last updated 2024/02/15