The Lawnranger rides away with Yellow Pages' Best Business Name 2003 title - 29 September 2003
He rides fearlessly into uncharted undergrowth, bravely battles against wild shrubbery and takes tough horticultural tasks in his stride... he is The Lawnranger, a one-man gardening firm in Tintagel, Cornwall. And today he is unmasked as the national winner of Yellow Pages’ Best Business Name competition.The Lawnranger - 38 year old Terry Melton - has scooped the national title and a £1,000 cheque in the first ever competition by Yellow Pages to find Britian’s Best Business name.
The aim of the competition is to officially recognise and reward the creativity and ingenuity of business owners across Britain. Regional heats produced a shortlist of twelve finalists including business name gems such as A Fish Called Rhondda, a chip shop in Rhondda, mid Glamorgan; Goochi Poochi, a pet groomers from Peterborough, Cambridgeshire and Wish You Wash Here, a dry cleaners from Coventry, Warwickshire.
A panel of experts from the worlds of comedy, psychology and business had a tough job evaluating each entrant against a number of criteria including comedy value, cleverness and originality.
The panel comprised retail psychologist Dr Tim Denison; Open University linguistics specialist Dr Frank Monaghan; Laurence Miller, managing director of leading comedy club Jongleurs and Richard Duggleby, head of external relations at Yell, publisher of Yellow Pages.
The results in full:
| National Winner | |||
| Name | Classification | Address | Region |
| The Lawnranger | Garden Services | Tintagel, Cornwall | South West |
| Runners Up | |||
| Name | Classification | Address | Region |
| Jim'll Mix It | Cement specialist | Bow, London | London |
| C-Air | Air Conditioning Services | Ventor, Isle of Wight | South Central |
| Goochi Poochi | Dog and Cat Groomers | Peterborough | East Anglia |
| You Can Never Have Too Many Shoes | Shoe Shop | Derby | East Midlands |
| Petal Pushers | Florists | Gateshead | North East |
| Flying Saucers | Catering Equipment Hire | Merseyside | North West |
| Pride N' Groom | Dog and Cat Grooming | Aberdeenshire | Scotland |
| Drips, Drains & Plumbing Pains | Plumbers | Bognor Regis | South East |
| A Fish Called Rhondda | Fish and Chip Shop | Rhondda | Wales |
| Wish You Wash Here | Dry Cleaners | Coventry | West Midlands |
| Holmemade | Bakers | Holme, York | Yorkshire |
A delighted Terry said of his win: "I’m simply over the moon about winning this competition! My wife Sarah and I came up with the name together. We’re big fans of the TV show and the name fitted perfectly with my image, given that I’m a one-man band, like the real Lone Ranger. Having the best business name in the country is something to treasure."
Richard Duggleby, head of external relations at Yell, publisher of Yellow Pages, said: "Flick through any Yellow Pages and you’ll find plenty of eye-catching business names, but we were bowled over by the genuine wit, cleverness and ingenuity of the twelve that made it onto the final shortlist. As a nation we have a unique sense of humour and a finely tuned appreciation of the subtleties of language. Combine this in a business name - as many of our finalists do - and you’ve got something that will really make you stand out from the crowd. Well done to Terry for his brilliant effort - The Lawnranger is a worthy winner."
For further information please contact The RED Consultancy:
Jo Chappel (020 7465 6424), Nick Wilkins (020 7465 7739) Simon Bear (020 7465 7717)
Andrea Morrison or Emma Smailes, Yell PR department (0118 950 6345/6444)
Yellow Pages
Yellow Pages is published by Yell, a leading international directories business operating in the classified advertising market through printed, online and telephone-based media. Yell’s products in the UK also include the Business Pages directory, Yell.com, Yellow Pages 118 24 7 and in the US, Yellow Book and Yellowbook.com.
