It’s a Telford street sign in the same spirit as Dylan Thomas’ fictional village of Llareggub.

“82-90 & LLAMADOS” it proclaims in big bold letters at the entrance to the close in St Georges. Passers-by may not give it a second thought. Unless, that is, they are a bit backward-looking.

Llamados is actually a new house in the little cul-de-sac, home of builder Bill Beddoes. Having called his previous two homes Willcara, a blend of William and Carol, his and his wife’s first names, he thought he would have something different for the new place.

“It was my stepdaughter Stephanie who picked the name. I thought it was a lovely Spanish name,” said Bill. “Then the penny dropped. It’s quite comical. It’s just for fun. I’m well known in St Georges and it’s not meant nastily. I like the name Llamados. It has a nice ring to it.”

It does get a bit of a reaction when he rings up to book with travel agencies and so on and gives his address.

“They say ‘that’s a lovely name’. I then say ‘Do you know what it is backwards?’ and they have such a laugh when they look at it again and realise.”

But then we come to the street sign. Having built his new home, Bill discovered nobody could find it. And having paid £25,000 to the council to get access, he thought it could reciprocate by putting up a sign.

“I asked the council if there was any chance of a sign saying ‘Stafford Street, leading to Llamados’. When the sign came back it came back as ‘Llamados’ and the street numbers. The council did it wrong.”

In fact the numbered properties have Stafford Street addresses.

But most people seem to take it in good part. And Bill is pleased too.

“Everybody seems to know where it is now,” he said.

By Toby Neal