Torquay’s ‘Daddyhole Road’ sign keeps getting stolen and councillors don’t know what to do

The sign of an absurdly named road in Torquay keeps getting stolen by “souvenir hunters” according to local officials.

A local councillor in the seaside town, Nicholas Bye, said that street signs for Daddyhole Road in Torbay have been stolen and replaced at least twice since he was elected in 2023.

The 65-year-old said during a cabinet meeting that thieves in the area are “quite fascinated” with the sign, which he said “keeps disappearing.”

“Quite why it gets taken away so frequently, who knows?” he said. “Twice in this term of office we have had to get replacements.”

Daddyhole Road is located just on the coast of the seaside town. Home to the Torquay Headland Hotel & Spa, the road also leaders to Daddyhole Plains; a stretch of field which leads to a pebble beach, Daddyhole Cove.

The name reportedly drives from old Devon slang “daddy,” used as a reference for the devil. Local legends say the devil lived in a cave at the base of the cliffs, culminating in the name “daddyhole.”

During a debate on allocating surplus funds, councillor Darren Cowell suggested the money could be used to repair the bay’s damaged street signs. Bye responded saying that he and fellow councillor Hazel Foster have “first-hand experience of how well our road sign department responds.”

He told councillors that money which could have been spent on the council’s plans to refurbish the town’s parks was instead being used on replacing the street signs.

“There are souvenir hunters who seem to be quite fascinated by the title of Daddyhole Road,” he said. “The sign keeps disappearing.

“It is perhaps a slightly comical name,” he admitted while urging those responsible to end the “nonsense” and respect the town’s signs.

The UK is infamous for its interesting and wacky road names, including Sandy Balls Road in the New Forest, Slagg Lane, Merseyside, and Fine Bush Lane in Ruislip.