Ruth Anne’s answer to “What's the word play that gets the place called "Slough House", when we're told explicitly that's n…” > Likes and Comments

Got all that part. Missed the "as good as" element James mentions.

It has everything to do with the town Slough (pronounced slaʊ in the UK, not "slow"). Slough is commonly known for being a boring place so it’s the perfect nickname for the House.

The other joke is what happens to slow horses... they arw sent to the glue factory.

I always thought it was a bit of a pun re slow horse...

Slough isn’t pronounced slow. It’s nothing to do with that. It’s not word play. No town has office blocks named after itself so of course they’re not there. London does though, Bedford house, Bradford Gardens, that sort of thing. But I’m sure the fact that Slough, pronounced Slough, IS like going to purgatory amused the author enough to name it that. It’s as the official explanation says, slow horses, in races, have disgraced themselves and been kicked out of the action.

Slough is pronounced as in bough of a tree, prow of a boat, allow etc...