The .uk domain registrar Nominet has announced that the five millionth UK domain sold has a topical twist - the registration was for the name: Hosepipebanbuster.co.uk.

Hosepipebanbuster.co.uk was registered on May 16 2006 by Watermatics, an irrigation company based in Hertfordshire.

When founded in 1996, Nominet registered 2,000 .uk registrations in its first month of operation. It handles 144,000 registrations every month. Fifty seven per cent of domain names registered are associated with a live website, which means that there are almost 3 million active .uk websites online.

Fifty per cent of .uk domain names link to e-commerce or business information sites, with a further 16 per cent displaying 'under construction' holding pages for businesses or individuals, the organisation said.

There are also around 170,000 .uk domain names registered for personal use, with a rise in demand attributed to the increase in broadband use and people using the internet at home. There is also a strong renewal rate of about 70 per cent.