Spar (Derby)
Spar (Derby), 6 The Spot Osmaston Road, Derby, Derbyshire, 2010 • Impressive art deco parade which used to sell provisions, but is now a Money Shop, opposite a Poundland. Sigh.
Gilham
Gilham, 4 Saint Thomas’ Square, Ryde, Isle of Wight, 2002 • Last hoorah of an imposing deco greengrocers now unrecognisable as Level Hair & Beauty.
Sew & Sew
Sew & Sew, 377 Edgware Road, Paddington, City of Westminster, London W2, 2003 • Somehow escaped the crafts boom. Now a coffee shop called Coffee Shop.
J.W. Pelling
J.W. Pelling, 17 New Broadway, Tarring Road, Worthing, West Sussex, 2003 • A brave survivor from the days when wireless didn’t mean wi-fi and satellite dishes were giant receivers based at Goonhilly […]
Colour Centre
Colour Centre, 29a Offord Road, Borough of Islington, London N1, 2002 • Heaven knows (perhaps literally) what the original occupants would have made of this. Still there in 2012, but white […]
Copy Copy
Copy Copy, 181 Southwark Park Road, Borough of Southwark, London SE16, 2002 • To some boring, to me charmingly mundane, with witty double name. Later became AM DIY Builders Ltd.
Copy Shop
Copy Shop, 25 Nutfield Road, Merstham, Surrey, 2002 • Colourful village copy shop no more – an early victim of the burgeoning internet? Was still to let in 2012.
The Polyshop
The Polyshop, 48 Tarring Road, Worthing, West Sussex, 2003 • Sinister heads and inexplicable bunnies, still there in 2012 but with a less lovely logo.
G.S. Williams
G.S. Williams, JT Barbers, Devon House, 19 Bath Street, Frome, Somerset, 2008 • Fabulous tiled facade in a fascinating town – a pity half the original sign is obscured.
Drury Lane Diner
Drury Lane Diner, 176 Drury Lane, Covent Garden, Borough of Camden, London WC2, 2002 • Cheerfully ramshackle takeaway in an eclectic corner of theatreland; it’s now the less colourful East Thai.
Imperial Wine Stores
Imperial Wine Stores, Watneys, 178 Lambeth Road, Borough of Lambeth, London SE1, 2012 • Still there, an old-fashioned sign on an old-fashioned corner where the classic 1950s comedy Passport To Pimlico […]
Marcon & Co.
Marcon & Co., 14 Leytonstone Road, Borough of Newham, London E15, 2006 • DSS-friendly carpet store enlivened by layers of classic signwriting. Local aspirations must have changed, as it later became […]
Moderne Buckles Ltd
Moderne Buckles Ltd, 123 Bethnal Green Road, Shoreditch, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E2, 2005 • Dodgy shooters meet leather goods in a traditional East End mix. The listed Shoreditch warehouse […]
R.E. Robertson (Bakers) Ltd.
R.E. Robertson (Bakers) Ltd., 787 Lea Bridge Road, Walthamstow, Borough of Waltham Forest, London E17, 2004 • Oven fresh indeed – and happily, this wonderful old shop is still there.
Costcutter (Old Coulsdon)
Costcutter, 1-2 The Parade, 266 Coulsdon Road, Old Coulsdon, Borough of Croydon, London CR5, 2001 • A half-timbered Costcutter! There’s posh. Now has a sign saying “Old Coulsdon” stuck over the […]
Hockeys’
Hockeys’, 50 High Street, Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, 2007 • Ex-antiques shop with name and appearance straight out of a tale by late local Roald Dahl. Note non-greencrocer’s apostrophe in Hockeys’ – […]
Harris & Son The Magnet Stores
Harris & Son The Magnet Stores, 43 Fisherton Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire, 2007 • Oddly-named ex-hardware shop containing Dr Who models made by local sci fi fans, according to the 2006 article […]
Modern Furniture
Modern Furniture (Ego & Id Ltd.), 43 Rowlands Road, Worthing, West Sussex, 2004 • Multilayered palimpsest of a ghost sign that’s still there, though the shop beneath has changed into The […]
Collingwood Batchellor
Collingwood Batchellor, 46-48 Victoria Road, Horley, Surrey, 2002 • Local department stores are an endangered breed, but this small Surrey-Sussex chain still seems to be doing fine. I love the creepily […]
Scotland Halal Meat
Scotland Halal Meat, 118 Stoke Newington High Street, Borough of Hackney, London N16, 2002 • Part of Stokie’s rich ethnic mix on the verge of becoming Golden Discount Store.
Quicksilver (Derby)
Quicksilver, 45-47 Green Lane, Derby, Derbyshire, 2010 • Slot-machine arcade which started life as a Primitive Methodist chapel, but now looks as if a town hall has landed on top of […]
Faith for Sale
Faith for Sale, lamp post, Alie Street, Shoreditch, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2004 • Nice to see that faith can be bought from a lamp post – though one […]
Casella
Casella, 8 Salisbury Court, City of London, London EC4, 2004 • Italian caff with classic glass numbers. Still there in 2012, but the left-hand 8 had been covered with a “modern” one.
Rottingdean Tele-Radio
Rottingdean Tele-Radio, 59-61 Marine Drive, Rottingdean, East Sussex, 2004 • Not a title you’d come up with nowadays. It’s still there, but only the left half, and with a faux rather […]
KJ’s Cafe
KJ’s Cafe, 2 Tarring Road, Worthing, West Sussex, 2003 • Classic railway cafe-hut next to West Worthing station in what remains an old-fashioned area. Now the netless and less scrumptious Scrumptious […]
Textra Furnishing Fabrics
Textra Furnishing Fabrics clock, Cleary House, 15-16 Newman Street, City of Westminster, London W1, 2004 • Art deco ghost-clock reminder of a long-gone shop in the dwindling rag trade area of […]
South London Photo Services
South London Photo Services, 551 Battersea Park Road, Borough of Wandsworth, London SW11, 2002 • Dawn of the digicam era, beginning of the end for traditional camera shops. By 2012 this […]
Value 4 Money
Value 4 Money, 161 Kilburn High Road, Borough of Brent, London NW6, 2007 • Depends what you consider value for money, really. Became the more upmarket-looking (which wasn’t difficult to achieve) […]
Trustin Fairbag
Trustin Fairbag, 135 Station Road, Edgware, Borough of Barnet, London HA8, 2004 • A fantastical, Harry Potteresque name which is there no longer, as it later became prosaic Express Food & […]
Shopfront Elegy 