Channon

Channon, 21 North Street, Leatherhead, Surrey, 2003 • Nice old sign on a newsagents that’s clearly seen better days. By 2009 it was overshadowed by a Lidl; I don’t know if […]

Wakefields Jewellers

Wakefields Jewellers, 11 West Street, Horsham, West Sussex, 2003 • This art deco frontage must have been an early “update” for Wakefields, established in 1911. It’s still there – jewellers seem […]

Lewins

Lewins, 190 High Street, Sutton, Surrey, 2002 • Established in 1934, this jeweller and pawnbroker is still there, but with an updated black frontage foregrounding golden pawnbroker’s balls, and the charming 1960s […]

Digbeth Cold Storage

Digbeth Cold Storage, 123-135 Digbeth, Birmingham, West Midlands, 2005 • One of many magnificent old Digbeth buildings, this leviathan was built in 1899 to serve the local markets. It’s grade 2 listed […]

T & W Farmiloe Ltd.

T & W Farmiloe Ltd., Cringle Street, Borough of Wandsworth, London SW8, 2011 & 2012 • Immense-doored works-cum-warehouse once belonging to a 150-year-old glass, lead, paint and sanitary ware manufacturing company, […]

Videovent Ltd.

Videovent Ltd., 124 Essex Road, Borough of Isligton, London N1, 2002 • To the right of yesterday’s Wools was this sad example of the decline of camera shops; it’s now a […]

Wools

Wools, 124 Essex Road, Borough of Islington, London N1, 2002 • The building has been renovated into flats, and this became simply… a door. Albeit one sandwiched between Food City and a Pound Stop.

A & E Scott (South Bank Grocery)

A & E Scott and South Bank Grocery, 69 The Cut, Waterloo, Borough of Lambeth, London SE1, 2010 and 2002 (bottom) • An earlier identity as a greengrocer revealed during transformation […]

Kents Chemists

Kents Chemists, 104 Walton Road, East Molesey, Surrey, 2002 • Hard to believe such a beautiful “chymist” exists in unassuming suburban Surrey. Both it and the building it’s in were established […]

L & N Cohen

L & N Cohen, 27 Lower Marsh, Waterloo, Borough of Lambeth, London SE1, 2002 (top) & 2003 • Battered building housing a discount clothes stall, now smartly restored as posh grocer […]

Conway Trading Co.

Conway Trading Co., 15 Toynbee Street, Shoreditch, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2010 (top) and 2004 • I’ve got a feeling this tinned-up row of old traders is still lingering […]

H.H. Brain Ltd.

H.H. Brain Ltd., 30-36 Upper York Street, Bristol, Avon, 2011 • A bacon and ham curers once occupied by the makers of legendary Brain’s Faggots (as in offal patties). A sign […]

Chalton Fish & Chip Shop

Chalton Fish & Chip Shop, 61 Chalton Street, Borough of Camden, London NW1, 2005 • Totally gone; it’s now been restored to a house and you’d never know the chippie was […]

East & West Supermarket

East & West Supermarket, 489 New Cross Road, Borough of Lewisham, London SE14, 2002 • Typically blasted shopfront from New Cross, where continents collide in a bus stop scrum. Now Penny’s […]

Jason’s

Jason’s, 34 Chipstead Valley Road, Coulsdon, Borough of Croydon, London CR5, 2001 • More old-style wood panelling (see Chunnel Bar, yesterday). Now Pizza Night, not made with pet food I hope.

Chunnel Bar

Chunnel Bar, 133 Lower Marsh, Waterloo, Borough of Lambeth, London SE1, 2003 & 2011 • Uncompromisingly drab wooden frontage as 1970s as its monicker: Eurostar bypassed Waterloo several years ago, and […]

The Prince Albert Hotel

The Prince Albert Hotel, 27-29 Rendezvous Street, Folkestone, Kent, 2011 • This beautifully tiled rendezvous has had several looks, including an incongruous 1970s one – there’s a history here.

Wok U Like

Wok U Like, 31 Baylis Road, Waterloo, Borough of Lambeth, London SE1, 2002 • What a superb name. And it really does look like it serves exquisite cuisine! Has since gone […]

Wing Wah Fish Bar

Wing Wah Fish Bar, 174 High Street, Herne Bay, Kent, 2004 • I always like a name that rhymes. In a decisive change of national identity, this later became the Britannia […]

St Margaret’s Church (Edgware)

St Margaret’s Church, Edgware, 1 Station Road, Edgware, Borough of Barnet, London HA8, 2004 • Sales point for religion, with beautiful lettering.

Apollo Cafe Restaurant

Apollo Cafe Restaurant, 26 Brixton Road, Lambeth, London SW9, 2001 • I doubt the ancient Greeks would feel this a fitting tribute to their sun god, despite the faux marble. Note […]

Barbican Grill

Barbican Grill, 117 Whitecross Street, Borough of Islington, London EC1, 2002 • Classic cafe from Barbican’s proletarian past, now a posh grey office of some sort.

Virgin, Republic (Walsall)

Virgin, Republic, 18-22 & 16-18 Park Street, Walsall, West Midlands, 2005 • Another grand Walsall building – it certainly outlasted Virgin.

WH Smith (Walsall)

WH Smith (Walsall), 50 Park Street, Walsall, West Midlands, 2005 • Stunning home for the stationers – Walsall is full of faded old buildings far grander than you’d expect. Notice […]

Petre

Petre, 5 Poole Hill, Bournemouth, Dorset, 2004 • I think this strangely-named shop – in an enclave of tattered buildings housing small businesses both living and dead – may have been a […]

RF Potts

RF Potts, 66-68 Babington Lane, Derby, Derbyshire, 2010 • Not as old-fashioned as its faux-digital font suggests, it even has a website which offers a virtual tour, says they were established in 1933. […]

The Semiconductor Archives

The Semiconductor Archives, 48 Deptford Broadway, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Forbidding-looking emporium claiming to source obsolete tech components. There’s even something sinister about using the word “facsimile” rather […]

CGS Computers

CGS Computers, 22 Tanner’s Hill, Deptford, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • More unconvincing “computer” type, on premises that later became a Thai massage joint.

Internet Cafe (Chopstix)

Internet Cafe, 163 Charing Cross Road, Borough of Camden, London WC2, 2005 • Somehow the faux-computer font doesn’t manage to make this place look high tech. It was later razed to […]