Manchester Victoria Station kiosks

Victoria Station, Station Approach, Manchester, 2010 • Grand European cities like Vienna are stuffed with beautiful old commercial typography, but in the workaday UK, it’s rare indeed. Glad Manchester’s rather […]

Shoe Repairs (London EC2)

Shoe Repairs, 28 Liverpool Street, City of London, London EC2, 2005 • Exuberant swirly 1970s-style logo for this generically-titled kiosk, now probably disappeared from the smartened-up Liverpool Street Station area.

Cosmetics & Co

Cosmetics & Co, 37 Market Place, Derby, Derbyshire, 2010 • I always like a cheerful 1960s-style swirly font: this one is the classic Victorian-retro Davida, designed in 1965.

Fancy Goods

Fancy Goods, 3-11 The Cut, Borough of Southwark, London SE1, 2013 • Earlier incarnation of a fairly gruesome ex-Costcutter, in transition to becoming a Tesco Express.

Cost to Cost

Cost to Cost, 227 Shoreditch High Street, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2005 • Somewhat meaningless variation on the Costcutter theme. The Cost to Cost logo later got reduced to near […]

Costprice

Costprice, 41 Brick Lane, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2007 • Jaunty take on the Costcutter theme. It’s become more sedate since this was taken.

Costcutter Supermarket (NW1)

Costcutter Supermarket, 53-55 Chalton Street, Borough of Camden, London NW1, 2005 • Unusually elegant art nouveau-style lettering for this understated minimart near Euston station, which is now a more strident […]

Costa Dorada

Costa Dorada, 47-55 Hanway Street, Borough of Camden, London W1, 2003 • When I first visited this late-nite Flamenco dive, I thought it was an ancient institution. Turns out it only […]

Bile Beans, Bob Trotter’s

Bile Beans, Bob Trotter’s, 18 and 13-15 Lord Mayor’s Walk , York, North Yorkshire, 2011 • A famous digestive fluid-related ghost sign, now (somewhat off-puttingly) on the side of a […]

Ian Allen

Ian Allen, 45-46 Lower Marsh, Borough of Lambeth, London SE1, 2013 • “Futuristic” 1970s-style round-cornered windows distinguishing a railway enthusiasts’ book and model shop situated behind Waterloo station.

Highgate Stationers & Printers

Highgate Stationers & Printers, 7 Highgate High Street, Borough of Camden, London N6, 2014 • A charming beige essay in 1970s-throwback typography, complete with swirly ampersands. Note also the mossy, almost-gone Post […]

Drury Lane High Class Fruiterers

Drury Lane High Class Fruiterers, 190 Drury Lane, Borough of Camden, London WC2, 2003 • Poignant peek back into a lovely wooden-shuttered hangover from Covent Garden’s fruit and veg market days. Now […]

J. W. Eve & Son

J. W. Eve & Son, 14 High Street, Herne Bay, Kent, 2004 • Not merely a butcher, but a purveyor of meat. Disappeared around 2006, and later housed a fancy […]

B. Saunders (J. & M. Cards)

B. Saunders (J. & M. Cards), 133 High Street, Lowestoft, Suffolk, 2007 • Always nice to see one of these “Brilliant”-style gold-under-glass signs surviving, even if the modern-day effort underneath […]

Rampdale Insurance Brokers Ltd

Rampdale Insurance Brokers Ltd, 127 High Road, Finchley, Borough of Barnet, London N2, 2003 • More wonky perspex vehicles. The firm’s no longer there – it looks like they moved to Hatfield.

Pal Cargo

Pal Cargo Service Ltd., 36 Toynbee Street, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2004 •  Yet another gem from the decaying wonderland of Toynbee Street. Glad to see they deliver “doors […]

Model Please Walk Up

Model Please Walk Up, 6 Peter Street, Soho, City of Westminster, London W1, 2002 • And this model’s likely not Cara Delevigne. The door with its impressive capital is still there, only looking […]

Model

Model, 11 Berwick Street, Soho, City of Westminster, London W1, 2002 • I think we can assume it’s not Kate Moss. I managed to relocate this door on Google Street View, looking […]

The Dining Plaice (Young Model)

The Dining Plaice (Young Model), 20 Berwick Street, Soho, City of Westminster, London W1, 2002 • Chippie incorporating access to “young model”. It’s now got a different giant brown sign.

E D of London

E D of London, 9 Toynbee Street, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2004 • Meet E D (or possibly Ed), next-door neighbour of yesterday’s Frank – notable for cramming […]

Frank

Frank, 7 Toynbee Street, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2004 • From the 1950s until his death in 1966 aged just 47, this was the base of Frank Conway […]

Kennington Car Hire

Kennington Car Hire, 56 Brixton Road, Borough of Lambeth, London SW9, 2001 • Another colourful business “under new management”. This appears to house a taxi firm, SSS Hair Salon, an afro-carribean […]

Samiez Leathers

Samiez Leathers, 140 Trongate, Townhead, Glasgow G1, 2008 • I just like this because it’s colourful, 1970s-looking, and in a decaying old building. Under new management, says a note in […]

John Hirst & Co

John Hirst & Co, Thornes Lane, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, 2014 • Despite its decaying Venetian loveliness, this “corn cake & barley merchants” warehouse opposite the Hepworth Wakefield gallery is surrounded by […]

Knight & Willson Ltd.

Knight & Willson Ltd., 127-129 Water Lane, Leeds, West Yorkshire, 2014 • Another built-in clock, this time on an immense derelict printing works – no doubt an urban explorer’s delight – in a canal-side industrial area […]

Wine & Co.

Wine & Co., 20-22 Bridge End, Leeds, West Yorkshire, 2014 • Accountant with built-in timer – useful!

Richer Sounds (Leeds)

Richer Sounds, 74 New Briggate, Leeds, West Yorkshire, 2014 • Looks like a baddie’s castle, but is in fact a budget hi-fi store in a former public dispensary. 

O’Neills (Leeds)

O’Neills, 26 George Street, Leeds, West Yorkshire, 2014 • Leeds is full of huge Victorian buildings, but this is unusual – a faux Irish pub in a neo-gothic ex-Masonic hall.

H.C. Atkinson Builders Merchant.

H.C. Atkinson Builders Merchant., 2-28 The Calls, Leeds, West Yorkshire, 2014 • Another name cast in stone, on an old warehouse that’s on sale for development.

Thornton & Co Ltd

Thornton & Co Ltd, 50-51 Briggate, Leeds, West Yorkshire, 2014 • Next door to M&S is this re-purposed HQ of an India rubber manufacturer. Moral: cast your name in stone if you […]