Taylors Cleaners

Taylors Cleaners, 68 Herbert Road, Borough of Greenwich, London SE18, 2004 • Interesting use of a 5-dot ellipsis. Now called Tailors & Cleaners, in a still-interesting road.

The Gladstone

The Gladstone, 1 Wilcox Road, Borough of Lambeth, London SW8, 2004 • Minimalist logo, plastic Fosters roundel, and an illegible graffitied sign for ribs. Later got a slight refurb, but […]

Swiftys of Vauxhall

Swiftys of Vauxhall, 44-46 Wilcox Road, Borough of Lambeth, London SW8, 2004 • Traditional fishing tackle shop a stone’s throw from the Thames. Disappeared in 2008 and is now London […]

Mr Woolpack Handicrafts

Mr Woolpack Handicrafts, 73 High Street, Poole, Dorset, 2004 • Severe grey mosaic-clad crafting emporium in 1960s modernist style, about a million miles away from today’s Etsy-style whimsy. By 2017 […]

Victoria Tandoori

Victoria Tandoori, 318 Vauxhall Bridge Road, City of Westminster, London SW1, 2004 • Grand yet gritty eaterie offering great signwriting and the “best curry in town”. By 2017 it was […]

£+ Victoria Super Store

£+ Victoria Super Store, 127 Wilton Road, City of Westminster, London SW1, 2004 • Not very super Super Store (named after me). The tiny exterior doormat is a thoughtful touch.

Hot Munchies

Hot Munchies, 30 Southwark Street, Borough of Southwark, London SE1, 2004, 2011, 2016 • Cheekily named arch cafe amidst sea of dirty viaduct tiles. Still there in 2018, as all […]

The Sign Shop

The Sign Shop, 392 Forest Road, Walthamstow, Borough of Waltham Forest, London E17, 2004 • Palimpsest of sign shop signage. By 2008 it had been turned into a house (2015, […]

The China Chef

The China Chef, 108 London Road, East Grinstead, West Sussex, 2004 • Nice mix of vernaculars. By 2017 it was still a Chinese, called Tim Ley.  

Top Value Drug Store

Top Value Drug Store, 299 Hale Lane, Edgware, Borough of Barnet, London HA8, 2004 • Giant purple plastic sign in plain Futura font – nice. By 2017 it was still […]

Top Stitch

Top Stitch, 92 St James’s Street, Brighton, East Sussex, 2004 • Dated by its giant landline phone logo, and a nice step too (bottom pic). Amazingly, by 2017 it was […]

Post Office S.S.

Post Office S.S., 8 Woolwich Road, Borough of Greenwich, London SE10, 2004 • Mars Bars and bright graffiti couldn’t save it; postal duties had ceased by 2012 and it is […]

Brighton Foam

Brighton Foam (The Red Lion), Vine Street, Brighton, East Sussex, 2004 • Just what you need at the seaside, a foam shop. It soon got the chop and by 2017 […]

Cyclone

Cyclone, 6-8 Whitchurch Lane, Edgware, Borough of Barnet, London HA8, 2004 • Not entirely convincing attempt at replicating a Greek temple. Later became a sports bar called Trilogy.

Lahoree House

Lahoree House, Victoria House, 7 Wilton Road, Victoria, City of Westminster, London SW1, 2004 • Slice of grungy old London in a historic head-lined building outside Victoria Station, now undergoing […]

Sea Spray

Sea Spray, 18 High Street, St Margarets Buildings, Rottingdean, East Sussex, 2004 • Classic seaside caff facade with deck chair fabric awnings and lone Scottie dog tile. In business for 67 years […]

S.&V. Knitwear, L. London & Sons

S.&V. Knitwear, L. London & Sons, Alie Street, Shoreditch, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2004 • Beautiful art deco-looking ghost clock on a derelict knitwear factory, which has since […]

Triplesave (Chemist) Ltd

Triplesave (Chemist) Ltd, 8 MacDonald Road, Walthamstow, Borough of Waltham Forest, London E17, 2004 • Classic plastic sign for drugs.

Emerald Express Dry Cleaners

Emerald Express Dry Cleaners, 789 Lea Bridge Road, Walthamstow, Borough of Waltham Forest, London E17, 2004 • Old-school plastic plus shaky self-promotion by someone called Steven Randall.

The Imperial Pearl Co

The Imperial Pearl Co, 24 Hatton Garden, Borough of Camden, London EC1, 2004 and 2012 • Neon sign in London’s faded jewellery quarter. Presumably it’s named after Imperial China, as […]

W.J. Armstrong Ltd

W.J. Armstrong Ltd, 12 London Road, East Grinstead, West Sussex, 2004 • Classic Sandeman sign – port one side, sherry the other – featuring its famous fedora and cloak-clad ‘Don’ […]

Hair Talk

Hair Talk, 12 High Street, Rottingdean, East Sussex, 2004 • Seaside crimper with eyeless 1960s woman in its sign, and giant-haired 1970s woman in its window. It was beneath a faded […]

The Duke of Cambridge

The Duke of Cambridge, 26 Bloomfield Road, Plumstead, Borough of Greenwich, London SE18, 2004 • The pub has gone, but the sign remains. Here’s the block of flats that replaced it. It […]

Engineers Builders Merchants Ironfounders

Engineers Builders Merchants Ironfounders, Station Street, Brighton, West Sussex, 2004 and 2014 • Boarded up when I visited in 2004 and 2014, but with the beautiful tiled typography still intact. […]

Boris Noris (possibly)

Nameless record shop, 105 St James Street, Brighton, West Sussex, 2004 and 2014 • Rather mysterious nameless record shop which shortly after the 2014 photos were taken became Fairydust Bakery. In the […]

376

376, 376 Forest Road, Walthamstow, Borough of Waltham Forest, London E17, 2004 • Only the net curtains remain in this traditional green shop, which I’d guess was once a cafe. […]

Market Sweet Stores

Market Sweet Stores, 22 Wilcox Road, Borough of Lambeth, London SW8, 2004 • Ghost sign for a sweet shop revealed in a traditional Portuguese enclave near Vauxhall. Now Ourivesaria Portugal, a jeweller.

Gio’s Kitchen

Gio’s Kitchen, 79 Lower Marsh, Borough of Lambeth, London SE1, 2004 • The windows look like a Sarah Lucas artwork and the flag couldn’t save it. One of many short-lived cafes on this […]

Gulf Air

Gulf Air, 10 Albemarle Street, City of Westminster, London W1, 2004 • Another ex-airline office dating from the pre-mega-bling era of Mayfair. By 2015 this one was a Paul Smith menswear shop.

MF Design, Miracle Signs and Wonders Ministries

MF Design, Miracle Signs and Wonders Ministries, White Hart Lane, […]

To The Weir, Lee’s Bakery

To The Weir, Lee’s Bakery, 107-109 Terrace Road, Walton on Thames, Surrey, 2002 •  Enigmatic sign that’s not a reference to Virginia Woolf, but nearby Courage pub The Weir. It’s alongside […]

Gene Pearl (Buttons) Ltd.

Gene Pearl (Buttons) Ltd., 2 Bridge Road, Willesden, Borough of Brent, London NW10, 2004 • Apt name for a buttoneer, which sounds like a rock’n’roll singer, and looks like concrete poetry. It was […]

Sing Lee Fish & Chips

Sing Lee Fish & Chips, 39 Guildford Road, Brighton, East Sussex, 2004 • Tiled oriental chippie with vintage Cooper Black Italic sign, unchanged by 2015.

The Swan Inn

The Swan Inn, Old Orchard, Poole, Dorset, 2004 • Pub sited next to the famous Poole Pottery, who supplied the tiles in 1906. Locals mounted a fight against demolition a century later; the pub […]

Caffyns

Caffyns, Corner of King Street and Little King Street, East Grinstead, West Sussex, 2004 • A round-towered deco garage with mossy tiled clock eternally stuck at noon. Built by two local businessmen in 1935, this development […]

R.M.V. Double Glazing

R.M.V. Double Glazing, 77/78 Frederick Place, Borough of Greenwich, London SE18, 2004 • Ostensibly a fantastically grim and unpromising building, but there’s a bit of Edwardian lettering peeping through the […]

JS (Locksmiths) Ltd

JS (Locksmiths) Ltd, 1 King Street, East Grinstead, West Sussex, 2004 • Rustic frontage with thorny DIY logo. It’s still there, with brickwork now smartly painted yellow – how fab.  

Superbuys

Superbuys, 66 High Street, Poole, Dorset, 2004 • Elephantiasis-afflicted Santa resting against a bargain store. Ho ho ho!

Bennetts

Bennetts, 117 High Street, Poole, Dorset, 2004 • Attractive deco shop unit, which actually looks like a Christmas tree – so much more welcoming with its curved entrance and warm, elegant windows than the […]

Bank of Baroda

Bank of Baroda, 30B Commercial Road, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2004 • Functional bank facade with nice 1960s-style logo (bottom). By 2008 it had a plasticky new orange livery but […]

J. Hull & Co.

J. Hull & Co., 128 Kingsland High Street, Borough of Hackney, London E8, 2004 • Traditional net shop which only disappeared in 2014 – you can see its closing down sale here. Reflecting the area’s […]

The Commons

The Commons, 59 Plumstead Common Road, Borough of Greenwich, London SE18, 2004 • Grim-looking club whose name is a play on its politics and position – the local Conservative association and Plumstead Common, […]

More Blessing

More Blessing, 8 Cobb Street, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2004 • Interestingly, Moreblessing can be a person’s name in Africa – there’s a list of similar unusual names (eg […]

Nige’s Lunchbox and Groceries

Nige’s Lunchbox and Groceries, 32 Scale Lane, Kingston upon Hull, 2004 • A faded handwritten sign says: ‘Niges rugs + “carpets” no under lay though’, with a smaller note qualifying […]

Southern Video

Southern Video, 41 High Street, Herne Bay, Kent, 2004 • Red Profil on pink fascia, what a colourful shop. Last spotted in 2009 with blue Profil on yellow.

I. Paule Ltd

I. Paule Ltd, Merchant House, 24 Wentworth Street, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2004 • There are many layers of the name over this alleyway in the Petticoat Lane area. A comment on […]

Alan Sadick & Co

Alan Sadick & Co, 3 The Promenade, Edgwarebury Lane, Edgware, Borough of Barnet, London HA8, 2004 • More Profil, all painted black. By 2014 the ‘C’ had fallen off the […]

Citytex (UK) Ltd.

Citytex (UK) Ltd., 30-30a Commercial Road, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2004 • Maybe tex stands for textiles. Now knocked-down-tex.

‘Agape’ £ Shop

‘Agape’ £ Shop, 88 London Road, East Grinstead, West Sussex, 2004 • An unusual name, with added poignancy given Greece’s financial woes. Although it suggests a mouth agog at the low prices, ‘Agape’ is […]

Fatal Attraction Bridal Centre

Fatal Attraction Bridal Centre, 171 High Street, Herne Bay, Kent, 2004 • Interesting name for a bridal shop. Didn’t the film Fatal Attraction feature bunny boiling? By 2009 the premises had […]

Rightpower Ltd

Rightpower Ltd, Trafalgar Lane, Brighton, East Sussex, 2004 • Note tiny, beautifully lettered instruction to slide the door. By 2015 the windows were still the same, but the painted signs had gone. 

Works for You! clock

Works for You! clock (ex People Works), 8 Poole Hill, Bournemouth, Dorset, 2004 • Bleak commentary on South Coast unemployment, or desecration of fine old clock? Both, probably. I don’t think […]

Georges & Co. clock

Georges & Co. clock, 88-90 Hatton Garden, Borough of Camden, London EC1, 2004 • I got hassled by security guards while snapping this in Hatton Garden, London’s diamond district. It’s […]

EuroSensor clock

EuroSensor clock, 20-24 Kirby Street, Borough of Camden, London EC1, 2004 • Another period gem from Clerkenwell: EuroSensor was a big technical firm that occupied the building in the area’s pre-gentrification days. Threatened […]

Herbert Sports

Herbert Sports, 12 High Street, East Grinstead, West Sussex, 2004 • According to the dictionary, Herbert is slang for “an undistinguished or foolish man or youth”, so it’s a brave name […]

Herbert Best Kebabs & Pizza

Herbert Best Kebabs & Pizza, 64 Herbert Road, Borough of Greenwich, London SE18, 2004 • Bold sign bearing the name of its superb old-school shopping road. Now called, more boringly, Delight.

Handy Supply Co

Handy Supply Co, 41 Herbert Road, Borough of Greenwich, London SE18, 2004 • DIY type for a DIY store. It’s now, blub, a Peri Peri Grill.

Gents Hairdresser D. Burns.

Gents Hairdresser D. Burns., 76 Herbert Road, Plumstead, Borough of Greenwich, London SE18, 2004 • Barber embedded in an old tiled grocer’s, and you can see an even older sign […]

V for Hair

V for Hair, 51 West Hill Road, Bournemouth, Dorset, 2004 • A sign in window appraises us that the V stands for Veronica, which is a proper hairdresser name. It’s still […]

Vivette

Vivette, 33 High Street, Poole, Dorset, 2004 • I assumed this nice window belonged to a hairdresser, but in fact it was an interior design business. It now houses a yacht […]

Zoom the Loom

Zoom the Loom, 165 High Street, Poole, Dorset, 2004 • I always like a traditional net curtain shop, and this one’s also blessed with an unusual name and sign. I’m […]

Knapp’s News

Knapp’s News, 60 Plumstead Common Road, Borough of Greenwich, London SE18, 2004 • A good old-fashioned name, with wonky sign writing, a name check somewhere on the premises for every single newspaper […]

Easy News

Easy News, 30 Trafalgar Street, Brighton, East Sussex, 2004 • Another cheerful Brighton newsagent offering depressing news: “Appeal bid by teacher Jane’s killer”. The shop’s still there, still lurid pink, and they’ve […]

Quality Food News & Wines

Quality Food News & Wines, 91 Bloomfield Road, Borough of Greenwich, London SE18, 2004 • I wonder how much demand they get for the Financial News.

Retail Therapy

Retail Therapy, 80 High Street, Poole, Dorest, 2004 • A very distinctive art deco frontage – I wonder if this used to be a Burtons?

Broadleys

Broadleys, 34-40 High Street, East Grinstead, West Sussex, 2004 • Genteel local department store, est 1896 and still there today. Can’t help thinking there’s something of the chemo ward about this window […]

Safe £££ Pounds Store Plus

Safe £££ Pounds Store Plus, 595 Lea Bridge Road, Walthamstow, Borough of Waltham Forest, London E10 6AJ, 2004 • As opposed to a dangerous pound store, I suppose. Now gone.

Stevens Music Stores

Stevens Music Stores, side of 170 Mortimer Street (seen from Cavendish Road), Herne Bay, Kent, 2004 • A ghost sign of indeterminate age, as seen from the side entrance of yesterday’s now-demolished Servowarm. On the side of […]

Servowarm (East Kent) Ltd

Servowarm (East Kent) Ltd, 174 Mortimer Street, Herne Bay, Kent, 2004 • Modest unit taking the decorative Dutch gable to bonkers heights; even the side entrance (below) boasts a curved pediment. Sadly […]

Purbeck Pottery

Purbeck Pottery, The Quay, Poole, Dorset, 2004 • Fantastical quayside roofline for this 1966-founded pottery, which makes stoneware using clay from the nearby Purbeck Hills.

Quay Amusements

Quay Amusements, 25 The Quay, Poole, Dorset, 2004 • Multi-angled quayside roofline providing a switchback for seagulls. It’s now just called Amusements.

Ridout & Son Printing Works

Ridout & Son Printing Works, 4 Charles Street, Herne Bay, Kent, 2004 • Old printer’s with nice typography fitted into the angled roofline. It later became authentically converted back into a house, which retained the ghost […]

Brute Menswear

Brute Menswear, 73 Wentworth Street, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2004 • Interesting choice of name, especially as the other side of the sign says Brute Menswar.

To Let

To Let, Arch 485, King John Court, Shoreditch, Borough of Hackney, London EC2, 2004 • Another relic from the demolished viaduct featured yesterday – I assume this was a short let. There […]

Autos

Autos, Arch 491/2, King John Court, Shoreditch, Borough of Hackney, London EC2, 2004 • I love this angular DIY lettering. It’s under the viaduct featured yesterday and later demolished for the London […]

Car & Truck Sales Service Car & Van Hire Parts

Car & Truck Sales Service Car & Van Hire Parts, […]

Lloyds TSB (Rottingdean)

Lloyds TSB, 55 High Street, Rottingdean, East Sussex, 2004 • Grand entrance for a small-town bank, although given the amount of money banks were flinging around at this point, they could […]

The Little Tea Room

The Little Tea Room, 55 Marine Drive, Rottingdean, East Sussex, 2004 • Oh no! It’s now called Sea of Spice. And doesn’t have net curtains.

D.M. Sutton

D.M. Sutton, 58 High Street, Rottingdean, East Sussex, 2004 • Still a traditional butcher, but now called G.R. Rushman & Son.

J.A. Corney

J.A. Corney, 81 High Street, Edgware, Borough of Brent, London HA8, 2004 • Established 1947, this was still there in 2015, looking closed down (albeit with straightened lettering). There’s an even older-looking […]

Geo. Watts & Son

Geo. Watts & Son, 93 St. James’s Street, Brighton, East Sussex, 2004 • I was attracted by the surrealist, slightly melancholy, window display. Founded in 1966, it closed in 2013 […]

Crowson & Sons Ltd

Crowson & Sons Ltd, 17-23 Farringdon Road, City of London, London EC1, 2004 • Nice mid-century building (note tiny replacement ‘s’ on ‘Sons’) selling fancy cheeses no more; it was knocked down […]

Evans & Witt

Evans & Witt, 58 Long Lane, Smithfield, City of London, EC1, 2004 • Purveyor of stationery supplies to the meat trade. Still there, along with conjoined neighbour Smithfield Cafe, featured yesterday.

Smithfield Cafe

Smithfield Cafe, 59 Long Lane, Smithfield, City of London, EC1, 2004 • 24-hour pit-stop for Smithfield’s traders and, more recently, hipsters. I think it’s still there, though the area is changing swiftly. […]

Catering Meats (Smithfield)

Catering Meats (Smithfield), 308 London Central Markets, Smithfield, Charterhouse Street, London EC1, City of London, 2004 • A more utilitarian but no less period Smithfied frontage than yesterday’s. This one’s […]

Edmund Martin Ltd

Edmund Martin Ltd, 3 Lindsey Street, Smithfield, City of London, EC1, 2004 • Sigh, you don’t see many tripe dressers around these days. It’s now a giant hole in the […]

N.H. Pearson,

N.H. Pearson, 75 High Street, East Grinstead, West Sussex, 2004 • Now there’s character: a comma at the end of its name, and brief technical notes in the minimalist window display. Norman’s business didn’t […]

Euro Sandwich Bar

Euro Sandwich Bar, 20a Swallow Street, City of Westminster, London W1, 2004 & 2014 (bottom) • Much lamented classic caff from the days before Swallow Street housed champagne bars. Bottom […]

Kosher King

Kosher King, 293 Hale Lane, Edgware, Borough of Barnet, London HA8, 2004 • What a magnificent sign! Sadly it’s now minus crown and called, rather randomly, KosherNet – I guess they sell […]

R-H-Leather

R-H-Leather, 36 Goulston Street, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2004 • Slightly less glamorous than yesterday’s clothes shop. Later became Gaba Unique Fashions Ltd, whose unique fashion statement was that it also […]

Margot Gowns

Margot Gowns, 4 William Street, Herne Bay, Kent, 2004 • Essence of seaside town, a symphony in pink. Google street view shows it looking just the same in 2009, except […]

Poole Arms

Poole Arms, 19 The Quay, Poole, Dorset, 2004 • More green tiles, this time on the oldest pub on Poole Quay: it dates from 1600s (though not the tiling, which […]

Sir Robert Peel, Krystals Express

Sir Robert Peel, Krystals Express, 178 Bishopsgate, City of London, London EC2, 2004 • Something of an oddity – commemorative 1930s tiling on a circa 1900 pub named after the prime […]

Time Peace (UK) ltd.

Time Peace (UK) ltd., 43-45 Goulston Street, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2004 • Picturesquely bonkers watch outlet with a mis-spelt essay of punning signage and impenetrably boxed entrance. “Please […]

Teamfern Ltd Chardonay

Teamfern Ltd Chardonay, 75 Commercial Street, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2004 • Randomly-named ‘fashion’ outlet whose front is only marginally less gritty than its side. By 2012 it had been […]

Simone

Simone, 12 Whitchurch Parade, Whitchurch Lane, Edgware, Borough of Barnet, London HA8, 2004 • Ah, the sadness of suburbia. Google shows this as still there in 2015 – and indeed looking […]

Yum Yum’s

Yum Yum’s, 5 Boot Parade, High Street, Edgware, Borough of Barnet, London HA8, 2004 • It looks like they may protest their yumminess too much on this nice vernacular acrylic sign, […]

Tommy’s Tuc-Inn Cafe

Tommy’s Tuc-Inn Cafe, 442 Forest Road, Walthamstow, Borough of Waltham Forest, London E17, 2004 • Oops, serious punctuation woes. It’s still got the same amusing name, but the grammar’s improved.

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 […]

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 […]