Ashley’s The Wool Shop

Ashley’s The Wool Shop, 62 Dyer Street, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, 2007 • Superb old ‘wool’ sign – note colour reversal in frame.

Coe Electrical

Coe Electrical, 132 High Street, Lowestoft, Suffolk, 2007 • Looks like the plug was pulled decades ago on this old-style electrical shop.  By 2015 it was unrecognisable as Sew Fabric.

Welcome to Super Azarbayjan

Welcome to Super Azarbayjan, 65 Hackney Road, Borough of Hackney, London E2, 2007 • Surely one of the best shop names ever. By 2012 it was a hip-looking shop with […]

Spotless

Spotless, 51 Old Bethnal Green Road, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E2, 2006 (top), 2007 • Classic cleaner’s name in eccentric acrylic lettering. A year later it had a new look, although […]

Dane, JP Filtration Ltd

Dane, JP Filtration Ltd, 133-135 High Street, Stratford, Borough of Newham, London E15, 2007 • Doggy tiled ghost sign (incorporating graffiti fart) from an ink company specialising in fluorescents, which left […]

Fredk E. Gillett Ltd.

Fredk E. Gillett Ltd., 183 Vauxhall Bridge Road, City of Westminster, London SW1, 2007 • Ex-paint shop with illustrated tiles (see bottom pics) in prime central London, now presumably a […]

Rogers & Son Famous for Fish & Chips

Rogers & Son Famous for Fish & Chips, 43 St Peter’s Road, Great Yarmouth, Suffolk, 2007 • Est 1923 and fame notwithstanding, this boastily bonkers emporium was boarded up when I passed by, so […]

Insurelink Financial Services Ltd

Insurelink Financial Services Ltd, 176 London Road North, Lowestoft, Suffolk, 2007 • Grand green and white chambers, somewhat let down by utilitarian windows. Last spotted on Google in 2012. 

Star Supply Stores (Raphael Crafts)

Star Supply Stores (Raphael Crafts), 119 High Street, Lowestoft, Suffolk, 2007 • Raphael Crafts have since restored the Star Supplies Store sign in black and gold – you can see it here. A […]

J.T.E. (PTRS) Engineers & Contractors

J.T.E. (PTRS) Engineers & Contractors, 311-314 Whapload Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk, 2007 • Rustic-looking engineering premises in a row of old pink and grey warehouses. By 2012 they were all white and J.T.E. was, presumably, no […]

G. Horton Ltd

G. Horton Ltd, 7 Market Place, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, 2007 • Not quite Profil font, but near enough. This old pharmacy actually looks more vintage now, as is the trend. 

Bungalows Cafe

Bungalows Cafe, 80 Mare Street, Borough of Hackney, London E8, 2007 • Another cafe with handily-placed church. Still there but not as attractive. 

Lowestoft Army & Navy Stores

Lowestoft Army & Navy Stores, 183 London Road North, Lowestoft, Suffolk, 2007 • Lowestoft’s one of those places where practically every shop belongs on this blog. In 2007 this cloudy old clock […]

H+C clock

H+C clock, 159-173 St John Street, Clerkenwell, Borough of Islington, London EC1, 2007 • And another 1950s-style Clerkenwell clock, advertising lift manufacturers Hammond & Champness, who inhabited this building until at least […]

Hand Car Wash (Bow Road)

Hand Car Wash, Corner Bow Road & Arnold Road, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E3, 2007 • Oops, back-to-front N alert. I had a Ferodo bridge behind me, I should […]

City Tyres

City Tyres, 2 Malcolm Place, Bethnal Green, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E2, 2007 • Mellow yellow, plus old tyres. Stayed there till around 2015 then moved to another road nearby (see […]

G.W. & A.E. Thomson Ltd (Navals Jewellers)

G.W. & A.E. Thomson Ltd (Navals Jewellers), 228 Kilburn High […]

Dolly’s Diner

Dolly’s Diner, 177 London Road North, Lowestoft, Suffolk, 2007 • The sign looks newer than the net – I bet the previous one was nicer. Still much the same by 2012; […]

Knight & Compy.

Knight & Compy., 47 Fisherton Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire, 2007 • More art nouveau green tiles spared the chipper on this game mart-turned-charity shop, which by 2011 had become a vintage clothes store.  

Ruby Handbags

Ruby Handbags, 71-73 Hackney Road, Borough of Hackney, London E2, 2006 and 2007 • More Eine doors, though by 2007 (second down) the shop was being redeveloped. It now looks […]

Lyons Complete Outfitters

Lyons Complete Outfitters, 32 High Street, Lydd, Kent, 2007 • Big old traditional outfitters in tiny Romney Marsh town.

Blue Bell, Arcade Stamps

Blue Bell, Arcade Stamps, 104, 103 High Street, Lowestoft, Suffolk, 2007 • Colourful but melancholy, because you just know the target audience is slipping off this mortal coil.

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 […]

Gordons the Jewellers

Gordons the Jewellers, 27 Strutton Ground, City of Westminster, London SW1, 2012 & 2007 • Last days for this old-style jeweller which looked on the verge of closure even five years […]

Ons, Ltd

Ons, Ltd, 128 High Street, Lowestoft, Suffolk, 2007 • Scarred and illlegible ghost sign for something ending in ‘ons’ (Sons?) adding a touch of looming darkness to the local market. There’s also […]

Easiephit Footwear (Wherry)

“Easiephit” Footwear (Wherry Estate Agents), 115 High Street, Lowestoft, Suffolk, 2007 • Great mosaic ghost sign step with a boring estate agent attached. I assume it was once a shoe shop.

Wainwright & Sons (Risborough) Ltd.

Wainwright & Sons (Risborough) Ltd., 69 High Street, Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, 2007 • Formerly Grover, according to the doorstep, and in its last days here. Google Street View showes it vacant […]

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 […]

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) […]

Roystons Curios

Roystons Curios, 88 High Street, Lowestoft, Suffolk, 2007 • Is that as in creepy village Royston Vasey off TV’s ‘The League of Gentleman‘? Cheerful!

Disc Chord

Disc Chord, 71 High Street, Lowestoft, Suffolk, 2007 • Oh, the sad decline of record stores: by 2008 this had become a charity shop.

L A Aildail Ltd.

L A Aildail Ltd., 199 Hackney Road, Borough of Hackney, London E2, 2007 • Top fashion! Being knocked down/redeveloped, unsurprisingly.

J.A. The Kitchen & Bathroom Centre

J.A. The Kitchen & Bathroom Centre, circa 11 Leigh Hill, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, 2007 • I love the classic slab-serif lettering on this fascia, which eventually all disappeared leaving just shadows.