Gak Pro-Audio
Gak Pro-Audio, 76-82 North Road, Brighton, East Sussex, 2010 • Graffiti shutters by (or emulating) Eine for muso store GAK – which, if I’m not mistaken, is slang for cocaine. […]
H’s Cafe
H’s Cafe, 82 Neptune Street, Borough of Southwark, London SE16, 2010 • Well-regarded backstreet greasy spoon with wonky hand made sign. Run by a bloke called H and his two […]
The Proud Potato
The Proud Potato, 182 Middlewood Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, 2010 • 1970s-looking happy tattie, though it’s probably much more recent. Google shows it still there in 2016, the most recent […]
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Osnabruck Square, Albert Rd, Derby, Derbyshire, 2010 • Coffee kiosk established in 1960 and named, bizarrely, after an 19th Century anti-slavery novel. Still there, despite rumours in […]
Brighton Motor Factors Ltd (& Hove)
Brighton Motor Factors Ltd (& Hove), 74 St George’s Road, Brighton, East Sussex, 2010 • Love the way they squeezed a tiny afterthought “& Hove” at the bottom of their […]
Hanley Shopping Centre
Hanley Shopping Centre, East Precinct, East West Centre, Old Hall Street, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, 2010 • Classic grim 1960s new town-style shopping precinct, which by 2016 was completely derelict. There have been plans […]
Post Office (Manchester)
Post Office (Manchester), 42 Long Millgate, Manchester, 2010 • Ex-post office (there must be more closed-down than open ones these days) that appears to have also housed a coiffeur called […]
Radio Days
Radio Days, 87 Lower Marsh,Borough of Lambeth, London SE1, 2010 (top) & 2015 (bottom) • Original black Vitrolite on a long-established vintage emporium whose Biba-esque frontage and evocative 1940s soundtrack […]
The Lambeth Walk
The Lambeth Walk, 17 Lambeth Road, Waterloo, Borough of Lambeth, London SE1, 2010 • Last call for a net-curtained council estate boozer that was opened by Pearly folk in 1951 (Pathe footage […]
D.C. Auto Electrics
D.C. Auto Electrics, 429 Hornsey Road, Borough of Islington, London N19, 2010 • Grand pillars, graphic colour scheme, and a well-signposted post box. Still there, too.
Dental Surgery
Dental Surgery, 10 Station Way, Peckham, Borough of Southwark, London SE15, 2010 • Dusky pink decay with a charming spelled-out street number, and an upstairs window offering ‘Dental Surge’. This part […]
Jacobean Corsetry
Jacobean Corsetry, 53 Virginia Street, Merchant City, Glasgow G1, Scotland, 2010 • Giant golden ghost sign from a corsetry firm founded in 1946, whose wares have featured in Jack Vettriano paintings. Sales […]
Tony’s Hemp Corner
Tonys Hemp Corner, 10 Caledonian Road, Kings Cross, Borough of Islington, London N1, 2010 • Creepy flower-child fascia for controversial cannabis cafe whose proprietor Tony Taylor supplied ‘medicinal’ marijuana to nearly 300 […]
The Love Shack
The Love Shack, corner of Old Hall Street and Goodson Street, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, 2010 • A touch of gaudy grandeur amidst modernist monoliths in much-maligned Stoke, currently bidding to be the […]
Tan’s Cafe
Tan’s Cafe, 3 Amersham Vale, New Cross, Borough of Lewisham, London SE14, 2010 • Gaudy mini-kingdom of breakfast opposite New Cross Station. Possibly the only greasy spoon with a loyalty […]
Catford Mews
Catford Mews, Winslade Way, off Rushey Green, Catford, Borough of Lewisham, London SE6, 2010 • Feline punning within the Catford Centre, featured yesterday. Catford Mews is an indoor market, as described in the […]
Catford Centre
Catford Centre, Rushey Green, Catford, Borough of Lewisham, London SE6, 2010 • Famous creepy cat, fronting brutalist mall the Catford Centre, developed by Owen Luder in 1974. Apparently it’s due for […]
Nameless green Thai shop
Nameless green Thai shop, 129 Lower Marsh, Waterloo, Borough of Lambeth, London SE1, 2013, 2010, 2016 • A miscellany of painterly disguises have graced this anonymous storage unit for the Chinese and Thai restaurants on […]
Jedediah Strutt
Jedediah Strutt shop, corner of Exchange Street and St Peters Street, Derby, Derbyshire, 2010 • Empty Grade II listed former Boots building (info here) with statues of four notable locals. […]
Olympic Private Hire
Olympic Private Hire, 153 Kingston Road, Borough of Merton, London SW19, 2010 • The kind of business that Uber is now seeing off. By 2015 it was a closed-down florist.
Olympic Bar Sandwich Restaurant
Olympic Bar Sandwich Restaurant, 130 Lower Marsh, Waterloo, Borough of Lambeth, London SE1, 2003 (top), 2010 (middle), 2011 (bottom) • Chinese take-away boasting various wonky title hierarchies over the years: Olympic Bar Sandwich Restaurant (or […]
Tobacco & Cigars (Thirtyone)
Tobacco & Cigars (Thirtyone), 31 Kingsbury, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, 2010 • Huge carcinogenic ghost sign, which remains in place while the restaurant below changes.
The Silver Sixpence
The Silver Sixpence, 12 Catford Hill, Catford, Borough of Lewisham, London SE6, 2010 • Whimsical name for a ramshackle door-stripper that looks pieced together from scrap. By 2015 it was even more derelict.
Valerie Florists
Valerie Florists, 77 High Street, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, 2010 • Traditional corner florist established over 40 years, boasting a decayed painting of a bouquet. It was still open in 2011, but is now a Premier Food […]
Rainbow, Kababish
Rainbow, Kababish, 1161, 1163 Govan Road, Govan, Glasgow G51, Scotland, 2010 • Colourful and quirky frontages punctuating Govan’s endless grubby redstone, part of a Creative Shop Fronts Project by local improvement […]
Supergrows Cosmetic
Supergrows Cosmetic, 405 Mare Street, Borough of Hackney, London E8, 2010 • Yargh, nightmare on Mare Street. That’s some cosmetic (bottom pic).
Spencer’s Shoes
Spencer’s Shoes, 99 Peckham High Street, Peckham, Borough of Southwark, London SE15, 2010 • Wish I’d caught this 1960s throwback while it was still open. It’s now Bilex Money Transfer, and […]
Unity Shop
Unity Shop, 2 Atwell Road, Peckham, Borough of Southwark, London SE15, 2010 • Elegantly-pillared charity shop lookalike selling ‘georges & Swiss voile laces’ – ‘georges’ being presumably georgette. Now gone.
Hare Krishna Matchless Gifts
Hare Krishna Matchless Gifts, 102 Caledonian Road, Kings Cross, Borough of Islington, London N1, 2010 • How cheerful! Still there but with a slightly less psychedelic logo.
Inter Biz
Inter Biz, 1d Blenheim Grove, Peckham, Borough of Southwark, London SE15, 2010 • Wonkily hand-painted one-stop shop for a bewildering array of financial services. A note on the door says ‘Am down the […]
Nitters Needs
Nitters Needs, 36-38 Station Road, West Croydon, Borough of Croydon, London CR0, 2010 • Great name, with an even older sign peeping out behind it; the derelict shop still looked […]
St Marys Centre (Mountain of Fire & Miracles Ministries)
St Marys Centre (Mountain of Fire & Miracles Ministries), Ladywell […]
Aladdin’s Cave
Aladdin’s Cave, 194 Middlewood Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, 2010 • Plucky use of mixed visual metaphors. Despite the magical name, Colonel Sanders is a reflection, he’s not actually in the shop.
99p-+ Awamz Store
99p-+ Awamz Store, 82 Rye Lane, Peckham, Borough of Southwark, London SE15, 2010 • Splendidly-clad punter outside a bargain shop whose ‘-+’ allows infinite leeway in pricing. Now a Lycamobile-branded […]
Look-In, Aylesbury ex-Odeon
Look-In, Aylesbury ex-Odeon, 48 and 44 Cambridge Street, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, 2010 • The TV shop shares a name with a popular 1970s kids’ TV mag, and apparently closed down 2005-ish. That’s Aylesbury’s ex-Odeon […]
Mobile 2K
Mobile 2K, 60a Bridge Street, Bolton, Lancashire, 2010 • The name probably seemed like a good idea in 2000. By 2014 it was an empty unit.
Bolton News Corner
Bolton News Corner, 68a Bridge Street, Bolton, Lancashire, 2010 • This was next door to yesterday’s Softys. It’s now the exotically-named letting agent Mezopotamya Emlak; another local newsie gone.
Softys
Softys, 68b Bridge Street, Bolton, Lancashire, 2010 • Its full name was once Softys’ Hard Stuff (sic), but part has fallen off – see the full sign on Flickr, taken in […]
Thomas Cook (Cambridge)
Thomas Cook (Cambridge), 8 St Andrew’s Street, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, 2010 • Interesting art deco window, boring noughties sign.
Marks & Spencer clock (St Albans)
Marks & Spencer clock, 21 St Peter’s Street, St Albans, Hertfordshire, 2010 • Pigeon-punishing old M&S clock on matching marbled mid-century building.
The Hallamshire Coal Supplies Ltd clock
The Hallamshire Coal Supplies Ltd clock, Victoria Quay, Wharf Street, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, 2010 • Random old clock still adjoined to a renovated warehouse.
Herbert Brown clock
Herbert Brown clock, 24 Corn Market, Derby, Derbyshire, 2010 • Those are stickers on the clock, with probably nicer writing beneath. Despite the ominous hoardings – whose sign suggests there are keys and […]
The Smart News
The Smart News, 8 The Strand, Derby, Derbyshire, 2010 • Interesting use of definite article – as opposed to getting your news on the smart phone, perhaps? Still there and still the […]
Clarke Motorcycles
Clarke Motorcycles, 63 Osmaston Road, Derby, Derbyshire, 2010 • All motorcycle shops should be like this. It’s still there, just off the fabulously-named Lara Croft Way.
Opticians AXO (Scrivens)
Opticians AXO (Scrivens), 36 Waingate, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, 2010 • Looks like an art installation or concrete poetry, but is actually a sign for Scrivens Opticians.
Furniture Arkade
Furniture Arkade, 320 Lewisham High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE13, 2010 • Your one-stop spot for Bed’s, Ward Robe and Sofa. I think that’s Michael Jackson peeking out from the rug, […]
Kings & Queens
Kings & Queens, 300 Lewisham High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE13, 2010 • Not very palace-like. Now has a plain purple sign, with windows by Lycamobile.
Mann Countrywide
Mann Countrywide, 171 Lewisham High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE13, 2010 • Wishful thinking, but that oval looks like it could once have held a Boots sign.
Brilliant Neon Ltd.
Brilliant Neon Ltd., above Best-One, 218 Earls Court Road, B orough of Kensington and Chelsea, London SW5, 2010 • Tiny reminder of a long-gone fascia, still hanging on above a minimart. It’s […]
Ford Specialist
Ford Specialist, 123 Fairfield Road, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E3, 2010 • Mmm, I must buy a Ford so I can take it there. (Checks Google Street View.) Blimey! It’s […]
Sheffield Engine Services Ltd
Sheffield Engine Services Ltd, 100 Catch Bar Lane, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, 2010 • Arched facade in classic fleapit cinema style, with added flagpole antennae. It’s next to the lovely Edwardian-style William Confection ghost […]
C&C Auto Services Limited
C&C Auto Services Limited, 13 Kingston Road, Borough of Merton, London SW19, 2010 • Another auto palimpsest – not sure what it is now, though it was still the same in […]
Badat Brothers Ltd
Badat Brothers Ltd, Dacca Caterers Ltd, Simco Caterers Ltd, 2-4 Cook’s Road, Borough of Newham, London E15, 2010 • Nest of caterers in an appropriately-named road, amidst development for the […]
La Galerie Claude Sagny
La Galerie Claude Sagny, 47 Kingston Road, Borough of Merton, London SW19, 2010 • That’s enough “new old” galleries, now for some “old old” ones. This retro frontage was later […]
J.R. Hobson & Co The Drinking Glass Centre
J.R. Hobson & Co The Drinking Glass Centre, Nursery Street, […]
First Class Dry Cleaning
First Class Dry Cleaning, Beckenham Junction Station, Beckenham, Kent, 2010 • A power-dressing duo from David Bowie’s old stomping ground. Being mouthless, it’s apt they’re representing the rather faceless kiosk below. […]
Economy of Brighton
Economy of brighton, 82 St George’s Road, Brighton, East Sussex, 2010 • More mosaic, watched over by a weird disembodied burglar alarm eye (for more on which see my other […]
Home & Ware Store
Home & Ware Store, 149 Rye Lane, Borough of Southwark, London SE15, 2010 • I like the way this offers Home and Ware as opposed to mere Homeware. It used […]
Maestro Records, Mobiles Phone
Maestro Records, Mobiles Phone, 61 Rye Lane, Borough of Southwark, London SE15, 2010 • Poignant collision of old and new tech divided by a fat conductor, in a typically ruinous […]
Silver and Edgington
Silver and Edgington, 18 Arwenack Street, Falmouth, Cornwall, 2010 • I caught Falmouth’s premier camping-cum-tailoring emporium just on its way out – wish I’d witnessed it in its tents-and-flags glory […]
Eric’s (Emm’s)
Eric’s (Emm’s), 107 Leppings Lane, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, 2010 • Strange mixture of old and new(ish) near Sheffield Wednesday’s football ground. Google street view shows a bunch of people sitting outside.
William High Class Confection
William High Class Confection, side of 212 Middlewood Road, Hillsborough, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, 2010 • That’s enough dodgy graffiti, here’s some wall art with a bit more staying power, having […]
Call Saver
Call Saver, 20 Caledonian Road, Borough of Islington, London N1, 2010 • A colourful closure; there’s a great pic of the premises open here.
Happy Days
Happy Days, 44-46 Goulston Street, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2004 (top two) and 2010 (bottom) • One for Samuel Beckett fans, and also beloved by pigeons (note bird emerging […]
Criterion Restaurant
Criterion Restaurant, 129 Peckham High Street, Borough of Southwark, London SE15, 2010 • No T outside, but plenty within, for this handsomely shabby caff with a fine old-fashioned name.
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 […]
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.
Williams Brothers of Sheffield (Williams Fasteners)
Williams Brothers of Sheffield (Williams Fasteners), Green Lane and Dun […]
Brian Mellor Fishing Tackle
Brian Mellor Fishing Tackle, 30-32 Brunswick Street, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, 2010 • Now has a flashy new sign with a leaping fish, though I prefer this wonky stick man, with his […]
Paradise Travel
Paradise Travel, circa 1 Brunswick Street, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, 2010 • Not likely to trouble Expedia – which was no doubt a part of its downfall.
Wozencroft
Wozencroft, 59 Osmaston Road, Derby, Derbyshire, 2010 • Lovely old script for Wozencroft, an Anglo Saxon name associated with Woolstencroft in Cheshire. Established in 1956, the shop is still there, and on […]
Floor Cover (Chicken Cottage)
‘Floor Cover’ ghost sign, Chicken Cottage, 177-179 Rye Lane, Borough of Southwark, London SE15, 2010 • Presumably a larger sign was pulled away complete with plaster, revealing the ghost sign beneath […]
Wicker Pharmacy
Wicker Pharmacy, 55-59 Wicker, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, 2010 • More 1960s marble on a building which started life as a Midland Bank. The pharmacy, founded by a consortium of local chemists in 1952 […]
Two Way Books
Two Way Books, 54 Gardner Street, Brighton, East Sussex, 2010 • Old-fashioned book exchange in Brighton’s trendy Laines.
C Master, Cumsers (Cutmasters)
CMaster, Cumsers (Cutmasters), 202-204 Merton High Street, Borough of Merton, London SW19, 2010 • Bizarre signage which almost looks like a rude joke. They’ve now got a “proper” sign but the […]
Merton Cafe
Merton Cafe, 114 Merton High Street, Borough of Merton, London SW19, 2010 • Merton’s proudly self-titled cafe and its nice curly Davida font has now given way to the startlingly-named Monkeys […]
S.D.V. Jewellers
S.D.V. Jewellers, 100 Lower Marsh, Waterloo, Borough of Lambeth, London SE1, 2010 • From the unglamorous end of the jewellery trade, though it’s a great place to get a watch battery…
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
Shampoo
Shampoo, 10 Furzehill Parade, Shenley Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, 2010 • Borehamwood is in the British filmland belt near Elstree Studios, so I like to think this utilitarian old hairdresser’s sign is […]
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.
Mersin 2 Fresh Fish Shop
Mersin 2 Fresh Fish Shop, 16a Lower Clapton Road, Borough of Hackney, London E5, 2010 • I wonder what Mersin 1 looks like?
Pronuptia (Hanley)
Pronuptia, 29-33 New Hall Street (seen from Weaver Street), Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, 2010 • Mmmm, I’d certainly get in the wedding spirit here. (I admit this is the back entrance, but […]
W. Bishop
W. Bishop, 12 Merkland Street, Partick, Glasgow G11, Scotland, 2010 • What a great old butcher’s sign. Even the letters look like they’re made of sausages!
Kara Model Milliner
Kara Model Milliner, 33 Queen Street Derby, Derbyshire, 2010 • Lasted 1953-2013, when rent hikes scuppered it. As their website says, it was a tiny piece of elegance in a modern world.
D.H. Baines & Co.
D.H. Baines & Co., 12 Campo Lane, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, 2010 • Jewellers with slight typographic dissonance between signage and graffiti.
Abcat Cine Club
Abcat Cine Club, 72 Caledonian Road, Kings Cross, Borough of Islington, London N1, 2003 & 2010 • Still extant “adult” venue from decreasingly seedy Kings Cross: note net curtain update between […]
J.B. Shakespeare Ltd
J.B. Shakespeare Ltd, 67 George Street, East Croydon, Borough of Croydon, London CR0, 2010 • Another funeral parlour with a Dickensian (if not Shakespearean) name, established in 1877.
Harman’s
Harman’s Post Office & Savings Bank, Sutton Lane North, Chiswick, Borough of Hounslow, London W4, 2010 • Offering remarkably varied services, this old sign was still on display in 2012, along […]
W.E. Savage & Son
W.E. Savage & Son, 72 Wilmot Street, Derby, Derbyshire, 2010 • By 2012 this was still there, decaying away near the memorably-named Lara Croft Way.
Simmons Dining Rooms
Simmons Dining Rooms, 32 Caledonian Road, Borough of Islington, London N1, 2002, 2010, 2013 (top to bottom) • By 2010 there was a trendy cafe behind this facade – I preferred the saggy […]
Adhesive Specialities Ltd
Adhesive Specialities Ltd, 59 Ladywell Road, Borough of Lewisham, London SE6, 2010 • Classic little art deco factory with a brilliant name, knocked down weeks after I happened across it, […]
C’mon In
C’mon In, Clyde Street (under railway bridge between Saltmarket and Bridgegate), Glasgow, 2010 • Hmmm, I won’t, thanks.
Shopfront Elegy 