Mr. Merchandise

Mr. Merchandise, 6 George Street, Hastings, East Sussex, 2014 • I only grabbed one shot of this charming old-school fan memorabilia shop in 2014, and when I got home I […]

Robbie’s Gents Hairdressers

Robbie’s Gents Hairdressers, 36 Page Street, Grosvenor Estate, City of Westminster, London SW1, 2014 • Lodge house barbershop on a stunning checkerboard council estate designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in […]

Newso (R&G Fabrications)

Newso (R&G Fabrications), 64-66 Heath Mill Lane, Birmingham B9. 2014 • Newso isn’t a company, but Brum graffiti artist Dan Newso. Nice signpainting – and just one of many street […]

Imperial Pharmacy

Imperial Pharmacy, 4 The Pantiles, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, 2014 • Grand drugstore in an 1804 Georgian bath house; a niche housing the chalybeate (iron-rich) spring that gave the town its […]

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 […]

Zenith Fancy Goods (A2Z Smoking Products Ltd)

Zenith Fancy Goods (A2Z Smoking Products Ltd), 42 Goulston Street, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2014 (top), 2010 (bottom) • Grand brackets and creepy graffiti for ex-fancy goods outlet […]

Repos

Repos, arch next to 26a Oxford Street, Digbeth, Birmingham B5, 2014 • Fragment of beautiful signwriting revealed on palimpsest gate under imposing railway viaduct.

Hel’s Kitchen

Hel’s Kitchen, Anchor Bay Industrial Estate, Manor Road, Erith, Kent, 2014 • Surely all food is hot in Hell? (Although it’s not that hellish, it’s got a food hygiene rating of […]

Yes Win No Fee

Yes Win No Fee, 451-3 North Circular Road, Neasden, Borough of Brent, London NW10, 2014 • Hard-to-parse name for a dispiriting modern service. The heavily armoured door is a relic of previous occupant National […]

Cappelli

Cappelli, 31 Leg Street, Oswestry, Shropshire, 2014 • Delicate art nouveau tiles in old-fangled Oswestry – note also swirly mosaic step hidden beneath doormat. Perhaps it was once a dairy or grocer; […]

National Westminster House

National Westminster House, 103 Colmore Row, Birmingham, 2014 • Fine brutalist pile with a sculpted metal portal based on the Natwest logo. Designed by John Madin, it opened in 1975 as a National […]

The Old Bank (Cuban House Wildlife Rescue Charity Shop)

The Old Bank (Cuban House Wildlife Rescue Charity Shop), High […]

Bargain Booze

Bargain Booze, 22-24 Vauxhall Road, Liverpool L3, 2014 • Bargain booze, bargain sign.

Antiques

Antiques, 130 Bold Street, Liverpool L1, 2003 (top) and 2014 • Ah, groovy Davida font. Amazing how much of central Liverpool is still derelict, this was the same in 2003 and […]

H. Coleman, Spy Shop, Richie Tattoo Artist, Max Spielmann

H. Coleman, Spy Shop, Richie Tattoo Artist, Max Spielmann, 24 […]

Ian S Davis

Ian S Davis, 66 Hanover Street, Liverpool L1, 2014 • Ex-optician in art deco tiled building.

J.N. Weatherby (Heating) Ltd.

J.N. Weatherby (Heating) Ltd., 133 Frankwell, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, 2014 • Traditional engineer’s office in Tudor pile.

Ashton Eng Co Ltd

Ashton Eng Co Ltd, 20 Floodgate Street, Digbeth, Birmingham, 2014 • Garage equipment business in crumbly riverside industrial estate being colonised by creative types.

Nameless works

Nameless works, Unit 1a, Bordesley Street, Birmingham, 2014 • Curious neoclassical portal leading to a lowly industrial unit. A while back, it housed an Auto Valet Centre.

The Home and Colonial Tea Stores (Tablet Gallery)

The Home and Colonial Tea Stores (Tablet Gallery), 51a George […]

F.O.T.O.P. Friends of the Old People

F.O.T.O.P. Friends of the Old People, 4 Middle Street, Hastings, East Sussex, 2014 • Net-curtained cafe for the elderly. I thought it was closed down, but Google shows it later on […]

Super News

Super News, 140 Crouch Hill, Borough of Haringey, London N8, 2014 • Having your newsagent’s sign sponsored by an actual newspaper as opposed to an international sim card purveyor is starting to […]

Good News

Good News, 33 Sydney Street, Brighton, East Sussex, 2014 • Brighton newsies  seem to have appropriately sunny names, but the news in the window isn’t so good – “Mum’s horror […]

The Pantiles News

The Pantiles News, 66 The Pantiles, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, 2014 • Now for a few days featuring newsagents, a dwindling resource I find fascinating for the way they sum up an […]

Holloway Service Station T/A Sparsholt

Holloway Service Station T/A Sparsholt, 23-27 Crouch Hill, Borough of Islington, London N4, 2014 • A neat high street corner garage housing Swiss Cheese plants and a TUX-reg Roller – it’s like London in a […]

Hornsey Automatic Transmissions

Hornsey Automatic Transmissions, 1 Stapleton Hall Road, Borough of Haringey, London N4, 2014 • I assumed this was closed down, but Google Street View shows it operational a month after I […]

J.F. Turner

J.F. Turner, wall above Ying’s, 125 Hanley Road, Borough of Islington, London N4, 2014 • Graffiti by moron over ghost sign for baker; both elements are still there.

Abbey Arms, Harry’s Mini Cabs

Abbey Arms, Harry’s Mini Cabs, 31 & 31a Wilton Road, Abbey Wood, Borough of Greenwich, London SE2, 2014 • A pub in Abbey Wood that’s still standing. It doesn’t have […]

Ex-Drinks Cabin

Ex-Drinks Cabin, 498 Abbey Wood Road, Abbey Wood, Borough of Bexley, London SE2, 2014 • The black bottle speaks of a booze store, which internet research suggests was called Drinks Cabin. Google Street View shows it […]

Diamond Laundry

Diamond Laundry, 190 Finchley Road, Borough of Camden, London NW3, 2014 • It’s getting harder to find laundries in central London these days, especially ones named after precious stones.

Home & Away Dog Grooming, Pest Clear UK Ltd

Home & Away Dog Grooming, Pest Clear UK Ltd, near […]

Pound + Store

Pound + Store, 316 Neasden Lane, Borough of Brent, London NW10, 2014 • Extremely crammed pound emporium with enormous Edwardian-style font. Not sure if the “plus” is part of their name, […]

Nameless ex-works (NuWeld Engineering Services Ltd)

Nameless ex-works, circa 36 Oxford Street, Birmingham, 2014 • A […]

F.J. Thornton & Co. Ltd. Weighing Machine Manufacturers

F.J. Thornton & Co. Ltd. Weighing Machine Manufacturers, 111 Fazeley […]

Alberts

Alberts, 88 Whitechapel High Street, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2014 • Men’s clothier with a nifty sideline in Jack the Ripper t-shirts. I thought this grand frontage once […]

Eastern Computers

Eastern Computers, Dairy Product Specalist, 370 & 368 Neasden Lane North, Borough of Brent, London NW10, 2014 • Next door to yesterday’s Dairy Product, and equally weary. Together I thought […]

Dairy Product Specialist

Dairy Product Specialist, 368 Neasden Lane North, Borough of Brent, London NW10, 2014 • I like the weary “etc. etc.” – maybe the person who specified the sign thought the […]

H.E. Pea

H.E. Pea, Zen-Shin, The Best Baguette, 180 High Street Deritend, Birmingham, 2014 • Next door to yesterday’s Deritend Fish & Chips, perhaps not coincidentally, a works entrance hidden by a […]

Deritend Fish & Chips

Deritend Fish & Chips, 181 High Street Deritend, Birmingham, 2014 • Always nice to find a Pepsi cafe, however faded. The leaping fish on the counter front are obviously trying to […]

Ferodo (Stonebridge)

Ferodo, bridge ad, near Blackmore Drive, North Circular Road, Stonebridge, Borough of Brent, London NW10, 2014 • Ferodo got taken over in 1998, and stopped paying fees for their bridge ads – […]

Auto Electrics

Auto Electrics, Canal Road, Leeds, 2014 • Picturesque Northern gloom high above the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, and opposite the satanic-mill-like Armley Mills Industrial Museum.

DRW Motor Spares

DRW Motor Spares, 30 The Watton, Brecon, Powys, Wales, 2014 • I always like these signboard palimpsests. This had obviously been an auto outlet for decades.

Lloyds Bank (Shrewsbury)

Lloyds Bank (Shrewsbury), 1 Pride Hill, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, 2014 • Elegant brutalist building in a mainly olde-worlde town. Note triangular Civic Trust award, I think it says 1969.

Chris & Chris Fashions (Crouch End Food Centre)

Chris & Chris Fashions (Crouch End Food Centre), 34-35 Broadway […]

Wm. Mooney & Sons Ltd.

Wm. Mooney & Sons Ltd., 20a College Lane, Liverpool, 2014 • Ex-builder’s premises looking set to become a barbers.  

Brown, Muff & Co. Ltd.

Brown, Muff & Co. Ltd., 4 Ivegate, Bradford, West Yorkshire, 2014 • Not a dubious “private shop” but the last remains of an oddly-named department store once known as the Harrods […]

Potter Bros (Holland Broadbridge)

Potter Bros (Holland Broadbridge), Frankwell Quay, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, 2014 • The faded writing on the white wall (second picture) says: “Frankwell Works Established 1855 Potter Bros”. I know because of […]

Bills Cafe

Bills Cafe, Frankwell Quay, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, 2014 • No more bills to pay now. Part of an endangered quayside works, of which more tomorrow.

Same Day

Same Day, 19 Wyle Cop, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, 2014 • I have a soft spot for these 1960s-style wood-slat signboards. This jaunty example may look like a hipster pastiche, but it’s the […]

Stones Television & Radio

Stones, circa 22 Atlantic Road, Brixton, Borough of Lambeth, London SW9, 2014 • 1920s-style ghost logo for a Brixton business that’s long, long gone. There’s a great picture history on […]

St Noahs News

St Noahs News, 41 Trafalgar Street, Brighton, East Sussex, 2014 • Sunny frontage for the patron saint of missing apostrophes. I’m always attracted by newsagents because they’re a type of shop that’s […]

Nicholas Printers (Baldwins)

Nicholas Printers (Baldwins), 481A Green Lanes, Borough of Haringey, London N8, 2014 • A multi-named palimpsest in colourful Green Lanes.

Seel Street Garage

Seel Street Garage, 92 Seel Street, Liverpool, 2014 • Garage for sale in Liverpool’s raucous and rapidly redeveloping nightclub quarter. Probably won’t be there for much longer.

Railway Bell Hotel

Railway Bell Hotel, Comberton Hill, Kidderminster, Worcsestershire, 2014 • Imposing pub opposite the Severn Valley Railway’s puffing locos and atmospheric rail museum in Kidderminster.

F.W. Thornton & Son

F.W. Thornton & Son, 57 Wyle Cop, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, 2014 • A purveyor of vintage engine parts, primarily pistons it seems. Founded 1922, they moved to this shop in 1939 […]

Footfall, Seconds Ahead

Footfall, Seconds Ahead, 16 & 12a Cross Street, Oswestry, Shropshire, 2014 • Footfall is an organisation that creatively re-occupies defunct shops; Seconds Ahead is a vintage clothes store, which may […]

Sports Direct.com (Oswestry)

Sports Direct.com, 12-15 Cross Street, Oswestry, Shropshire, 2014 • Another re-used facade from Oswestry, which seems to specialise in downmarket shops in grand crumbly buildings. This one looks like it […]

The Edinburgh Woollen Mill (Oswestry)

The Edinburgh Woollen Mill, 12 Cross Street, Oswestry, Shropshire, 2014 • A market hall by Thomas Penson, built in 1842 (more info here) and demolished in the 1960s except for this […]

Alan R. Powell

Alan R. Powell, c. 25 Broad Street, Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales, 2014 • Picturesque workshop in a town noted for bookshops (maybe Alan provided the miles of bookshelves therein).

Morrow

Morrow, 41 High Street, Leominster, Herefordshire, 2014 • I have no idea what this is – those look like spotlights in the window. It’s a listed 16th century building which […]

Burton (Abergavenny)

Burton, 16-17 High Street, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales, 2014 • A classic Burton that’s still in use, albeit somewhat grimy and with inferior modern logo tacked on. The company’s founder Montague […]

Burton (Royal Victoria Place)

Burton, Royal Victoria Place Shopping Centre, circa 29 Calverley Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, 2014 • According to the article here the local council refused permission to demolish this frontage and made the developer take […]

R. Jackson & Sons

R. Jackson & Sons, 20 Slater Street, Liverpool, 2014 • Art materials shop that’s been at various premises in Slater Street since 1866. Looks like a newer sign got taken […]

Margaretta Rickards (Arthouse Deli)

Margaretta Rickards (Arthouse Deli), 46 Topsfield Parade, Tottenham Lane, Crouch End, Borough of Haringey, London N8, 2014 • I thought this was a gallery when I photographed it, but it’s […]

T.C. Bulless (Kingston Art Gallery)

T.C. Bulless (Kingston Art Gallery), 27 Humber Street, Kingston upon Hull, 2013 • There’s a trend for art galleries to reveal retro shop signs at the moment – this one, for […]

Classic Magazines

Classic Magazines, 108 Baylis Road, Borough of Lambeth, London SE1, 2014 • Revealed when my local Payless (aka Paymore) closed down, under onslaught from Tesco Metro. 

D&T Upholstery Repair

D&T Upholstery Repair, 436 West Green Road, Borough of Haringey, London N15, 2014 • Imaginative conversion of a run-down shop front near yesterday’s Tap & Die. According to the internet, DT […]

The Tap & Die Co

The Tap & Die Co, 445 West Green Road, Borough of Haringey, London N15, 2014 • Yikes – don’t tap that phone! According to the firm’s intricate website, they do indeed supply […]

Romanys

Romanys, 51 Brewer Street, City of Westminster, London W1, 2014 • Example of a useful old Soho shop that’s still there, a rapidly diminishing group. I included the bloke because […]

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 […]

Sergios

Sergios, 3 Eagle Place, City of Westminster, London SW1, 2003 • Classic caff next door to yesterday’s M. Landaw, and likewise gone. Wish I’d got a better pic, they had […]

M. Landaw

M. Landaw, 5 Eagle Place, City of Westminster, London SW1, 2003 & 2014 (bottom) • Stylish alleyway newsagent looking straight out of Vienna. Not only has it disappeared, the entire […]

Collectors Corner

Collectors Corner, 106 High Street, Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire, 2014 • Collecting dust, but not apostrophes.

Anne

Anne, 62 High Street, Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire, 2014 • More genteel net, albeit in a rather minimalist setting.  

The Pleasant Gent’s Hairdresser

The Pleasant Gent’s Hairdresser, 33 Mount Pleasant Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, 2014 • More fading pleasantry in Tunbridge Wells.

Pleasant Sandwich Bar

Pleasant Sandwich Bar, 7 Mount Pleasant Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, 2014 • Seems like an underwhelming taste offer, but it’s actually the name of the road. 

Thomas Brothers

Thomas Brothers, 798-804 Holloway Road, Archway, Borough of Islington, London N19, 2003 and 2014 (bottom image) • Enormous and long-standing corner builders’ merchant with great 3D plastic lettering that just […]

Star Dry Cleaners

Star Dry Cleaners, 32 Strutton Ground, City of Wesrminster, London SW1, 2014 • Glum traditional keycutter in a cheerful traditional street market near London’s Victoria 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 […]

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 […]

Marks & Spencer (Leeds)

Marks & Spencer, 49 Briggate, Leeds, West Yorkshire, 2014 • Having expanded somewhat from yesterday’s stall, M&S now resides in this rather austere black marble art deco edifice – there’s a […]

Marks & Spencer (Kirkgate Market)

Marks & Spencer, 1904 Hall, Kirkgate Market, 28-34 George Street, Leeds LS2, 2014 • Blimey – the first-ever M&S, opened 1884. And it’s still there! Actually, it isn’t – this […]

Malcolm Michaels

Malcolm Michaels, Kirkgate Market, Leeds, West Yorkshire, 2014 • Just one (or two) of a whole row of traditional butchers in this fantastic market.

Net stall

Net stall, 1976 Hall, Kirkgate Market, Leeds, West Yorkshire, 2014 • I daresay this stall does have a name, but it looks rather nice closed down. A fitting occupant for […]

Dorothy Goodall

Dorothy Goodall, Kirkgate Market, Leeds, West Yorkshire, 2014 • Scattergun scanties in traditional cabinet at the market’s entrance.

Market News

Market News, 14 Market Hall, Kirkgate Market, Leeds, West Yorkshire, 2014 • Semi-circular hole-in-wall bracketing the entrance to Leeds’ wonderful Kirkgate Market.  

Paula Hair Fashions

Paula Hair Fashions, 93 Kirkgate, Leeds, West Yorkshire, 2014 • Superannuated sign for an earlier incarnation of this hairdresser.

MKC Sewing Machine Specialists

MKC Sewing Machine Specialists, 92 Kirkgate, Leeds, West Yorkshire, 2014 • Eyecatching DIY-style 3D sign for another occupant of Leeds’ oldest street.

Kyro Fabrication

Kyro Fabrication, 97 Kirkgate, Leeds, West Yorkshire, 2014 • The hoardings say this is Leeds’ oldest street, awaiting redevelopment. Fabrication was a crafts shop which has relocated elsewhere, but the […]

Jeeves & Jericho

Jeeves & Jericho, Corn Exchange, Corn Exchange, Call Lane, Leeds, West Yorkshire, 2014 • 1920s flat-cap geezer meets 1990s Mancs baggy in cartoon collision of two tea-pouring Northern stereotypes. And […]

AJ’s Superstore

AJ’s Superstore, 19 Barrow Street, Much Wenlock, Shropshire, 2014 • Yes, there really is a place called Much Wenlock – and this is its superstore.

E.J. Poynor

E.J. Poynor, 88 Broad Street, Ludlow, Shropshire, 2014 • There’s been a drapers on this site since 1897, and a Poynor since 1917. Despite nearly closing due to rate hikes in 2012, it’s […]

S.C. Price & Sons

S.C. Price & Sons, 7 Castle Street, Ludlow, Shropshire, 2014 • A beautiful sunray door in foodie Ludlow, and so traditional they call it a “confectioner” (which used to denote […]