Mr P’s Classic Amusements

Mr P’s Classic Amusements, 10 High Street, Gravesend, Kent, 2015 • Depends on your definition of “classic” and “family entertainment”, really. The typeface is pure early 1990s (Remedy, designed by […]

Mr Wu

Mr Wu, 28 Wardour Street, City of Westminster, London W1, 2002, 2015, 2016 (top to bottom) • Ever-present fixture in Soho’s Chinatown – even the writing on their window been […]

Lucky Fish Bar

Lucky Fish Bar, 338 Kennington Lane, Borough of Lambeth, London SE11, 2015 • Superb old school frontage and name. In 2017 it was updated, but is still very traditional looking […]

Wright’s Bar

Wright’s Bar, 5 Houghton Street, City of Westminster, London WC2, 2005 & 2015 • Classic 1960s-looking logo and finger sign, next to the London School of Economics. It’s shown below […]

The Dolly Tub (Bath)

The Dolly Tub, 6 St James’s Street, Bath, Bath & North East Somerset, 2015 • Traditionally named launderette in a grand mini-arcade. You can find out about washing dollies here.

Blustons

Blustons, 213 Kentish Town Road, Borough of Camden, London NW5, 2015 • Art deco stunner opened in 1932 and closed down after 85 years of trading in April 2015. Sadly […]

South Bank Cards

South Bank Cards, 85 Lower Marsh. Borough of Lambeth, London SE1, 2002, 2015 • Colourful street market card shop (green in 2002 and blue in 2015, bottom). By 2017 it […]

Wiseman (The Card Shop)

Wiseman (The Card Shop), 40 Seaside, Eastbourne, East Sussex, 2015 • Nice old step logo, but I can’t find any info about what the shop sold. The arcade windows suggest […]

Invisible Menders of Knightsbridge

Invisible Menders of Knightsbridge, 161 Gloucester Road, Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, London SW7, 2015 • Mosaic madness in poshville. Not sure what’s going on inside, but it’s still a […]

Central Exchange Hotel

Central Exchange Hotel and Central Arcade, Goods Entrance, Grainger Street, Newcastle NE1, 2015 • Another grand portal to Central Arcade, featured yesterday.  

Booty Wine

Booty Wine, 17 KentishTown Road, Borough of Camden, London NW1, 2015 • Gotta love a shop called Booty.

Terry Discount Store

Terry Discount Store, 51 High Street, Gravesend, Kent, 2015 • Large budget emporium offering “Most Products, Less And Bargain Price”. Who could ask for more?

Oakville Care Centre

Oakville Care Centre, 3 Badcox, Frome, Somerset, 2015 • Beautiful old stone heads decorating a boring shop. Titles include Summer, Mirth, Peace, Plenty, and one that’s unreadable. It’s part of Badcox […]

Lamb and Fountain

Lamb and Fountain, 57 Castle Street, Frome, Somerset, 2015 • Historic hillside pub, with superb views and a trapdoor to 17th century ice wells beneath. In 2008, it had one of England’s […]

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 […]

Sister Ray

Sister Ray, 34-35 Berwick Street, Soho, City of Westminster, London W1, 2015 • Angel wings poster outside closed-down record shop, designed to attract selfie-posers – which it did. Sister Ray […]

Poundland (Reading)

Poundland (Reading), 118-119 Friar Street, Reading, Berrkshire, 2015 • Unusual arts and crafts-cum-brutalist building, an incongruous setting for a Poundland (apart from the weeds). It has an ecclesiastical look – […]

V&P Fox Master Locksmiths

V&P Fox Master Locksmiths, 91a St Martin’s Lane, City of Westminster, London WC2, 2015 • Tiny trad locksmith (est 1969) in big grand entrance.  

Odds & Sods

Odds & Sods, 81 Goldsmiths Row, Borough of Hackney, London E2, 2006 • Amusingly uncompromising name, with the qualification that “almost” anything is traded (including E.C.T.) – that’s quite a get-out […]

Guardian Assurance Building

Guardian Assurance Building, 21-23 Clare Street, Bristol BS1, 2015 • Not sure what lies behind this impressive marble and steel portal now, but it’s not insurance firm Guardian Assurance, which was established […]

Bureau de Change (Earl’s Court)

Bureau de Change, Praed Street, Earl’s Court, City of Westminster, London W2, 2010 • Tiny grand building with romantic decay and incongruous metal cladding, now boringly spruced up.

Nanny Janet’s

Nanny Janet’s, 22 Milton Road, Gravesend, Kent, 2015 • Unusual family-based name for a burger bar.  

Olympic Airways

Olympic Airways, 11 Conduit Street, City of Westminster, London W1, 2015 • Current state of a once-proud airline office, with classic plastic logo. Here it is open in 2008. There used to […]

Worlds Stores (Richmond House)

Worlds Stores (Richmond House), 18 High Street, Gravesend, Kent, 2015 • Tiled ghost sign for a pre-supermarket chain of grocers. There’s an informative thread on Kent History here including a recentish […]

Aysel & Aysel Souvenirs, St Anne’s Church

Aysel & Aysel Souvenirs, St Anne’s Church, 67 Shaftesbury Avenue, […]

The Posh Banger Boys

The Posh Banger Boys, Borough Market, Stoney Street, Borough of Southwark, London SE1, 2015 • Doesn’t look that posh to me; and in fast-changing Borough Market, it’ll be something else […]

Isats

Isats, 309 Gray’s Inn Road, Borough of Camden, London WC1, 2015 • Decaying but still shiny black ‘Brilliant’-style Vitrolite cladding on what may once have been a smart shop, but now houses Isats, […]

Reg the Veg

Reg the Veg, 6 Boyce’s Avenue, Clifton, Bristol, 2015 • Cute veg vendor in posh Clifton Village. Has a fine display when open for business.

Rose-anne

Rose-anne, 95 High Street, Rye, East Sussex, 2015 • Rye is full of faux retro shops, but here’s a real one. It was once a genteel ladies’ outfitter, now it’s finis, […]

J.R. Blanche (Happy Shopper)

J.R. Blanche (Happy Shopper), 76 & 74 Brixton Road, Borough of Lambeth, London SW9, 2015 • Blimey, even minimarts are revealing hipsterish legacy signs now – believe it or not, this is part […]

Allen Carpets, Fisher Hairdressing, Screaming Skull

Allen Carpets, Fisher Hairdressing, Screaming Skull Tattoo & Body Piercing, […]

Marshfield Farm, St Nicholas Church

Marshfield Farm, St Nicholas Church, Pett Level Road, Hastings, East Sussex, 2015 • Handy snack-church combo, also incorporating jumble sale, on the long beach between Hastings and Rye.

Blessed, Peter Thomson Solicitor

Blessed, Peter Thomson Solicitor, 203 Coldharbour Lane, Borough of Lambeth, London SW9 • Traditional Brixton, getting harder to find.

Kabra Kebabra

Kabra Kebabra, 58 Coldharbour Lane, Borough of Lambeth, London SE5, 2015 • Coldharbour Lane seems to specialise in bonkers shop names. This one’s already quite famous on the internet. Not to […]

Rock Steady Eddies

Rock Steady Eddies, 2a Coldharbour Lane, Borough of Southwark, London SE5 • Longstanding Camberwell landmark, famed as the nearest cheap cafe to Maudsley ‘mental hospital’ (to use the 1980s term). Reviews could […]

Crown & Glory

Crown & Glory, 10 Coldharbour Lane, Borough of Southwark, London SE5, 2015 • Upper case italic script, always a bold move. A holdout from the bland new signage infecting the […]

Indian’s Unisex Hair Salon

Indian’s Unisex Hair Salon, 82-84 Coldharbour Lane, Borough of Lambeth, SE5, 2015 • The scary weaponised hairdresser geezers date from an earlier sign, which Google’s magic wayback view shows was “a fine […]

Amaraché

Amaraché, 96 Coldharbour Lane, Borough of Lambeth, London SE5 • Some quite impressive wiring here. Note accented ‘e’ in different font. Google can’t translate the name, so I don’t know […]

Seagull Launderette

Seagull Launderette, 212 Coldharbour Lane, Borough of Lambeth, London SW9, 2015 • In the backwoods of Brixton, far from gentrification, a tiny wistful name with an elegant flourish.

David Greig

David Greig, 232 Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, Borough of Lambeth, London SW9, 2015 • More beautiful, if less useful than when it was open – it used to be a Futon […]

P.C. Royce

P.C. Royce, 21 Hackney Road, Borough of Hackney, London E2, 2015 • There’s two layers of sign here. ‘Baker &’ it says at the left of the newer logo, so the […]

Princess Dry Cleaning

Princess Dry Cleaning, 19 Wellington Row, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E2, 2015 • Until recently the old ‘Valet Service’ sign was covered by an equally attractive 1960s plastic fascia saying Princess Laundrette (complete […]

Barry S Rivers Radio Television

Barry S Rivers Radio Television, 57 Cinque Ports Street, Rye, East Sussex, 2015 • RYE 3179 says the phone number, in my fave old shop font – Profil, aka Decorated 035. There […]

Aslamtex

Aslamtex, 24 High Street, Gravesend, Kent, 2015 • Another unusual name, writ extremely large – presumably the owner is called Aslam. Looks like there’s a big demand for shopping trolleys in […]

Nimbus Lighting

Nimbus Lighting, 144 High Sfreet, Rochester, Kent, 2015 • Discotastic logo.

Capon’s of Rochester

Capon’s of Rochester, 177 High Street, Rochester, Kent, 2015 • I got to Rochester too late to catch this venerable butcher, est 1944. There’s a bit more info on the […]

Repairwise

Repairwise, 322 High Street, Rochester, Kent, 2015 • I always enjoy a bunker-like facade.

Spemco Manufacturing Ltd (Intra)

Spemco Manufacturing Ltd (Intra), 337-341 High Street, Rochester, Kent, 2015 • Defunct electrical products company behind a zigzaggy deco frontage. Intra is an arts venue and studio complex that now occupies the premises.

Hong Kong Garden

Hong Kong Garden, 199 Mile End Road, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2015 • Nice tiles! Pity about the ubiquitous superimposed shutters, though.

Golden Dragon

Golden Dragon, 228 Mile End Road, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2015 • Chinese takeaways are one of the last redoubts of old-school grunge on this increasingly gentrified east end […]

Mobile Shop N Go

Mobile Shop N Go, 215 Mile End Road, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2015 • Shop N Gone, more like – “Development site with consent”, says the sign.

Broacha Samy Ltd

Broacha Samy Ltd, 108 Mile End Road, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2015 • Demure frontage amidst a sea of gaudy plastic. “Manufacturers of lady dresses specialists in plus sizes” says the […]

Global London College (Ryman)

Global London College (Ryman), 149 Fleet Street, City of London, EC4, 2015 • Maybe it’s a play on GLC (Greater London Council), a body which was abolished in 1986. This […]

Pret A Manger (Fleet Street)

Pret A Manger (Fleet Street), 143 Fleet Street, City of London, London EC4, 2015 • An executed Caledonian queen gazes down on hasty diners – for this building is Mary Queen […]

Poundland (Peterborough)

Poundland (Peterborough), 6 Bridge Street, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, 2015 • Initially depressing, but this is an interesting building – maybe it was a flagship store for someone else once. Poundland are in the […]

Yorkshire Bank (Peterborough)

Yorkshire Bank (Peterborough), 10 Church Street, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, 2015 • Nice cartouche!

HGV Apply Here

HGV Apply Here, 10 Church Street, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, 2015 • Mmm, professional. And the top windows just say “GV”.

Milletts Surplus Stores

Milletts Surplus Stores, 38 Cowgate, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, 2015 • The window writing suggests this was previously a beauty parlour, so the Milletts sign may be a recent revelation.

Smiths’ Grand Teas

Smiths’ Grand Teas, Catmos Street, Oakham, Rutland, 2015 • “Imported direct from the finest tea gardens of India and Ceylon, and carefully blended to suit the water of the district.” […]

Wok This Way

Wok This Way, 48 High Street, Oakham, Rutland, 2015 • Nice bushes! Less traditional than it looks – specials include Quorn and gluten-free dishes.

Touché Hair Productions

Touché Hair Productions, 2a High Street, Oakham, Rutland, 2015 • 1980s-style logo and matching plants for this ex-hairdresser, now with auction signs in the window.

Post Office & Savings Bank (Oakham)

Post Office & Savings Bank (Oakham), 2 Market Place, Oakham, Rutland, 2015 • Grand post office in England’s smallest county. It closed in 2014 and services moved into the local newsagent’s – which, unlike […]

Waywest Cafe

Waywest Cafe, A1 Southbound, Darrington, Pontefract, West Yorkshire, 2015 • How strange, a crumbling neoclassical cafe at a bleak service station. Looks more like Italy than Yorkshire (apart from the weather).