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. […]

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 […]

Cafe, The Albatross Club

Cafe, The Albatross Club, c.15 Marina Arcade, Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, 2009 • Part of a superb Chinese gothic seaside complex. The cafe has since gone, The Albatross Club remains.

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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.

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, […]

Eva Petulengro

Eva Petulengro, Palace Pier, Brighton, East Sussex, 1983 • A slow day for clairvoyancy at Brighton’s then-decaying Palace Pier, which is nowadays called Brighton Pier and much smarter. I hope that is Eva herself emerging, with […]

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.

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 […]

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. 

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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.

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Two Way Books

Two Way Books, 54 Gardner Street, Brighton, East Sussex, 2010 • Old-fashioned book exchange in Brighton’s trendy Laines.

Rottingdean Tele-Radio

Rottingdean Tele-Radio, 59-61 Marine Drive, Rottingdean, East Sussex, 2004 • Not a title you’d come up with nowadays. It’s still there, but only the left half, and with a faux rather […]