Swift & Company Ltd

Swift & Company Ltd, Braggs Lane, Bristol BS2, 2013 • Stunning little tiled relic of a 1920s American meat packing and refrigeration company – more info here.

Café Central

Café Central, Quay Street, Bristol BS1, 2011, 2013, 2018 • Green-slate-tiled cafe at the base of a brutalist Bristol tower block. It later closed down, and the entire complex was […]

Enid’s Fish Bar

Enid’s Fish Bar, 181 North Street, Bristol BS3, 2017 • What a great name!

Dim Sum Oriental

Dim Sum Oriental, 263 North Street, Bristol BS3, 2016 • Vintage vinyl signage meets mid-century mosaic in a colourful parade. Note lucky cat in upstairs window.

Club Cars

Club Cars, 78a North Street, Bristol BS3, 2017 • Radio cab offices rocking the 1970s men’s club look, and still hanging on in there despite Bristol’s adoption of Uber.

Uroma General Stores

Uroma General Stores, 84 North Street, Bristol BS3, 2017 • Defunct weird-name minimart enlivened by Bristol’s characteristic street art.

Wilko Services

Wilko Services, c.32 Ashton Road, Bristol BS3, 2017 • Attractive old school signage, with military tinge to the name – WILCO being radio code for Will Comply.

D.R. Butt Master Butcher

D.R. Butt Master Butcher, 28 North Street, Bristol BS3, 2017 • Dr Butt, lol – sounds like a Bart Simpson prank call. I caught this just before it closed in […]

Stan Butt Ltd

Stan Butt Ltd, 137 East Street, Bedminster, Bristol BS3, 2017 • So good they named it twice. According to this Flickr comment, meat wholesaler extraordinaire Stan Butt died a few […]

Mr. Ben

Mr. Ben, 128 East Street, Bristol BS3, 2017 • Logo looks to date from around the same time as the early 1970s kids’ TV series (which was spelled Mr Benn).

Victoria Jane

Victoria Jane, 54 North Street, Bristol BS3, 2017 • Shop named after me, as so many things are. I’m guessing from the mural that it’s a hairdresser.

Coronation Cafe

Coronation Cafe, 190 Coronation Road, Bristol BS3, 2011 & 2017 • Traditional caff that reinvented itself as a curry house – you can see it announcing the transformation in 2012 […]

Cheap Fashion

Cheap Fashion, 60 West Street, Bristol BS2, 2013 • Unequivocal if unglamorous branding. By 2017 it had become a minimart.

Jesus Kingdom City

Jesus Kingdom City, Cannon Street, Bristol BS1, 2013 • Ex-church school whose plaque reveals a Theseus’s Paradox of a history: “St James’ School. Instituted benevolent School 1790. Sunday school 1801. Reconstructed 1913. […]

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 […]

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.

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. 

Thompson

Thompson, 5 Gloucester Road, Avonmouth, Bristol, 2009 • Nice type on old ex-bike repair shop (aka Thomson Bros) in the Bristol boondocks. Now completely boarded up.

Vision Express (Bristol)

Vision Express, 7 St Augustine’s Parade, Bristol, 2011 • Great old optician’s wall sign in central Bristol. I revisited recently and didn’t need glasses to see it was no longer […]

H.H. Brain Ltd.

H.H. Brain Ltd., 30-36 Upper York Street, Bristol, Avon, 2011 • A bacon and ham curers once occupied by the makers of legendary Brain’s Faggots (as in offal patties). A sign […]