Millennium Flowers

Millennium Flowers, 45 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Ghost sign for booze meets soon-to-be-dated blooms. There’s a bit of info about the old pub here, […]

Sharpes Wholesale Ltd.

Sharpes Wholesale Ltd., 97 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Wig shop sign painted with a delicate hand, similar to many other local shops, such as […]

The Egg Shop

The Egg Shop, 49 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Long-standing egg emporium with far-flung full stop, probably lettered by yesterday’s sign painter. It finally disappeared […]

J.C. Smith

J.C. Smith, 63 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2003 • Beautiful hand lettered sign matched by calligraphic graffiti tag. The sign was still there in 2017, but […]

Welcome Shoes

Welcome Shoes, 89 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Price range £2 to £5, very welcome. Nevertheless by 2017 it had become Adebayo beauty salon.

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 […]

F.T.T.D, Joiners Shopfitters Builders

F.T.T.D, Joiners Shopfitters Builders, 20 Tanner’s Hill, Deptford. Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Ex-shopfitter’s enlivened by a quaint Victorian-style pointing hand sign (aka a manicule). It was for now-defunct signmakers Find […]

M.J. Davies

M.J. Davies, 10 New King Street, Deptford, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Stripey ghost sign for what may have been a dairy (they often had Welsh names). Looks […]

Avis Windscreens

Avis Windscreens, 1 Creekside, Deptford, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • DIY hand-painted gate on the garage which hosted (and covered up) yesterday’s old Medina sign. It is now Greenwich MOT Centre, with […]

Medina

Medina, 1 Creekside, Deptford, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • A 1910s-looking typeface, advertising who knows what – but I’d guess auto related, as this is a long-standing garage site. […]

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.

English West Indian

English West Indian, 227 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Nice old glass number, which is still there, though the business isn’t. The frontage is now green with net […]

Deeplex

Deeplex, 21 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Nice name in giant Cooper Black Italic – a great font. It’s still there but with a duller logo.

Ali Brothers Butchers

Ali Brothers Butchers, 27 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • I like to think that’s the brothers in the window. The nice sign has now gone, supplanted […]

Family Butchers

Family Butchers & Grocers, 99 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Same sign writer as yesterday’s Adam, surely. Still there but with more boring sign.   […]

Adam Fashions

Adam Fashions, 81 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Nice bit of signwriting for a Biblical name. It’s now Just 4 U grocer, whose next door neighbour AZ Halal […]

Blessed Assurance Co.

Blessed Assurance Co., 201 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Truly blessed, as it was still there over a decade later.

Hansid

Hansid, 121 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • To me a pleasing name, though possibly once part of a greater whole. The unit has since been knocked down; […]

Care Assistant Training

Care Assistant Training, Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Remember this kind of thing? No wonder there were care home scandals. How depressing.

St Marys Centre (Mountain of Fire & Miracles Ministries)

St Marys Centre (Mountain of Fire & Miracles Ministries), Ladywell […]

Sidney Charles

Sidney Charles, 36 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Modern world passing an old one by – destined soon to become a Chinese supermarket.

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.

Broadway Cash ‘N’ Carry

Broadway Cash ‘N’ Carry, 39 Deptford Broadway, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Even having ads for Coke and Pepsi couldn’t save it. It’s now called Deptford Food & Wine, with […]

A.Z. Halal. Butchers

A.Z. Halal. Butchers, 83 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Huge wavy pediment dwarfing a mini meat emporium.

W.H. Wellbeloved

W.H. Wellbeloved, 31 Tanner’s Hill, Deptford, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • A sculptural gable end for a wonderful name, established in 1829. Note hand-painted sign offering “surloin”, and the jaunty van […]

White Swan

White Swan, 217 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Look, the net curtains have got swans on! ‘Smoking allowed throughout’, proclaim stickers in the windows. “The place could do with […]

Burton (Antique Warehouse)

Burton (Antique Warehouse), 9-14 Depford Broadway, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • This grille, which I spotted at ground level,  alerted me to photograph the shop above it, but if […]

Ladywell Supermarket

Ladywell Supermarket, 111 Ladywell Road, Borough of Lewisham, London SE13, 2011 • The ladies of Ladywell, patronising a rather tatty shop in a fadedly genteel area. The mosaic pillars may indicate […]

Rogers (Autocolor)

Rogers (Autocolor), Deptford Broadway, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Deptford’s an interesting place. This old shop was still the same 10 years later, albeit with more crap inside.

Little Mo Ca

Little Mo Ca, 219 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Known in full as Little Mo’s Cafe, this features in the rather wonderful website The London Review of […]

East & West Supermarket

East & West Supermarket, 489 New Cross Road, Borough of Lewisham, London SE14, 2002 • Typically blasted shopfront from New Cross, where continents collide in a bus stop scrum. Now Penny’s […]

The Semiconductor Archives

The Semiconductor Archives, 48 Deptford Broadway, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Forbidding-looking emporium claiming to source obsolete tech components. There’s even something sinister about using the word “facsimile” rather […]

CGS Computers

CGS Computers, 22 Tanner’s Hill, Deptford, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • More unconvincing “computer” type, on premises that later became a Thai massage joint.

“Step In” Restaurant

“Step In” Restaurant, 457a New Cross Road, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Another winning example of very basic signage typography. By 2012 it had become Geology, a natural stone […]

Designer Clearance Store

Designer Clearance Store, 19 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Yes, I expect they’ve got some top designer brands here. Are those guano heaps on the windowsill?

Adfa Ventures Limited

Adfa Ventures Limited, 446 New Cross Road, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Mmmm, their hi-tech sign is really giving me confidence. Now replaced by a solicitor, however.

John Kimpton & Co

John Kimpton & Co Insurance Services, 85 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Recalling the heady days when anyone could get a mortgage. Now a curtain shop.

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, […]

Café – Restaurant

Café – Restaurant, 187 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Boasts ridiculously tiny accent on Café. Astonishingly, this still looked exactly the same (minus flags) in […]

E. Barclay FSMC FACLP Optician

E. Barclay FSMC FACLP Optician, 158 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 and 2010 • Magnificent old optician’s sign, later with name half-obliterated as below.

G. Hill

G. Hill, 405 Evelyn Street, Deptford, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Nice lettering, I wonder what it sold? Now demolished.

The Deptford Cod Father’s, The Egg Shop

The Deptford Cod Father’s & The Egg Shop, 47 & 49 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • A popular punning fish shop name, next door to an equally […]

House Wives Cash & Carry

House Wives Cash & Carry, 101-103 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Elegiac in the Benny Hill sense: should say “Cash & Carry-on”. Still carrying on, […]

Heel Bar

Heel Bar, 73 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • A proudly upbeat old acrylic sign, still there in 2012, along with cheerful shutter mural.

Blessing & Success Fashions, Fleet Systems MOT, Island Buka

Blessing & Success Fashions, Fleet Systems MOT, Island Buka, 25 […]

Chemist.

Chemist. NHS Prescriptions Dispenced, 165 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • A classic: generic name, random full stop, spelling issues, misplaced security fears. Became Hair by […]