B&B Project Space
B&B Project Space, 14 Tontine Street, Folkestone, Kent, 2017 • Curious little gallery with barely-visible Profil font logo. Presumably named after the possibly defunct B&B sign on the side door.
E. Maund & Sons
E. Maund & Sons, 78-84 High Street, Wem, Shropshire, 2018 • Superb old-style garage with a modernist petrol awning outside, and a classic car inside.
Dallas
Dallas, 52 Battersea Park Road, Battersea, Borough of Wandsworth, LondonSW11, 2002 • Blue walker.
Chatsworth Tyre Service
Chatsworth Tyre Service, 114 Chatsworth Road, Clapton, Borough of Hackney, London E5, 2011 • Evocative signage on a garage shuttered in 2010 after 50 years of trading. I seem to […]
Govan Discount 2 Superstore
Govan Discount 2, 1014 Govan Road, Govan, Glasgow G51, Scotland, 2010 • I wonder what Govan Discount 1 Superstore is like? This branch is next door to yesterday’s Chung’s, and still looks […]
City Music
City Music, Arch 15, Queensway Arches, Livery Street, Birmingham B3, 2013 • Blue Monday featuring nice, albeit 1980s (ish) windows.
Repos
Repos, arch next to 26a Oxford Street, Digbeth, Birmingham B5, 2014 • Fragment of beautiful signwriting revealed on palimpsest gate under imposing railway viaduct.
Olympic Private Hire
Olympic Private Hire, 153 Kingston Road, Borough of Merton, London SW19, 2010 • The kind of business that Uber is now seeing off. By 2015 it was a closed-down florist.
Chelsea Funeral Directors
Chelsea Funeral Directors, 91 Rochester Row, City of Westminster, London SW1, 2013 • I hesitate to call an undertaker’s cute, but this one is.
Chelsea Methodist Church
Chelsea Methodist Church, 155a Kings Road, Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London SW3, 2003 • The only church with an entrance on Kings Road, and an attractive one it is. The […]
Broadway Electronics
Broadway Electronics, 32 Broadway Market, Borough of Hackney, London E8, 2003 • I photographed this long before Broadway Market’s shutters got the Eine treatment. In this post-videotape era it’s been reborn as Buggies & Bikes, […]
Your Local Drink Store
Your Local Drink Store, 371 Norwood Road, Borough of Lambeth, London SE27, 2002 • I always like a generically-titled shop. Recalling Father Jack out of Father Ted, the little bottle […]
To Let
To Let, Arch 485, King John Court, Shoreditch, Borough of Hackney, London EC2, 2004 • Another relic from the demolished viaduct featured yesterday – I assume this was a short let. There […]
D. McKay
D. McKay, 19a Harrington Road, South Kensington, Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London SW7, 2005 • Jewel box of a fruiterer in London’s “French” quarter. Still there 2012, not sure […]
New Experience
New Experience, 275 Eversholt Street, Borough of Camden, London NW1, 2003 • Probably quite an old experience. Now called Experience Massage (To Let), in what is still quite a run-down […]
Art Worx Art Sale
Art Worx Art Sale, Baptist Sunday School, Westbourne Baptist Church, North Street, Emsworth, Hampshire, 2003 • Village art sale in a nice old hall. A far cry from White Cube. […]
La Galerie Claude Sagny
La Galerie Claude Sagny, 47 Kingston Road, Borough of Merton, London SW19, 2010 • That’s enough “new old” galleries, now for some “old old” ones. This retro frontage was later […]
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.
Eric’s (Emm’s)
Eric’s (Emm’s), 107 Leppings Lane, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, 2010 • Strange mixture of old and new(ish) near Sheffield Wednesday’s football ground. Google street view shows a bunch of people sitting outside.
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.
Criterion Restaurant
Criterion Restaurant, 129 Peckham High Street, Borough of Southwark, London SE15, 2010 • No T outside, but plenty within, for this handsomely shabby caff with a fine old-fashioned name.
Rampdale Insurance Brokers Ltd
Rampdale Insurance Brokers Ltd, 127 High Road, Finchley, Borough of Barnet, London N2, 2003 • More wonky perspex vehicles. The firm’s no longer there – it looks like they moved to Hatfield.
Morris Lubricants
Morris Lubricants, circa 68 Castle Foregate, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, 2014 • Beautiful Victorian HQ for this long-lived business, founded in 1869 and still speeding the plough (there’s a history on their website […]
Panay Fashions
Panay Fashions, 9 Marine Gardens, Margate, Kent, 2014 • Somewhat less romantic than the last two Margate fashion emporia, but I like the 1970s lettering, and the way the door window […]
Wavy Line (Woolwich)
Wavy Line, 46 Woolwich Road, Borough of Greenwich, London SE10, 2002 • Evocative holdout from the era before Costcutter and the like. Still vacant in 2012, with nice tiling intact but […]
Valerie
Valerie, 85 Ealing Road, Brentford, Borough of Hounslow, London TW8, 2014 • Redolent of an Ealing film set, a classic net-curtained coiffeuse with bonus carriage arch.
Merton Cafe
Merton Cafe, 114 Merton High Street, Borough of Merton, London SW19, 2010 • Merton’s proudly self-titled cafe and its nice curly Davida font has now given way to the startlingly-named Monkeys […]
London Laundry
London Laundry, 120 Upper Spon Street, Coventry, West Midlands, 2013 • Part of Black Swan Terrace, a row of historic cottages that was derelict in the 1990s, and now restored to […]
Fancy Dress @ Party! Party!
Fancy Dress @ Party! Party!, 225-227 Mansfield Road, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, 2011 • Not much party cheer here – ambitious punctuation and nice tiles weren’t enough to save it. Still closed in […]
Brodie & Middleton Ltd., Russell & Chapple Ltd.
Brodie & Middleton Ltd., Russell & Chapple Ltd., 68 Drury […]
KJ’s Cafe
KJ’s Cafe, 2 Tarring Road, Worthing, West Sussex, 2003 • Classic railway cafe-hut next to West Worthing station in what remains an old-fashioned area. Now the netless and less scrumptious Scrumptious […]
South London Photo Services
South London Photo Services, 551 Battersea Park Road, Borough of Wandsworth, London SW11, 2002 • Dawn of the digicam era, beginning of the end for traditional camera shops. By 2012 this […]
S. Tray Ironmonger
S. Tray Ironmonger, 249 Mitcham Lane, Borough of Wandsworth, London SW16, 2001 • Traditional ironmongers with traditional name, now long gone (it became half of Spa – note, not Spar – […]
Abcat Cine Club
Abcat Cine Club, 72 Caledonian Road, Kings Cross, Borough of Islington, London N1, 2003 & 2010 • Still extant “adult” venue from decreasingly seedy Kings Cross: note net curtain update between […]
James Gubb
James Gubb, 85 Leather Lane, Borough of Camden, London EC1, 2011 • Superb old-fashioned butcher with superb old-fashioned name, still going strong.
Bob’s Shoe Repairs
Bob’s Shoe Repairs, 171 Blackfriars Road, Borough of Southwark, London SE1, 2001 • Classic if wonky signwriting. Now a dry cleaner in a block due to be demolished.
The Lock Centre
The Lock Centre, 8 High Street, Bognor Regis, West Sussex, 2003 • Still there, but with beige walls and bland typography replacing this rich old-school signpainting.
R.T. Display Systems Ltd
R.T. Display Systems Ltd, 212 New Kings Road, Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, London SW6, 2001 • Here’s more slab-serif signage. Now gone, as this became a yellow-and-white trade centre.
Costa’s Barbers.
Costa’s Barbers., 165 Battersea High Street, Borough of Wandsworth, London SW11, 2002 • Infinitely preferable to a Costa coffee shop, this appeared to be undergoing refurbishment in 2012.
Café (Redchurch Street)
Café, 36 Redchurch Street, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E2, 2006 • Pepsi cafes are a dying breed. This became Chaat Bangladeshi Kitchen.
F.J. Meadows Ltd
F.J. Meadows Ltd, 14 Greenford Road, Sutton, Surrey, 2002 • Phone Vigilant 5350 no more – by 2012 this was boarded up and for sale.
Johnson & Jones Speaker Repair Specialists
Johnson & Jones Speaker Repair Specialists, 11 Balls Pond Road, […]
Carmelli Bagel Bakery
Carmelli Bagel Bakery, 126-128 Golders Green Road, Borough of Barnet, London NW11, 2003 • Double-fronted Jewish bakery still going strong. Est 1987, though the style looks looks older.
Alan R Long
Alan R Long, 19 High Street, Whitstable, Kent, 2002 • Traditional butcher’s which is still there. Looks like they take the red-and-white awning in every night.
Shopfront Elegy 