C&S Builders Merchants

C&S Builders Merchants, 15-17 Leytonstone Road, Stratford, Borough of Newham, London E15, 2006 • Great mix of fancy fonts and trad sign painting here. Last spotted in 2012 and by […]

Jim’ll Mix It

Jim’ll Mix It, Unit 1, Lusty Industrial Estate, Empson Street, Bromley-by-Bow, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E3, 2012 • Unfortunate Jimmy Savile-inspired name, not helped by being based on the Lusty […]

HH Muckers, Lordship Windows

HH Muckers, Lordship Windows, c.481 Seven Sisters Road, Borough of Haringey, London N15, 2016 • HH Muckers – what a great name! Albeit partly obscured in what looks like a […]

Work Partnership (Temperance Hotel)

Work Partnership (former Temperance Hotel), 125 Granby Street, Leicester LE1, 2016 • Prosaic palimpsest in a derelict 1853 portal that once led to the empire of travel agency pioneer Thomas Cook, who started […]

Engineers Builders Merchants Ironfounders

Engineers Builders Merchants Ironfounders, Station Street, Brighton, West Sussex, 2004 and 2014 • Boarded up when I visited in 2004 and 2014, but with the beautiful tiled typography still intact. […]

L. Lambert

L. Lambert, 23-25 Hoxton Street, Borough of Hackney, London N1, 2002 (top), 2011 (bottom) • Ex-timber merchant with ‘JFB 1892’ etched into the concrete brackets. By 2002 it was closed down, […]

Building Supplies Ltd

Building Supplies Ltd, 49-51 High Street, Leatherhead, Surrey, 2003 • Classic fleapit-era tiled retail unit sold for redevelopment around 2015. You can see it still open in 2014 here.

Robert I. Perry

Robert I. Perry, 66 Croydon Road, Caterham, Surrey CR3, 2001 • Why do closed-down shops always seem to have scary circus posters in the window? Despite the planning notice, this […]

Carem Plumbing & Heating Supplies

Carem Plumbing & Heating Supplies, 177 Trafalgar Road, Borough of Greenwich, London SE10, 2002 • Old-school plumbing signs with interesting USP. Still there, very faded.

Handy Supply Co

Handy Supply Co, 41 Herbert Road, Borough of Greenwich, London SE18, 2004 • DIY type for a DIY store. It’s now, blub, a Peri Peri Grill.

James Dean Ltd

James Dean Ltd, 119 Dulwich Road, Borough of Lambeth, London SE24, 2001 • And you thought he died in a car crash. The shop’s still there, should you want an autograph.

B&Q (Whetstone)

B&Q (Whetstone), 1201 High Road, Whetstone, Borough of Barnet, London N20, 2011 • Matching berries and sign, nice! They’ve since cut back the bush, the fools.

Hand Car Wash (Bow Road)

Hand Car Wash, Corner Bow Road & Arnold Road, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E3, 2007 • Oops, back-to-front N alert. I had a Ferodo bridge behind me, I should […]

Romanys

Romanys, 51 Brewer Street, City of Westminster, London W1, 2014 • Example of a useful old Soho shop that’s still there, a rapidly diminishing group. I included the bloke because […]

Mercury Discount, Cambridge Heath Appliances

Mercury Discount, Cambridge Heath Appliances, 274-278 Cambridge Heath Road, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E2, 2002 (top two) & 2006 • Beautiful signwiting, caught on its way out. Now a […]

Thomas Brothers

Thomas Brothers, 798-804 Holloway Road, Archway, Borough of Islington, London N19, 2003 and 2014 (bottom image) • Enormous and long-standing corner builders’ merchant with great 3D plastic lettering that just […]

H.C. Atkinson Builders Merchant.

H.C. Atkinson Builders Merchant., 2-28 The Calls, Leeds, West Yorkshire, 2014 • Another name cast in stone, on an old warehouse that’s on sale for development.

Frank Childs & Son Ltd

Frank Childs & Son Ltd, 13 Listley Street, Bridgnorth, Shropshire, 2014 • No-nonsense hardware shop with understated window display. Back in the mists of time, I daresay that escutcheon above the […]

Abacus Hardware

Abacus Hardware, 215 Streatham High Road, Borough of Lambeth, London SW16, 2002 • I don’t think it actually sold abacuses, though it looks like it might have done. Long gone, it […]

Euro Screws Limited, Colourbox

Euro Screws Limited, Colourbox, 16 Whitchurch Lane, Edgware, Borough of Barnet, London HA8, 2004 • Yet another top screw-based emporium, with classic acrylic sign – and it’s still there, complete with […]

Clerkenwell Screws

Clerkenwell Screws, 109 Clerkenwell Rd, Borough of Camden, London EC1, 2004 • Another esteemed purveyor of screws, unchanged to this day (including the scrubbed-out lettering).

Campbells

Campbells, 513 Battersea Park Road, Borough of Wandsworth, London SW11, 2002 • Gotta love a logo made out of nuts and screws – and happily, it’s still there.

James Phelps Ltd.

James Phelps Ltd., 26 Goodge Place, Borough of Camden, London W1, 2005 • Another place I used to work at in the early 1990s (well, in a bunker-like office tucked away […]

Bespoke Windows

Bespoke Windows, Great Suffolk Street (sign for 70 Ewer Street), Borough of Southwark, London SE1, 2002 • Nice take on the then-new Tate Modern. The area’s got too posh for light […]

C.E. Pound

C.E. Pound, 162 Trafalgar Road, Borough of Greenwich, London SE10, 2002 • This art deco-ish beauty may still lurk beneath current incumbent Mr Chung’s equally large sign.

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.

Hammerton Plumbing Fittings

Hammerton Plumbing Fittings, 159 Stoke Newington Road, Hackney, London N16, 2002 • Beautiful old shop now unrecognisable – though still yellow – as Safak Florist.