Taylors Cleaners

Taylors Cleaners, 68 Herbert Road, Borough of Greenwich, London SE18, 2004 • Interesting use of a 5-dot ellipsis. Now called Tailors & Cleaners, in a still-interesting road.

Taste of China

Taste of China, 53 Hackney Road, Borough of Hackney, London EC2, 2006 • Randomly spaced script for an old school Chinese takeaway. Amazingly it was still there in 2018 and […]

Happy Valley

Happy Valley, 209 High Street, Herne Bay, Kent, 2006 • Seals in chef’s caps and Olde English lettering advertising a trad chippie with a Chinese restaurant name – talk about […]

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.

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.

Dry Cleaning by Mister Sam

Dry Cleaning by Mister Sam, 516 Holloway Road, Borough of Islington, London N7, 2016 • Fantastically old school cleaner’s sign, which still appears to be there. (Although I bet Mister […]

Mr. Snob (Sutton)

Mr. Snob (Sutton), 224 High Street, Sutton, Surrey, 2002 • This branch has now gone, but there’s still one in Banstead, which I featured here. According to their website, the […]

Mr Chippy Restaurant Griddle Bar

Mr Chippy Restaurant Griddle Bar, Falmouth or Truro, Cornwall, circa 1981 • Beautiful Vitrolite frontage photographed on long-ago family holiday. It was probably either in Truro or Falmouth, but no […]

Top Quality Fish & Hamburger Bar

Top Quality Fish & Hamburger Bar, c.1 Decima Street, Borough of Southwark, London SE1, 2002 • Upper crust bubbling fish logo and multi-arrowed wall sign, now totally gone. By 2012 […]

Wright’s Bar

Wright’s Bar, 5 Houghton Street, City of Westminster, London WC2, 2005 & 2015 • Classic 1960s-looking logo and finger sign, next to the London School of Economics. It’s shown below […]

Dino’s Ristorante

Dino’s Ristorante, 117 Gloucester Road, Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London SW7, 2005 • Apparently the novelist Iris Murdoch used to dine here (Iris Murdoch as I Knew Her, A.N. […]

Dino’s Restaurant

Dino’s Restaurant, 1-3 Pelham Street, Borough od Kensington and Chelsea, London SW7, 2005 • Huge Italian caff that featured in the movie Repulsion. It used to dominate South Kensington, and […]

The Proud Potato

The Proud Potato, 182 Middlewood Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, 2010 • 1970s-looking happy tattie, though it’s probably much more recent. Google shows it still there in 2016, the most recent […]

Silver Sea House

Silver Sea House, 62 Exeter Road, Exmouth, Devon, 2009 • Lovely name and sign on frontage obscured by red van (possibly owned by bloke waiting inside). It was unchanged by […]

The Brothers Fish Bar

The Brothers Fish Bar, 4 Tramway Avenue, Stratford, Borough of Newham, London E15, 2006 • Fence above, rug in front, and helpful sign round corner. By 2017 it was called […]

Khyber Pass (Walton-on-Thames)

Khyber Pass, 54 Terrace Road, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, 2002 • Established 1983 and still around. By 2017 it had lost its green tent and 3D logo, but gained five stars on Tripadvisor.

Khyber Pass (Dorking)

Khyber Pass, 304 High Street, Dorking, Surrey, 2002 • Old school name, represented in plastic. By 2017 it was still mountainous as Sunshine Peak Caribbean Restaurant.

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 […]

Sidolis Buttery

Sidolis Buttery, 21 Store Street, City of Westminster, London WC1, 2002 • ‘Buttery’, that’s a cafe synonym you don’t often see. Classic Cafes says it was later renamed Lino’s, which […]

Suede Services

Suede Services, 18 Hoop Lane, Golders Green, Borough of Barnet, London NW11, 2003 • 3D orange slab serif lettering – who could ask for more? It’s on the shop’s tiny […]

Post Office (Ashbourne Parade)

Post Office (Ashbourne Parade), 4 Ashbourne Parade, Borough of Ealing, London W5, 2006 • Randomly-branded postie with 1960s-looking logo in Franklin Gothic. Amazingly it’s still a post office, in the […]

Happy Swan

Happy Swan, 39 Chipstead Valley Road, Coulsdon, Borough of Croydon, London, 2001 • Classic plastic sign and festive plant hierarchy in window. Still exactly the same in 2017 (minus Christmas […]

Invisible Menders of Knightsbridge

Invisible Menders of Knightsbridge, 161 Gloucester Road, Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, London SW7, 2015 • Mosaic madness in poshville. Not sure what’s going on inside, but it’s still a […]

Star Furnishing

Star Furnishing, 165-175 Stoke Newington Road, Borough of Hackney, London N16, 2002 • Mid-century signage on a vast furniture emporium that wouldn’t quite fit in my 2002 digital camera’s lens. […]

Triplesave (Chemist) Ltd

Triplesave (Chemist) Ltd, 8 MacDonald Road, Walthamstow, Borough of Waltham Forest, London E17, 2004 • Classic plastic sign for drugs.

Coin Wash

Coin Wash, 195 East Street, Walworth, Borough of Southwark, London SE17, 2002 • Launderette with speed queens – wow. Now called Sussan Coin Wash, with plastic sign gone.

Khubsoorat

Khubsoorat, 540 North Circular Road, Neasden, Borough of Brent, London NW10, 2016 • Bollywood name in a Hollywood font. There’s a famous 1980 Bollywood film called Khubsoorat  – in which […]

Ambassador Bakery

Ambassador Bakery, 376 Neasden Lane North, Neasden, Borough of Brent, London NW10, 2016 • Cheerful Romanian bakery in a ruinous surround.

W.J. Armstrong Ltd

W.J. Armstrong Ltd, 12 London Road, East Grinstead, West Sussex, 2004 • Classic Sandeman sign – port one side, sherry the other – featuring its famous fedora and cloak-clad ‘Don’ […]

Jim’s Cafe

Jim’s Cafe, 59 Chatsworth Road, Clapton, Borough of Hackney, London E5, 2011 • Italian cafe from the 1960s that once housed an ice cream factory, and closed circa 2008 when the […]

JJ Williams

JJ Williams, 168 Kings Road, Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London SW3, 2003 • Impressively large 3D zipper sign. The shop is still there and amazingly has the same lettering, but the zipper […]

Suit Yourself

Suit Yourself, 24 Belvoir Street, Leicester LE1, 2016 • Family firm in operation for around 40 years. Their modern website has a completely different logo, so maybe this old-school 3D plastic extravaganza is […]

Percy Harrison

Percy Harrison, 117 Elm Grove, Southsea, City of Portsmouth, 2016 • 1950s-style optician that looks too perfect to be real, but it is. I though it was closing down, but […]

Ying Ho, London Shoe Rebuilder J. Poole

Ying Ho, London Shoe Rebuilder J. Poole, 232 Upper Richmond Road, Putney, Borough of Wandsworth, London SW15, 1981 • Now for a few really ancient shots I took from a bus […]

Sew Fantastic!, Tintype

Sew Fantastic!, Tintype, 107 Essex Road, Islington, Borough of Islington, London N1, 2012 and 2016 • Grubby but grand Sew Fantastic (top pic) is now scrubbed clean as Tintype art gallery (second pic). The punters […]

Broadway Hair Stylist

Broadway Hair Stylist, 344 Muswell Hill Broadway, Muswell Hill, Borough of Haringey, London N10, 2016 • A proper early 1960s hair stylist’s fascia, complete with modernist mosaic – very rare these days. […]

Gray and Lowe

Gray and Lowe, 91 Uxbridge Road, Shepherd’s Bush, Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, London W12, 2016 • Amazing giant sign with random letter spacing. Their “blog-site” says they’ve been going […]

Stuarts

Stuarts, 75 High Street Whitstable, Kent, 2002 (top) and 85 High Street, Herne Bay, Kent 2004 (bottom) • Flowery plastic branding carried all the way through their decor. The Whitstable branch […]

Grants

Grants, 32 Earlsdon Sreet, Coventry, Warwickshire, 2013 • Minimalistic plastic elegance for this 1960s-style hairdressing facade, still there in 2015.

Grant’s Fish Bar

Grant’s Fish Bar, 14 Upper High Street, Epsom, Surrey, 2002 • Notable for its mutant fish illustration. By 2015 it was chicken joint Maxy Express.

Collins & Jervie

Collins & Jervie, 32 Sycamore Road, Amersham, Buckinghamshire • There are some interesting modernist houses around Amersham so I hoped it would be a trove of old shop signs. But […]

Fenhams

Fenhams, 119 and 11c Grainger Market, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2005 • Beautiful 1960s sign for this electonics stall – not sure if it’s there any more.

John Turnbull

John Turnbull, 483 Anlaby Road, Kingston upon Hull, 2005 • Bullish old newsie with eponymous plastic illustration, seen from bus. Later became Babylon Supermarket.

Biman

Biman, 49 Counduit Street, City of Westminster, London W1, 2016 • A Mayfair airline office that’s still there, with classic 1960s-style sign – they’ve even got the regulation model plane.

Olympic Airways

Olympic Airways, 11 Conduit Street, City of Westminster, London W1, 2015 • Current state of a once-proud airline office, with classic plastic logo. Here it is open in 2008. There used to […]

Englishman’s Castle

Englishman’s Castle, 9-17 Church Street, Leatherhead, Surrey, 2003 • Purveyor of Surrey-style furnishings for over 50 years, and still there, albeit with updated logo.  There’s a vid of the interior […]

Alan’s Fruiterers

Alan’s Fruiterers, 9 South Street, Hull, 2013 • Immense and striking faux fruit machine frontage in Hull, famed (sort of) for its now-artsy fruit market district.

Donor Kebab House

Donor Kebab House, 36 Berry Street, Liverpool L1, 2003 • There’s something rather delicate about this sign, it looks more like a knitting shop. Now, I think, Hot Chillis halal […]

Tutill-Nicol Ltd Jordan Woodrows

Tutill-Nicol Ltd Jordan Woodrows, 1 Richmond Street, Liverpool L1, 2003 • Traditional stationers closed in 2009 after 130 years due to a massive rent increase (article here). Inside, it had […]

Antiques

Antiques, 130 Bold Street, Liverpool L1, 2003 (top) and 2014 • Ah, groovy Davida font. Amazing how much of central Liverpool is still derelict, this was the same in 2003 and […]

Open

Open, 48-56 Church Street, Liverpool L1, 2003 • Tiny Elvis impersonator in front of grand clothes shop building, now a Primark.

Olan Mills

Olan Mills, 18 Lord Street, Liverpool L2, 2003 • That’s Olan, not Alan on the vast old-school sign. Knocked down to make way for Liverpool One shopping quarter and is […]

Las Vegas Amusements

Las Vegas Amusements, 2-12 Bolton Street, Liverpool L3, 2003 • Glamorous neon signage (despite faded coins) on a utilitarian unit next to Lime Street Station. Now a minimart.

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.

Spencer’s Shoes

Spencer’s Shoes, 99 Peckham High Street, Peckham, Borough of Southwark, London SE15, 2010 • Wish I’d caught this 1960s throwback while it was still open. It’s now Bilex Money Transfer, and […]

More Blessing

More Blessing, 8 Cobb Street, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2004 • Interestingly, Moreblessing can be a person’s name in Africa – there’s a list of similar unusual names (eg […]

Nitters Needs

Nitters Needs, 36-38 Station Road, West Croydon, Borough of Croydon, London CR0, 2010 • Great name, with an even older sign peeping out behind it; the derelict shop still looked […]

Surrey Sports

Surrey Sports, 67 High Street, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, 2002 • I love this OTT discotastic font. The shop’s still there, but with much more boring logo.

Bishops Stores

Bishops Stores, 365 New King’s Road, Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, London SW6, 2001 • Nice bit of cheery acrylic signage, alongside newer coke-sponsored sign. Still there, complete with apostrophe […]

Blessed, Peter Thomson Solicitor

Blessed, Peter Thomson Solicitor, 203 Coldharbour Lane, Borough of Lambeth, London SW9 • Traditional Brixton, getting harder to find.

Rock Steady Eddies

Rock Steady Eddies, 2a Coldharbour Lane, Borough of Southwark, London SE5 • Longstanding Camberwell landmark, famed as the nearest cheap cafe to Maudsley ‘mental hospital’ (to use the 1980s term). Reviews could […]

Sheer Elégance

Sheer Elégance, 2b Norfolk House, Theatre Approach, Birmingham, 2005 • That’s a curtain she’s emerging from, though sadly the facade doesn’t match up to the sign’s promise. Later became Fly Girls hair […]

Nimbus Lighting

Nimbus Lighting, 144 High Sfreet, Rochester, Kent, 2015 • Discotastic logo.

10/10 Ten Out of Ten Barber

10/10 Ten Out of Ten Barber, 7 Bell Street, City of Westminster, London NW1, 2003 • Eleven out of ten for the brilliant name. It’s still called that, but with a […]

Elizabeths Restaurant

Elizabeths Restaurant, 30 Bridge Street, Sunderland, 2013 • Apostrophe-free diner that appears as traditional inside as out. That looks like the remnants of a shiny Brilliant-style Vitrolite facade under the […]

Zoom the Loom

Zoom the Loom, 165 High Street, Poole, Dorset, 2004 • I always like a traditional net curtain shop, and this one’s also blessed with an unusual name and sign. I’m […]

A.P. Welsh

A.P. Welsh, 71-73 Robertson Street, Glasgow, Scotland, 2008 • Not Wales, but Scotland: old shipping office housing a wide variety of businesses, with great signage.

Stitch & Sew

Stitch & Sew, 11 New Broadway, Tarrring Road, Worthing, West Sussex, 2003 • Beautiful old-lady shop, complete with flotilla of knitted ducklings in the window. The opening times sign on […]

Inglis and Roffey Opticians

Inglis and Roffey Opticians, 8 High Street, Crawley, West Sussex, 2002 • End days of a slightly funereal opticians. It got knocked down replaced by a big ugly block of […]

Lethers

Lethers, 56 Nutfield Road, Merstham, Surrey, 2002 • A saddlers and riding wear shop, though it’s hard to tell from the random window. Now Juniors family hair salon, with a horrible […]

Farley Electrical Co.

Farley Electrical Co., 18 Westway, Caterham, Surrey CR3, 2001 • Cheerful psychedelic sign with very 1970s-Surrey carriage lamps. Still there in 2014, but by 2016 it  – and the carriage lamps […]

I.S. Dry Cleaners The Clothes Care Solution

I.S. Dry Cleaners The CLothes Care Solution, 34 Totteridge Lane, Whetstone, Borough of Barnet, London N20, 2011 • More retro fontage from N20. Now Ryan Dry Cleaners, which looks the […]

Herbert’s Whetstone News

Herbert’s Whetstone News, 1452 High Road, Whetstone, Borough of Barnet, London N20, 2011 • That’s quite a font, Herbert! It still looks the same, unencumbered by Lycamobile ads and their ilk. 

Diamond Laundry

Diamond Laundry, 190 Finchley Road, Borough of Camden, London NW3, 2014 • It’s getting harder to find laundries in central London these days, especially ones named after precious stones.

Chris Ruocco Tailors

Chris Ruocco Tailors, 17 Fortess Road, Borough of Camden, London NW5, 2012 • In the 1980s they catered to the likes of Wham!, Bananarama and Spandau Ballet. There’s a painting of it […]

Broadway Gents Hair Stylist

Broadway Gents Hair Stylist, 54 Broadway Market, Borough of Hackney, London E8, 2006 & 2012 • Another Eine production, next door to yesterday’s Broadway Wines. The fantastic old barber shop is still there, but […]

Broadway Wines

Broadway Wines, 56 Broadway Market, Borough of Hackney, London E8, 2006 • Now for a few Broadways (the non-New York kind). Here’s a Y by Eine on a wine shop, […]

Mobile Shop N Go

Mobile Shop N Go, 215 Mile End Road, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2015 • Shop N Gone, more like – “Development site with consent”, says the sign.

Pound + Store

Pound + Store, 316 Neasden Lane, Borough of Brent, London NW10, 2014 • Extremely crammed pound emporium with enormous Edwardian-style font. Not sure if the “plus” is part of their name, […]

Chiplins

Chiplins, 18 Devonshire Road, Borough of Hounslow, London W4, 2002 • Oh no! The dancing dancing Charlie Chaplin chip has gone, ousted by the infinitely duller Oriental Brasserie.  

Supermarket Day By Day

Supermarket Day By Day, 224 Brixton Hill, Borough of Lambeth, London SW2, 2002 • Just a great old typeface. Later became hairdresser Asphair, with an equally wonky logo.

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 […]

Street Value

Street Value, 7 The Broadway, Crawley, West Sussex, 2002 • Art Nouveau cut price shop in 1960s new town. The round-cornered window and discotastic Arnold Bocklin font were later replaced, according […]

Paradise Cottage

Paradise Cottage, 477 Bethnal Green Road, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E2, 2005 • A colourful mixed metaphor in traditional plastic, complete with desert arch illustrations. By 2014 the shop was being […]

The Old Maids Pharmacy

The Old Maids Pharmacy, 321 Bethnal Green Road, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E2, 2005 • What a brilliant name. It’s still there, but with a newer, “posher” sign.

Same Day

Same Day, 19 Wyle Cop, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, 2014 • I have a soft spot for these 1960s-style wood-slat signboards. This jaunty example may look like a hipster pastiche, but it’s the […]

Muslin

Muslin, 256 Bethnal Green Road, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E2, 2005 • A very specific offering. Later became Sterling de Vere, a posh-looking letting agent (albeit still in a ruinous […]

Smokers World

Smokers World, 344 Bethnal Green Road, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E2, 2005 • Fags, mags and net curtains – interesting mix. It was still there in 2012, not sure […]

G.W. & A.E. Thomson Ltd (Navals Jewellers)

G.W. & A.E. Thomson Ltd (Navals Jewellers), 228 Kilburn High […]

Euro Sandwich Bar

Euro Sandwich Bar, 20a Swallow Street, City of Westminster, London W1, 2004 & 2014 (bottom) • Much lamented classic caff from the days before Swallow Street housed champagne bars. Bottom […]

M. Landaw

M. Landaw, 5 Eagle Place, City of Westminster, London SW1, 2003 & 2014 (bottom) • Stylish alleyway newsagent looking straight out of Vienna. Not only has it disappeared, the entire […]

Kosher King

Kosher King, 293 Hale Lane, Edgware, Borough of Barnet, London HA8, 2004 • What a magnificent sign! Sadly it’s now minus crown and called, rather randomly, KosherNet – I guess they sell […]

Kings Pharmacy

Kings Pharmacy, 104 Edgware Road, City of Westminster, London W2, 2003 • It’s nice when a regal name has a suitably noble sign. Judging by the dual crowns and lack of […]

Empress Coaches

Empress Coaches, 3 Corbridge Crescent, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E2, 2012 • Long-lived business on the banks of the Regent Canal, complete with vintage Derv pumps and exuberant foliage. Founded […]

Porky’s Pantry

Porky’s Pantry, 49 Chandos Place, City of Westminster, London WC2, 2003 • Nice lettering, shame about the scary pig paintings. Later on they changed the sign, but kept the horrible […]

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 […]

De Marco

De Marco, 37 Junction Road, Archway, Borough of Islington, London N19, 2003 • More superannuated Italy, in the eternally down-at-heel backwaters of Archway. It’s now estate agent Barstow Eves, so perhaps gentrification beckons.

New Piccadilly

New Piccadilly, 8 Denman Street, City of Westminster, London W1, 2003 • This Italian institution was so famous I thought plenty of other people would record it (and I was right […]

Rolando’s Patisserie

Rolando’s Patisserie, 33 Tavistock Place, Borough of Camden, London WC1, 2002 • Unrecognisable now, just a plain house – only the front door is the same.