Street’s Ironmongers

13 East Street, Havant, Hampshire, 2017 • Always sad to see a long-serving local hardware shop shut down – this had obviously been defunct for a while. The bottom shot […]

Ernest Larner

Ernest Larner & Son Ltd, 117 Falcon Road, Battersea, Borough of Wandsworth, London SW11, 2002 • Got more run down, then was taken over by funeral group Dignity. They kept […]

S.&V. Knitwear, L. London & Sons

S.&V. Knitwear, L. London & Sons, Alie Street, Shoreditch, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2004 • Beautiful art deco-looking ghost clock on a derelict knitwear factory, which has since […]

Hexham Old Bus Station

Hexham Old Bus Station, Priestpopple, Hexham, Northumberland, 2016 • Charming but doomed little art deco bus stand at the centre of an old-fashioned parade in the wonderfully named Priestpopple. There’s now […]

Trim Time Barber Shop

Trim Time Barber Shop, 6 Northampton Street, Leicester LE1, 2016 • Best barber’s clock ever! And kicking off a series of photos from the very interesting city of Leicester (since […]

Ex Singer & Singer

Ex Singer & Singer, Fairfax House, Fairfax Place, Dartmouth, Devon, 2013 • Now for some notable nameless shops. The integrated clock in this grand empty unit suggests it may once have […]

Ju-Ju’s Gift Shop

Ju-Ju’s Gift Shop, West Kiosk, Brighton Road, Worthing, West Sussex, 2003 • Also called Ju-Ju’s Coconut Cabin. Probably named after someone called Julia, rather than the Nigerian faith. It became Coast Cafe […]

John Chawner

John Chawner, 36 Station Approach, Birchington-on-Sea, Kent, 2006 • Essence of sleepy southeast summer afternoon, featuring a clock mender whose own clock has simply given up. Google shows the shop as still […]

Lowestoft Army & Navy Stores

Lowestoft Army & Navy Stores, 183 London Road North, Lowestoft, Suffolk, 2007 • Lowestoft’s one of those places where practically every shop belongs on this blog. In 2007 this cloudy old clock […]

Works for You! clock

Works for You! clock (ex People Works), 8 Poole Hill, Bournemouth, Dorset, 2004 • Bleak commentary on South Coast unemployment, or desecration of fine old clock? Both, probably. I don’t think […]

Marks & Spencer clock (St Albans)

Marks & Spencer clock, 21 St Peter’s Street, St Albans, Hertfordshire, 2010 • Pigeon-punishing old M&S clock on matching marbled mid-century building.

Rayner Opticians clock

Rayner Opticians clock, above 57 New King’s Road, Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London SW6, 2003 • Decaying timepiece still there, now above Harvey Jones Kitchens.

Chelsea Building Society clock

Chelsea Building Society clock, 7 Ashley Road, Epsom, Surrey, 2002 • Groovy swingin’ 70s-style timepiece. I wish I’d photographed the whole frontage, the Chelsea’s still around but the logo’s changed, and […]

Georges & Co. clock

Georges & Co. clock, 88-90 Hatton Garden, Borough of Camden, London EC1, 2004 • I got hassled by security guards while snapping this in Hatton Garden, London’s diamond district. It’s […]

H. Samuel Everite Time clock (Cardiff)

H. Samuel Everite Time clock, Central Market, St Mary Street, Cardiff, Wales, 2012 • Now that’s what I call a clock, albeit handless and ‘everwrong’. It’s pictured earlier with hands here, […]

H. Samuel clock (Oxford Street)

H. Samuel clock, Unit 4, 167 Oxford Street, City of Westminster, London W1, 2002 • A stylish ‘golden eye’ clock that I thought looked too good to last, and I was right […]

H+C clock

H+C clock, 159-173 St John Street, Clerkenwell, Borough of Islington, London EC1, 2007 • And another 1950s-style Clerkenwell clock, advertising lift manufacturers Hammond & Champness, who inhabited this building until at least […]

EuroSensor clock

EuroSensor clock, 20-24 Kirby Street, Borough of Camden, London EC1, 2004 • Another period gem from Clerkenwell: EuroSensor was a big technical firm that occupied the building in the area’s pre-gentrification days. Threatened […]

Nameless wall clock

Nameless wall clock, side of 85 Clerkenwell Road, Borough of Camden, London EC1, 2011 • For decades this giant octagonal clock rusted away high above Clerkenwell, but now it’s been […]

The Hallamshire Coal Supplies Ltd clock

The Hallamshire Coal Supplies Ltd clock, Victoria Quay, Wharf Street, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, 2010 • Random old clock still adjoined to a renovated warehouse.

Herbert Brown clock

Herbert Brown clock, 24 Corn Market, Derby, Derbyshire, 2010 • Those are stickers on the clock, with probably nicer writing beneath. Despite the ominous hoardings – whose sign suggests there are keys and […]

Hennessey’s Bar

Hennessey’s Bar, 123 Digbeth High Street, Birmingham, 2005 • Guinness Time stopped here when the whole block got demolished circa 2010 – there’s an article about the redevelopment here. The splendid Irish gent (bottom) was a Hennessey’s regular, and […]

A.J. Mountstephen Late Truscott

A.J. Mountstephen Late Truscott, County House, New Street, Sidmouth, Devon, 2013 • That’s quite a mouthful of a monicker. Nice that they’ve kept this old sign (possibly dating from the founding […]

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

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

The Edinburgh Woollen Mill (Oswestry)

The Edinburgh Woollen Mill, 12 Cross Street, Oswestry, Shropshire, 2014 • A market hall by Thomas Penson, built in 1842 (more info here) and demolished in the 1960s except for this […]

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.

Knight & Willson Ltd.

Knight & Willson Ltd., 127-129 Water Lane, Leeds, West Yorkshire, 2014 • Another built-in clock, this time on an immense derelict printing works – no doubt an urban explorer’s delight – in a canal-side industrial area […]

Wine & Co.

Wine & Co., 20-22 Bridge End, Leeds, West Yorkshire, 2014 • Accountant with built-in timer – useful!

Marks & Spencer (Leeds)

Marks & Spencer, 49 Briggate, Leeds, West Yorkshire, 2014 • Having expanded somewhat from yesterday’s stall, M&S now resides in this rather austere black marble art deco edifice – there’s a […]

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 […]

Sons of Temperance Friendly Society

Sons of Temperance Friendly Society, 176-177 Blackfriars Road, Borough of Southwark, London SE1, 2014 • Former HQ of a 19th-century financial co-operative for teetotallers, now being wound down; they sold the […]

H. Stain Ltd

H. Stain Ltd, 207 Victoria Street, City of Westminster, London SW1, 2004 • What a pity marble shopfronts like this went out of fashion; happily this magnificent 1960s-style jewellers lives on still, just […]

Joplings

Joplings, John Street, Sunderland, 2013 • Established in 1804 and rebuilt many times over its two centuries on this site, this long-lived department store closed for good in 2010. Known as […]

Lady Godiva News

Lady Godiva News Devlins, 26 Broadgate, Coventry, West Midlands, 2013 • The equally weird twin of yesterday’s Peeping Tom newsagent; they’re situated either side of Coventry’s “famous” Lady Godiva clock, hence […]

Ex-Co-op

Ex-Co-op, 32-38 Jameson Street, Kingston upon Hull, 2013 • Built 1957-63 to designs by the central Co-operative Architect’s Dept under G.S. Hay in Manchester, this is the other half of yesterday’s […]

Wakefields Jewellers

Wakefields Jewellers, 11 West Street, Horsham, West Sussex, 2003 • This art deco frontage must have been an early “update” for Wakefields, established in 1911. It’s still there – jewellers seem […]

Kents Chemists

Kents Chemists, 104 Walton Road, East Molesey, Surrey, 2002 • Hard to believe such a beautiful “chymist” exists in unassuming suburban Surrey. Both it and the building it’s in were established […]

Textra Furnishing Fabrics

Textra Furnishing Fabrics clock, Cleary House, 15-16 Newman Street, City of Westminster, London W1, 2004 • Art deco ghost-clock reminder of a long-gone shop in the dwindling rag trade area of […]

Ex-Franklin Barnes

Ex-Franklin Barnes, 12 Bridge Street, Hereford, Herefordshire, 2008 • 1930s “streamline moderne” facade that looks like an ex-cinema, but was originally Franklin Barnes & Co Ltd, a farm and garden supplies emporium. […]

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 – […]

A. Smith

A. Smith, 122 Southwark Bridge Road, Borough of Southwark, London SE1, 2001 • Venerable funeral parlour demolished circa 2007 and replaced with flats and offices; this corner is unrecognisable now.

J.B. Shakespeare Ltd

J.B. Shakespeare Ltd, 67 George Street, East Croydon, Borough of Croydon, London CR0, 2010 • Another funeral parlour with a Dickensian (if not Shakespearean) name, established in 1877.

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, […]

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.

J. Blundell & Sons

J. Blundell & Sons, 199 Wardour Street, City of Westminster, London W1, 2002 • After over 150 years in Soho, moved to Hatton Garden in 2003, with a similar but […]