Tasty House

Tasty House, Bland House, 18 Vauxhall Street, Borough of Lambeth, London SE11, 2017 • Tasty House in Bland House – wonder if it was a deliberate joke? Another minimal sign, […]

Café Central

Café Central, Quay Street, Bristol BS1, 2011, 2013, 2018 • Green-slate-tiled cafe at the base of a brutalist Bristol tower block. It later closed down, and the entire complex was […]

Enid’s Fish Bar

Enid’s Fish Bar, 181 North Street, Bristol BS3, 2017 • What a great name!

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.

Mr. Li’s

Mr. Li’s, 45-47 Springfield Road, Horsham, Surrey, 2003 • Intriguing hoarded and boarded upper windows (you can see a person’s arm through the open one). Still there, same curly-lettered sign, […]

Mr Wu

Mr Wu, 28 Wardour Street, City of Westminster, London W1, 2002, 2015, 2016 (top to bottom) • Ever-present fixture in Soho’s Chinatown – even the writing on their window been […]

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 […]

Birchington Ice Cream Parlour & Patisserie

Birchington Ice Cream Parlour & Patisserie, 11-13 Minnis Road, Birchington-on-Sea, […]

Victoria’s Tea Rooms & Restaurant

Victoria’s Tea Rooms & Restaurant, 11-13 Minnis Road, Birchington-on-Sea, Kent, 2006 • Lovely deco fan light doors and net curtain combo. This adjoined an equally retro ice cream parlour – I […]

Victoria Tandoori

Victoria Tandoori, 318 Vauxhall Bridge Road, City of Westminster, London SW1, 2004 • Grand yet gritty eaterie offering great signwriting and the “best curry in town”. By 2017 it was […]

Victorian Restaurant

Victorian Restaurant, 16a Great Western Arcade, Colmore Row, Birmingham B2, 2016 • Charming beaux arts frontage in one of Birmingham’s grand arcades.

Bob Carver’s

Bob Carver’s, Corporation Chambers, 9 Trinity House Lane, Hull HU1, 2017 • Famed Hull fish and chip emporium set in grand surroundings. The building is proudly titled Corporation Chambers – […]

Mick Darnalds

Mick Darnalds, Vauxhall Walk, Borough of Lambeth, London SW11, 2011 • Guess McDonald’s trademark enforcers never got this far.  

Lucky Fish Bar

Lucky Fish Bar, 338 Kennington Lane, Borough of Lambeth, London SE11, 2015 • Superb old school frontage and name. In 2017 it was updated, but is still very traditional looking […]

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 […]

Top Nosh, Scuola Guida Italiana

Top Nosh, Scuola Guida Italiana, 176, 178 Clerkenwell Road, Borough of Camcen, London EC1, 2004 • Ornate international mash-up in the Italian enclave of Clerkenwell. By 2015 Top Nosh had […]

Hot Munchies

Hot Munchies, 30 Southwark Street, Borough of Southwark, London SE1, 2004, 2011, 2016 • Cheekily named arch cafe amidst sea of dirty viaduct tiles. Still there in 2018, as all […]

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 […]

H’s Cafe

H’s Cafe, 82 Neptune Street, Borough of Southwark, London SE16, 2010 • Well-regarded backstreet greasy spoon with wonky hand made sign. Run by a bloke called H and his two […]

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 […]

Coronation Cafe

Coronation Cafe, 190 Coronation Road, Bristol BS3, 2011 & 2017 • Traditional caff that reinvented itself as a curry house – you can see it announcing the transformation in 2012 […]

Tanyas, Fish Bar

Tanyas, Fish Bar, 39b Barnes High Street, Borough of Richmond upon Thames, London SW13, 2006 • Rogue comma alert (and the letter spacing is pretty wonky too). By 2012 they […]

Belly Busters, Lord Byron

Belly Busters, Lord Byron, 20-22 Bridge Street East, Middlesbrough TS2, 2012 • Not two names you’d normally associate together, it is in fact Belly Busters cafe at the Lord Byron […]

Belly Busters Eating House

Belly Busters Eating House, 5 Central Avenue, West Molesey, Surrey, 2002 • Full-bodied name in full-bodied 1970s font. Still appeared to be there, and looking the same, in 2017. It gets […]

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 […]

Cafe, The Albatross Club

Cafe, The Albatross Club, c.15 Marina Arcade, Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, 2009 • Part of a superb Chinese gothic seaside complex. The cafe has since gone, The Albatross Club remains.

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 […]

Popular Cafe

Popular Cafe, 85 Lever Street, Borough of Islington, London EC1, 2013 • Once popular, here closed down and up for sale. It was soon back in business as before (repainted, […]

Matteo’s Sandwich Bar

Matteo’s Sandwich Bar, 32 Tottenham Street, Borough of Camden, London W1, 2005 • Urban legend had it that someone once found a sliced-off-fingertip in the coleslaw here. Part of the […]

Cafe Restaurant

Cafe Restaurant, 25 St Cross Street, Borough of Camden, London EC1, 2001 • Wonderful old Italian caff shot with dreadful old digital camera – both long gone. According to a […]

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 […]

Sandwiches Again

Sandwiches Again, 230 Battersea Park Road, Borough of Wandsworth, London SW11, 2002 • Colourful cafe with ornate tiled pilasters. By 2017 it was Caffetino cafe.

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.

Noodle King

Noodle King, 36 Deptford Broadway, Borough of Greenwich, London SE8, 2002 • Noodling along with nice sign writing. No longer there.

The China Chef

The China Chef, 108 London Road, East Grinstead, West Sussex, 2004 • Nice mix of vernaculars. By 2017 it was still a Chinese, called Tim Ley.  

Tung Hing

Tung Hing, 16 Tontine Street, Folkestone, Kent, 2017 • Melancholy old-school Chinese.  

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 […]

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Osnabruck Square, Albert Rd, Derby, Derbyshire, 2010 • Coffee kiosk established in 1960 and named, bizarrely, after an 19th Century anti-slavery novel. Still there, despite rumours in […]

Medcalf

Medcalf, 40 Exmouth Market, Borough of Islington, London N1, 2003 • Traditional butcher in the process of being turned into a trendy eaterie, which kept the name and signage. That […]

GMT Cafe

GMT Cafe, 38 Woolwich Road, Borough of Greenwich, London SE10, 2002 • Classic greasy spoon named after Greenwich Mean Time, which originates nearby. (Note also the naive cheery chef signboard, […]

Millennium Pizza

Millennium Pizza, 119 Woolwich Road, Borough of Greenwich, London SE10, 2002 • That jellyfish in its 2000 logo is in fact the nearby Millennium Dome (as the O2 was once […]

The Greenwich Millennium

The Greenwich Millennium, 44 Woolwich Road, Borough of Greenwich, London SE10, 2002 • A short-lived (and grubby) celebration of 2000, near Millennium Grill. The premises went on to have a […]

Millennium Charcoal Grill Kebabs

Millennium Charcoal Grill Kebabs, 30 Woolwich Road, Borough of Greenwich, London SE10, 2002 • Part of an entire row of Greenwich shops that named themselves after the 2000 millennium. Unusually, […]

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 […]

Ice Cream Kiosk

Ice Cream Kiosk, Promenade, Bognor Regis, West Sussex, 2003 • Ah, the sunny south coast seaside (not).

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 […]

Cyclone

Cyclone, 6-8 Whitchurch Lane, Edgware, Borough of Barnet, London HA8, 2004 • Not entirely convincing attempt at replicating a Greek temple. Later became a sports bar called Trilogy.

Dallas

Dallas, 52 Battersea Park Road, Battersea, Borough of Wandsworth, LondonSW11, 2002 • Blue walker.

Lahoree House

Lahoree House, Victoria House, 7 Wilton Road, Victoria, City of Westminster, London SW1, 2004 • Slice of grungy old London in a historic head-lined building outside Victoria Station, now undergoing […]

Flakes

Flakes Catering, 46 Tower Bridge Road, Bermondsey, Borough of Southwark, London SE1, 2002 • Old geezer meets trad signwriting. Later became a Labour party office.

Balti Raj

Balti Raj, 142 Balls Pond Road, Borough of Islington, London N1, 2002 • Ah, the colourful confusion of London. By 2016 was the trendier-sounding Rusty Bike Kitchen.

Fidan Kebab

Fidan Kebab, St George’s Circus, Borough of Southwark, London SE1, 2002 • That’s some fat kebab.

Concourse Burger Bar

Concourse Burger Bar, Concourse House, Lime Street, Liverpool L1, 2003 • Hand-drawn mixed messages on Scouse burger bar. The entire building was demolished to build new offices some time after […]

Sea Spray

Sea Spray, 18 High Street, St Margarets Buildings, Rottingdean, East Sussex, 2004 • Classic seaside caff facade with deck chair fabric awnings and lone Scottie dog tile. In business for 67 years […]

Neal’s Corner Sandwich Shop

Neal’s Corner Sandwich Shop, 1 Monmouth Street, Covent Garden, Borough of Camden, London WC2, 2003 • Named after Neal Street, not a bloke called Neal. In fact, this entire corner […]

Poseidon

Poseidon, 102 High Road, Finchley, Borough of Barnet, London N2 • I always like it when ancient gods are namechecked. By 2008 this had expanded into the next shop and […]

Caf´e Paradise

Caf´e Paradise, 116 Chingford Mount Road, Borough of Waltham Forest, London E4, 2016 • Divine accent intervention.

Yank Pizza

Yank Pizza, 28 Neasden Lane, Neasden, Borough of Brent, London NW10, 2016 • Unfortunate name.

Woks Wong

Woks Wong, The Mikado Buildings, 79 Elm Grove, Southsea, City of Portsmouth, 2016 • Punning Chinese takeaway in the aptly oriental Mikado Buildings, named after the Gilbert & Sullivan opera. The […]

The French

The French, 190 Albert Road, Southsea, City ofPortsmouth, 2016 • Brightly shuttered ex-bakery with what looks like an original 1930s sign, possibly dating from the legend that reads: “Prop R.S. […]

Pompey on a Roll

Pompey on a Roll, 210 Albert Road, Southsea, City of Portsmouth, 2016 • Punning eaterie with optimistic Portsmouth FC-themed name. No one seems to know why Portsmouth is called Pompey, […]

Zoe’s Gobble & Go

Zoe’s Gobble & Go, Westgate Terrace, Folkestone, Kent, 2002 • Immobilised mobile snack bar with less-than-enticing name. I found it somewhere round here.

New Star

New Star, 8a Holmesdale Road, Reigate, Surrey, 2002 • Unusual ‘evening lunch’ offer meets impressive 1960s door handle at a matching angle. New Star’s DIY branding remained completely unchanged until 2014, and though the […]

Wok Inn

Wok Inn, 88 High Street, Reigate, Surrey, 2002 • Always nice to see a pun on Wok. Later became Mexicode Fresh Mexican Kitchen, leaving the nearest wok outlet as Gourmet Wok, […]

The Forum

The Forum, 8-9 Market Place, Hexham, Northumberland, 2016 • Art deco cinema still in operation, complete with with cafe and built-in J.D. Wetherspoons. It’s Northumberland’s only full-time cinema, and has […]

The Hexham Tans Vegetarian Restaurant

The Hexham Tans Vegetarian Restaurant, 11 St Mary’s Chare, Hexham, Northumberland, 2016 • Palimpsest on oddly-named charity veggie caff, closed after 20 years. It soon reopened as Hextol Tans, offering “vegan-friendly, lacto” […]

Arthur Toms

Arthur Toms, 84 Chatsworth Road, Clapton, Borough of Hackney, London E5, 2011 • Until 2010 this was a Chinese takeaway called Friends, though clearly it had previously been an eel and […]

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 […]

Ellis’s Tearoom

Ellis’s Tearoom, Rothley Station, Great Central Railway, Rothley, Leicestershire, 2016 • Restored ghostsign for a Coke, Corn and Cake Merchants, now just selling cake on this heritage steam railway.

Griddle

Griddle, Loughborough Central Station, Great Central Road, Loughborough, Leicestershire, 2016 • One-time restaurant carriage with a wonderful name. There’s already a Griddle car operating on the Great Central heritage steam line, so this is […]

Platform Cafe

Platform Cafe, Leicester North Station, The Sidings, Leicester LE4, 2016 • Cute cafe signs in heritage station that sends steam engines along the main line to Loughborough’s defunct Central Station. […]

The Turkey Cafe

The Turkey Cafe, 24 Granby Street, Leicester LE1, 2016 • Tiled turkey on 1901 art nouveau fantasia by important Leicester architect Arthur Wakerley (who, as we shall see, was a man of […]

Golden Horse, Weekes

Golden Horse, Weekes, 178 Fawcett Road, Southsea, City of Portsmouth, 2016 • Fantastical handcrafted takeaway next to unit with 1950s-looking ghost sign. There was a garage elsewhere in Southsea called Weekes […]

Holy

Holy, 540 Holloway Road, Borough of Islington, London N7, 2016 • Unusual name for a Chinese takeaway – perhaps they meant divine. But it seemed a good option for Christmas day…

New Peking Inn (Playpaint)

New Peking Inn (Playpaint), Milroy Walk, Borough of Southwark, London SE1, 2011 (top) and 2001 (bottom two) • From Chinese food to fine art in grim 1970s precinct that’s now […]

Woolworths & Pizza Hut (Glasgow)

Woolworths, Pizza Hut (Glasgow), 199-201 Argyle Street, Glasgow, Scotland, 2008 • Jaunty red modernist corner abutting one of the last 200 Woolworths stores to close down. The fatal day was 6 Jan 2009; […]

Pitchers (Caffe Nero)

Pitchers (Caffe Nero), 91 High Street, Godalming, Surrey, 2016 • Attractive ghost-step for a knitwear emporium, now leading to a Caffe Nero. Pitchers was a sports sweater manufacturer founded in the 1880s […]

Chung’s (Govan)

Chung’s, 1012 Govan Road, Govan, Glasgow G51, Scotland, 2010 • Special dishes in long trays – what more could you want? Still there in 2015.  

Servewell Cafe

Servewell Cafe, West Lane, Southwark, London SE16, 2001 • Nice name – though you wouldn’t call it Servebadly Cafe, would you. It’s now got a double frontage and a new […]

Causette

Causette, circa Arwenack Street, Falmouth, Cornwall, 1981 • Faded 1960s-style cafe facade rocking Profil font, and doubtless offering unappetising old-school espresso. I don’t know what’s there now, but it was […]

Cyber Café

Cyber Café, Unit 1, New Broadway, Tarring Road, Worthing, West Sussex, 1999 • Hand-painted digital type meets 1960s mosaic on this sad closed down internet cafe. By 2015 the unit housed Attic Solutions, […]

Empire Milk Bar

Empire Milk Bar, Picadilly Circus Tube Station, City of Westminster, London W1, 1988 • True fact – there was a 1930s-style milk bar operational in the orange-columned depths of Piccadilly Circus tube […]

Olympia Dining Rooms

Olympia Dining Rooms, 5-6 Wincott Parade, Kennington Road, Kennington, Borough of Lambeth, London SE11, 1988 • An original ‘Dining Rooms’ photographed just as it was closing down. Who knew that […]

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 […]

Woo Lot

Woo Lot, 592 Lea Bridge Road, Leyton, Borough of WalthamForest, London E10, 2016 • Great name, great (literally) sign.

Famished Cafe

Famished Cafe, 2 Kilburn Bridge, Kilburn, Borough of Brent, London NW6, 2012 • Nice name on a colourful frontage, now replaced by Roosters Piri Piri.  

Tony’s Hemp Corner

Tonys Hemp Corner, 10 Caledonian Road, Kings Cross, Borough of Islington, London N1, 2010 • Creepy flower-child fascia for controversial cannabis cafe whose proprietor Tony Taylor supplied ‘medicinal’ marijuana to nearly 300 […]

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 […]

Kam Garden

Kam Garden, 14 Bouverie Road West, Folkestone, Kent, 2008 • Sweet green Chinese-style rooflet which stayed even after it went Indian as Copper and Spices.

Pizza King

Pizza King, 115 Sandgate Road, Folkestone, Kent, 2008 • Incongruous in its grand portal despite the regal name. Now called Master Kebab.

Subway (Angel)

Subway, 69 Chapel Market, Islington, Borough of Islington, London N1, 2016 • Boring fast food chain, lovely old door window. Actually I like the Subway logo, it’s an exuberant piece […]

New Happy Swan

New Happy Swan, 120 Fortis Green Road, Muswell Hill, Borough of Haringey, London N10, 2016 • Old happy paint job in Muswell Hill’s distinctive St James’s Parade, by Edwardian developer James […]

Cat & Cucumber Café

Cat & Cucumber Café, 182 Tower Bridge Road, Borough of Southwark, London SE1, 2003 • Nice name, wayward accent, grim rear aspect. Popular and still-extant greasy spoon once immortalised in […]

Vivian Patisserie

Vivian Patisserie, 62 Goldhawk Road, Shepherd’s Bush, Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, London W12, 2016 • Its patisserie identity seems to predate the Chinese cafe within. Back in 2008 it was […]

A. Cooke’s, Joe Coral

A. Cooke’s, Joe Coral (Fabric House Ltd), 48, 46 Goldhawk Road, Shepherd’s Bush, Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, London W12, 2016 • Founded 1899, and located at this address since 1934, […]

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.