The Store (ex The Floor Store)

The Store (ex The Floor Store), 39 Tontine Street, Folkestone, Kent, 2017 • Once called The Floor Store, by simply removing a word it became an art project space (I […]

Memel Shop

Memel Shop, 40 Dover Road, Folkestone, Kent, 2017 • I have no idea what a Memel shop is, but here is one. The definitions on Wikipedia don’t offer any clues […]

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.

The Gladstone

The Gladstone, 1 Wilcox Road, Borough of Lambeth, London SW8, 2004 • Minimalist logo, plastic Fosters roundel, and an illegible graffitied sign for ribs. Later got a slight refurb, but […]

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, […]

TR (Food Store)

Food Store, 22 Vauxhall Street, Borough of Lambeth, London SE11, 2017 • Minimalist name with even more minimalist logo – I found out what the full name was by visiting […]

Super Way Express

Super Way Express, 344 Kennington Lane, Borough of Lambeth, London SE11, 2017 • Vintage wooden frontage with intricate fretwork and leaded lights. It  has since had a clean-up.

Swiftys of Vauxhall

Swiftys of Vauxhall, 44-46 Wilcox Road, Borough of Lambeth, London SW8, 2004 • Traditional fishing tackle shop a stone’s throw from the Thames. Disappeared in 2008 and is now London […]

Swift & Company Ltd

Swift & Company Ltd, Braggs Lane, Bristol BS2, 2013 • Stunning little tiled relic of a 1920s American meat packing and refrigeration company – more info here.

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.

Swedish Strip

Swedish Strip, 24 Brewer Street, Soho, City of Westminster, London W1, 2002 • Not a pine emporium but a peep show, now a dying genre in Soho. By 2017 it […]

West Indian & Continental Grocers

West Indian & Continental Grocers, 161 Battersea High Street, Borough of Wandsworth, London SW11, 2002 • Looks like their font was too big for their signboard…

Maysun Market

Maysun Market, 869 Finchley Road, Golders Green, Borough of Barnet, London NW11, 2003 • Grimly green far east emporium.

Peter Dicker

Peter Dicker, 3 Alma Parade, 108 Chaldon Road, Caterham, Surrey, 2001 • Final closure for a trad green greengrocer which, along with neighbour Avery Butcher, got replaced by a beauty […]

Colours Sports Club

Colours Sports Club, 1a Throwley Way, Sutton, Borough of Sutton, London SM1, 2002 • Bright yet grim. Later added fake ionic pillars and rebranded as The Grand Hall.

Lloyds Bank (Guildford)

Lloyds Bank, 147 High Street, Guildford, Surrey, 2016 • Superbly ornate old bank, which survives thanks to royalty: an inscription on the wall says: “Guildford Old Bank. Established 1765. This […]

The Lambeth Walk

The Lambeth Walk, 17 Lambeth Road, Waterloo, Borough of Lambeth, London SE1, 2010 • Last call for a net-curtained council estate boozer that was opened by Pearly folk in 1951 (Pathe footage […]

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.

Jan & Charlie’s

Jan & Charlie’s, 59 Old High Street, Folkestone, Kent, 2008 • End of days for an old-school fishmonger. Ironically it looks more old-fashioned these days, as Frizbee clothing; the entire frontage […]

Green boarded shop

Green boarded shop, 294-292 Kennington Park Road, Borough of Lambeth, London SE11, 2005 • Boarded-up shop, a symphony in greens. Now Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward, part of Kennington’s ever-growing nest of […]

Nameless green Chinese shop

Nameless green Chinese shop, Nelson Street, Liverpool L1, 2003 • Attractive decaying paint job in lucky Chinese colours. Now a house.  

Totteridge Brasserie

Totteridge Brasserie, 36 Totteridge Lane, Whetstone, Borough of Barnet, London N20, 2011 • So good they named it twice. Now the somewhat smarter Tiffin Tin.

Raynsford’s

Raynsford’s, 153 Battersea High Street, Borough of Wandsworth, London SW11, 2002 • Nice signwriting; still looked the same in 2012, not sure about now.

Catering Meats (Smithfield)

Catering Meats (Smithfield), 308 London Central Markets, Smithfield, Charterhouse Street, London EC1, City of London, 2004 • A more utilitarian but no less period Smithfied frontage than yesterday’s. This one’s […]

G.H. Theobald

G.H. Theobald, 99 High Street, Whitstable, Kent, 2003 • Just a nice old bit of signwriting. The shop’s still there but called Jim’s Family Butchers, with a cute “new-old-style” sign.

Alan R. Powell

Alan R. Powell, c. 25 Broad Street, Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales, 2014 • Picturesque workshop in a town noted for bookshops (maybe Alan provided the miles of bookshelves therein).

J.R. Hobson & Co The Drinking Glass Centre

J.R. Hobson & Co The Drinking Glass Centre, Nursery Street, […]

Collectors Corner

Collectors Corner, 106 High Street, Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire, 2014 • Collecting dust, but not apostrophes.

Lina Stores Ltd.

Lina Stores Ltd., 18 Brewer Street, City of Westminster, London W1, 2002 • Famous Italian food store, established 1944 and largely unchanged from the days when Soho was about the […]

Knight & Compy.

Knight & Compy., 47 Fisherton Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire, 2007 • More art nouveau green tiles spared the chipper on this game mart-turned-charity shop, which by 2011 had become a vintage clothes store.  

Masham Hotel

Masham Hotel, Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough, 2013 • Once one of the town’s most popular pubs, this listed building became a failed shoe shop, then in 2013 was turned into a small […]

Poole Arms

Poole Arms, 19 The Quay, Poole, Dorset, 2004 • More green tiles, this time on the oldest pub on Poole Quay: it dates from 1600s (though not the tiling, which […]

The 3 Crowns

The 3 Crowns, 8 East Road, Borough of Hackney, London N1, 2013 • Nicely-tiled Shoreditch pub which appears to have been rescued by hipsters in mid-destruction. There’s a picture of how […]

Tommy’s Tuc-Inn Cafe

Tommy’s Tuc-Inn Cafe, 442 Forest Road, Walthamstow, Borough of Waltham Forest, London E17, 2004 • Oops, serious punctuation woes. It’s still got the same amusing name, but the grammar’s improved.

Cost to Cost

Cost to Cost, 227 Shoreditch High Street, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2005 • Somewhat meaningless variation on the Costcutter theme. The Cost to Cost logo later got reduced to near […]

Costprice

Costprice, 41 Brick Lane, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2007 • Jaunty take on the Costcutter theme. It’s become more sedate since this was taken.

Costcutter Supermarket (NW1)

Costcutter Supermarket, 53-55 Chalton Street, Borough of Camden, London NW1, 2005 • Unusually elegant art nouveau-style lettering for this understated minimart near Euston station, which is now a more strident […]

Drury Lane High Class Fruiterers

Drury Lane High Class Fruiterers, 190 Drury Lane, Borough of Camden, London WC2, 2003 • Poignant peek back into a lovely wooden-shuttered hangover from Covent Garden’s fruit and veg market days. Now […]

Dorothy Goodall

Dorothy Goodall, Kirkgate Market, Leeds, West Yorkshire, 2014 • Scattergun scanties in traditional cabinet at the market’s entrance.

Venus Pizza

Venus Pizza, 149 Whitecross Street, Borough of Islington, London EC1, 2008 • Those Roman gods certainly live on, longer than this takeaway at least. This colourful old bit of  road got […]

Post Office (Hull)

Post Office (Hull), 63 Market Street, Kingston upon Hull, 2013 • Fancy facade meets postal utilitarianism in Hull’s handsome Old Town; you can just imagine well-to-do seafaring types frequenting the premises […]

Xmas Trees

Xmas Trees, Near Sandford Hotel, Sandford Road (A351), Wareham, Dorset, 2004 • I always like a hand-written sign so I pulled over in the middle of a long drive to snap […]

Kosher Food & Wine

Kosher Food & Wine, circa 113 Golders Green Road, Borough of Barnet, London NW11, 2003 • Looks appetising! But it doesn’t appear to be there any more.

F. Cooke (Broadway Market)

F. Cooke, 9 Broadway Market, Borough of Hackney, London E8, 2004 • Eel emporium estd. 1862 and still going strong despite much gentrification in its immediate area.

E.T. Baker

E.T. Baker, 76 Caledonian Road, Borough of Islington, London N1, 2003 • Mysterious, long-lasting facade with a beautiful “Brilliant” glass-and-gold sign (see detail).

The Tea Hut

The Tea Hut, Surrey Row, Borough of Southwark, London SE1, 2002 • Ramshackle snack kiosk allegedly dating back to the 1940s but demolished circa 2008 to make way for apartments.

Hunt and Son Security

Hunt and Son Security, Riverside Way, Borough of Greenwich, London SE7, 2005 • So called because you have to hunt for them in the cafe, where they have “poped”.

George’s Fruit & Veg

George’s Fruit & Veg, 273 Southwark Park Road, Borough of Southwark, London SE16, 2002 • Metamorphosed into two shops: Brother’s Barbers and Dammy Stores.