Roger K. Flatters

Roger K. Flatters, 35 Queen Street, Wolverhampton WV1, 2016 • Flatters – what a wonderful name for an optician. The Eurostyle font, old phone number, mosaic fascia and marble surround […]

Philip J. Hammond & Sons

Philip J. Hammond & Sons, 47 Friar Lane, Leicester LE1, 2016 • Grimly stylish marbled throwback, rocking the Barcelona Pavilion look. 

Guardian Assurance Building

Guardian Assurance Building, 21-23 Clare Street, Bristol BS1, 2015 • Not sure what lies behind this impressive marble and steel portal now, but it’s not insurance firm Guardian Assurance, which was established […]

Barclays Bank (Temple Fortune)

Barclays Bank (Temple Fortune), 802-806 Finchley Road, Borough of Barnet, London NW11, 2016 • Old-style marble and gold Barclays eagle on a branch with a name straight out of the Hobbit, in […]

Ex-Barclays Bank (Sutton)

Ex-Barclays Bank (Sutton), 238 High Street, Sutton, Surrey, 2002 • Aah, textures of grey and the ghost of an old-style Barclays Bank eagle logo.

HSBC (Hockley)

HSBC (Hockley), 168 Warstone Lane, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham B18, 2005 • Lovely little bank with Victorian sculpture above the door, which is still the same now. One source says it dates from 1892 […]

Ian Munro

Ian Munro, 10 High Street, Dorking, Surrey, 2002 • Marble and script for a men’s outfitter founded in 1956. This would have been an expensive shopfront in its day; the labyrinthine […]

Mark Fisher Man’s Shop

Mark Fisher Man’s Shop, 26 The Centre, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, 2002 • More Profil, in Walton’s now-demolished 1960s shopping mall – there’s a photo of it in context here, with some pics of The Centre […]

China City

China City, 48 Nelson Street, Liverpool L1, 2003 • Austere by Chinatown standards, but I like the plasticky faux marble. These days it has no neon, looks even more functional, […]

Thomas Cook (Cambridge)

Thomas Cook (Cambridge), 8 St Andrew’s Street, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, 2010 • Interesting art deco window, boring noughties sign.

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.

Ravel (Oxford Street)

Ravel, 184-188 Oxford Street, City of Westminster, London W1, 2001 • Remember Ravel shoe shops? Once ubiquitous, the 50-store chain closed down in 2007 after five years of losses. Founded in […]

Alberts

Alberts, 88 Whitechapel High Street, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2014 • Men’s clothier with a nifty sideline in Jack the Ripper t-shirts. I thought this grand frontage once […]

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

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

Burton (Abergavenny)

Burton, 16-17 High Street, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales, 2014 • A classic Burton that’s still in use, albeit somewhat grimy and with inferior modern logo tacked on. The company’s founder Montague […]

Simone

Simone, 12 Whitchurch Parade, Whitchurch Lane, Edgware, Borough of Barnet, London HA8, 2004 • Ah, the sadness of suburbia. Google shows this as still there in 2015 – and indeed looking […]

The Dining Plaice (Young Model)

The Dining Plaice (Young Model), 20 Berwick Street, Soho, City of Westminster, London W1, 2002 • Chippie incorporating access to “young model”. It’s now got a different giant brown sign.

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 […]

S.C. Price & Sons

S.C. Price & Sons, 7 Castle Street, Ludlow, Shropshire, 2014 • A beautiful sunray door in foodie Ludlow, and so traditional they call it a “confectioner” (which used to denote […]

Chicken Cottage (Cardiff)

Chicken Cottage, 108 St Mary Street, Cardiff, Wales, 2012 • Large old marble shop surround at the base of a tall skinny building, now enhanced by having a Chicken Cottage unceremoniously […]

Barclays (Saxmundham)

Barclays (Saxmundham), 24 High Street, Saxmundham, Suffolk, 2014 • More mid-century modernist marble for this bank in an old country building. I like the facade but you probably couldn’t get away […]

Wicker Pharmacy

Wicker Pharmacy, 55-59 Wicker, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, 2010 • More 1960s marble on a building which started life as a Midland Bank. The pharmacy, founded  by a consortium of local chemists in 1952 […]

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 […]

Gordons the Jewellers

Gordons the Jewellers, 27 Strutton Ground, City of Westminster, London SW1, 2012 & 2007 • Last days for this old-style jeweller which looked on the verge of closure even five years […]

Mercure Hull Royal Hotel

Mercure Hull Royal Hotel, Paragon Station, 170 Ferensway, Hull, 2013 • Built in 1849 and recently refurbished, this is at the start of Hull’s Philip Larkin trail. It’s described in his […]

Queen’s Garden News

Queen’s Garden News, 10a Alfred Gelder Street, Kingston upon Hull, 2013 • Alfred Gelder Street – named after Hull’s most famous architect – launches in style with this liner-like black deco building, […]

Apollo Cafe Restaurant

Apollo Cafe Restaurant, 26 Brixton Road, Lambeth, London SW9, 2001 • I doubt the ancient Greeks would feel this a fitting tribute to their sun god, despite the faux marble. Note […]

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.

V Falber & Sons, Daddy Kool, The Soho Music Company

V Falber & Sons, Daddy Kool, The Soho Music Company, […]

Nuit Cleaners

Nuit Cleaners, 72 Brixton Road, Oval, Borough of Lambeth, London SW9, 2001 • I keep expecting this superb name to disappear but stoically it remains.