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multicoloured

2006

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 […]
Taste of China

2010

Gak Pro-Audio

Gak Pro-Audio, 76-82 North Road, Brighton, East Sussex, 2010 • Graffiti shutters by (or emulating) Eine for muso store GAK – which, if I’m not mistaken, is slang for cocaine. […]
Gak Pro-Audio

2017

Stan Butt Ltd

Stan Butt Ltd, 137 East Street, Bedminster, Bristol BS3, 2017 • So good they named it twice. According to this Flickr comment, meat wholesaler extraordinaire Stan Butt died a few […]
Stan Butt Ltd

2012

Mr. Biggs

Mr. Biggs, 77 Atlantic Road, Brixton, Borough of Lambeth, London SW9, 2012 • Charming DIY / family portraits mash-up in deepest Brixton. Not sure what “From A Pinto A Anchor” […]
Mr. Biggs

2004

Brighton Foam

Brighton Foam (The Red Lion), Vine Street, Brighton, East Sussex, 2004 • Just what you need at the seaside, a foam shop. It soon got the chop and by 2017 […]
Brighton Foam

2015

South Bank Cards

South Bank Cards, 85 Lower Marsh. Borough of Lambeth, London SE1, 2002, 2015 • Colourful street market card shop (green in 2002 and blue in 2015, bottom). By 2017 it […]
South Bank Cards

2002

Eisenegger

Eisenegger, The Plaza, 120 Oxford Street, City of Westminster, London W1, 2002 • Outlet that was permanently “closing down”, and eventually did. With hindsight, the ISIS posters don’t read too […]
Eisenegger

2002

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.
Balti Raj

2002

H.W. Cooper

H.W. Cooper, Willow Walk, Bermondsey, Borough of Southwark, London SE1, 2002 • Colourful sign collage on a glass and perspex works. By 2017 the wonky drainpipes were still there, but […]
H.W. Cooper

2016

Pullman Motors

Pullman Motors, 142 Newport Street, Lambeth, Borough of Lambeth, London SE1, 2015 (top) and 2016 • Self-styled “last garage in Vauxhall”, established 1948,  in what was once an entire row […]
Pullman Motors

2016

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 […]
Khubsoorat

2016

Way 2 Save

Way 2 Save, 295-297 Neasden Lane, Neasden, Borough of Brent, London NW10, 2016 • Giant colourful shop of everything, open 24 hours.
Way 2 Save

2016

The Posada

The Posada, 48 Lichfield Street, Wolverhampton WV1, 2016 • Fancy art nouveau tiled pub in a grade II listed row of shops. Pub History shows Kellys Directory recording it from 1912, […]
The Posada

2016

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 […]
Woks Wong

2016

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. […]
The French

2016

Embassy Ninja

Embassy Ninja, 147 Albert Road, Southsea, City of Portsmouth, 2016 • Curiously-named visa advisor, whose graffitied shutter is now closed for good.
Embassy Ninja

2016

Kingstone

Kingstone, 66-67 Belgrave Gate, Leicester LE1, 2016 • Modernist grade II listed 1937 furniture store with pink Vitrolite stripes, designed by Australian architect and glass fan Raymond McGrath. It’s only the second-known […]
Kingstone

2016

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 […]
Golden Horse, Weekes

2012

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.  
Famished Cafe

2010

The Love Shack

The Love Shack, corner of Old Hall Street and Goodson Street, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, 2010 • A touch of gaudy grandeur amidst modernist monoliths in much-maligned Stoke, currently bidding to be the […]
The Love Shack

2016

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. […]
Broadway Hair Stylist

2013

Alans Naturally

Alans Naturally, 13 South Street, Hull, 2013 • Old-school loose goods purveyor next door to yesterday’s Alan’s Fruiterers, and presumably the same Alan, albeit without apostrophe. Both shops are still there – […]
Alans Naturally

2003

Ma Bo

Ma Bo, 16 Nelson Street, Liverpool L1, 2003 • Legendary old-school restaurant in Liverpool’s Chinatown, which has been going over 40 years and still looks the same. It gets generally excellent reviews for […]
Ma Bo

2004

Southern Video

Southern Video, 41 High Street, Herne Bay, Kent, 2004 • Red Profil on pink fascia, what a colourful shop. Last spotted in 2009 with blue Profil on yellow.
Southern Video

2006

Jai Amibika

Jai Amibika, 3 Great Eastern Street, Borough of Hackney, London EC2, 2006 • A colourful shutter by the street artist Eine, who at the time wasn’t famous. Painting doors paid […]
Jai Amibika

2004

Frank

Frank, 7 Toynbee Street, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2004 • From the 1950s until his death in 1966 aged just 47, this was the base of Frank Conway […]
Frank

2008

Samiez Leathers

Samiez Leathers, 140 Trongate, Townhead, Glasgow G1, 2008 • I just like this because it’s colourful, 1970s-looking, and in a decaying old building. Under new management, says a note in […]
Samiez Leathers

2011

Food & Wine

Food & Wine, 49 Upper Street, Borough of Islington, London N1, 2011 • Colourful generic minimart with oversized finials suggesting a grander past.
Food & Wine

2013

D.R. Warehouse Ltd

D.R. Warehouse Ltd, Crowngate House, 60-64 Great Hampton Street, Birmingham, 2013 • One of many magnificent Jewellery Quarter buildings, a grade II listed ex-factory by Dunn, Dallas & Lloyd circa 1912. Currently […]
D.R. Warehouse Ltd

2002

Copy Shop

Copy Shop, 25 Nutfield Road, Merstham, Surrey, 2002 • Colourful village copy shop no more – an early victim of the burgeoning internet? Was still to let in 2012.
Copy Shop

2002

Drury Lane Diner

Drury Lane Diner, 176 Drury Lane, Covent Garden, Borough of Camden, London WC2, 2002 • Cheerfully ramshackle takeaway in an eclectic corner of theatreland; it’s now the less colourful East Thai.
Drury Lane Diner

2007

Hockeys’

Hockeys’, 50 High Street, Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, 2007 • Ex-antiques shop with name and appearance straight out of a tale by late local Roald Dahl. Note  non-greencrocer’s apostrophe in Hockeys’ – […]
Hockeys’