Adana

Adana, 162 Grays Inn Road, Borough of Camden, London WC1, 2001 (top two images) & 2013. Beautiful art deco glass sign for Adana, a make of printer. It was retained […]

Anon Records Basement

Anon Records Basement, 101 High Street, Leicester LE1, 2016 • So anon the name has gone – a defunct mixture of records, typewriter supplies and publishing (according to tiny writing […]

City Confectionery

City Confectionery, 105 Shoreditch High Street, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2006 & 2002 • Maybe the flat-dweller crept in under the angled shutter. The top photo is from 2006, when it […]

Tutill-Nicol Ltd Jordan Woodrows

Tutill-Nicol Ltd Jordan Woodrows, 1 Richmond Street, Liverpool L1, 2003 • Traditional stationers closed in 2009 after 130 years due to a massive rent increase (article here). Inside, it had […]

Off Licence Internet

Off Licence Internet, 47 Fortess Road, Borough of Camden, London NW5, 2012 • An oddly minimalist shop window, no less bleak with its cafe set up out front (below). Still […]

A.J. Massey

A.J. Massey, 53 Linkfield Street, Redhill, Surrey, 2002 • Superannuated signwriting on what is now a deli.

Rowes

Rowes, 34-36 South Street, Dorking, Surrey, 2008 • Another traditional stationers with a good old no-nonsense sign. I think it’s still the same, though an awning hides it on Street […]

Dyer

Dyer, 32 North Street, Leatherhead, Surrey, 2003 • Photocopy centre and fax bureau – how quickly hi tech becomes quaint. Their website says Dyer was established 1916 and is now run […]

Evans & Witt

Evans & Witt, 58 Long Lane, Smithfield, City of London, EC1, 2004 • Purveyor of stationery supplies to the meat trade. Still there, along with conjoined neighbour Smithfield Cafe, featured yesterday.

Economy of Brighton

Economy of brighton, 82 St George’s Road, Brighton, East Sussex, 2010 • More mosaic, watched over by a weird disembodied burglar alarm eye (for more on which see my other […]

Ladywell Supermarket

Ladywell Supermarket, 111 Ladywell Road, Borough of Lewisham, London SE13, 2011 • The ladies of Ladywell, patronising a rather tatty shop in a fadedly genteel area. The mosaic pillars may indicate […]

Highgate Stationers & Printers

Highgate Stationers & Printers, 7 Highgate High Street, Borough of Camden, London N6, 2014 • A charming beige essay in 1970s-throwback typography, complete with swirly ampersands. Note also the mossy, almost-gone Post […]

B. Saunders (J. & M. Cards)

B. Saunders (J. & M. Cards), 133 High Street, Lowestoft, Suffolk, 2007 • Always nice to see one of these “Brilliant”-style gold-under-glass signs surviving, even if the modern-day effort underneath […]

J.P. Wheeler

J.P. Wheeler, 55 Westway, Caterham, Surrey, 2001 • An amazing old-fashioned emporium packed with a huge range of non-printing sundries, but displaying the usual parsimonious Surrey approach to Christmas lights. Google […]

Vogue Printers

Vogue Printers, 30 Rathbone Place, City of Westminster, London W1, 2001 • From the days when fax rolls featured proudly in window displays, an incredibly useful West End stationers with an […]

WH Smith (Walsall)

WH Smith (Walsall), 50 Park Street, Walsall, West Midlands, 2005 • Stunning home for the stationers – Walsall is full of faded old buildings far grander than you’d expect. Notice […]

Trustin Fairbag

Trustin Fairbag, 135 Station Road, Edgware, Borough of Barnet, London HA8, 2004 • A fantastical, Harry Potteresque name which is there no longer, as it later became prosaic Express Food & […]

Harman’s

Harman’s Post Office & Savings Bank, Sutton Lane North, Chiswick, Borough of Hounslow, London W4, 2010 • Offering remarkably varied services, this old sign was still on display in 2012, along […]

Oval Office

Oval Office, 10 Clapham Road, Borough of Lambeth, London SW9, 2005 • Used to be Oval Post Office. Now one-third of an estate agent. So things go, in London anyway.