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.

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 […]

Round Windows

Round Windows, 205 Hackney Road, Borough of Hackney, London E2, 2006 • Quirky urban dereliction, which was maybe an art studio. By 2018 it was a grey smart unit, with […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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.

Full Measure (ex)

Full Measure (ex), 175 Cleveland Street, Hull HU8, 2017 • Humble dwelling with ghost tiles from an 1870s tavern called the Full Measure (latterly the White Room club), which according […]

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 […]

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 […]

Late Bland (M&R Meats)

Late Bland (M&R Meats), 399 St John Street, Borough of Islington, London EC1, 2002 • Tiled ghost sign on traditional butcher. By 2014 it was called Turner & George.

Central Arcade, Newcastle

Central Arcade, Grainger Street, Newcastle NE1, 2005 • Grand portal to a stunningly tiled interior.  

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, […]

Oxfam Book Shop (Reading)

Oxfam Book Shop, Bank Chambers, 8 High Street, Reading RG1, 2015 • Tiled and turreted folly which apparently housed the first shop – opened 1875 – of Edward Jackson, who later […]

Roomes

Roomes, 41-49 Station Road, Upminster, Borough of Havering, London RM14, 2016 • Immense deco-tiled store still in operation. The homeware firm Roomes was founded in 1888 this is their 1927 branch […]

Karate, USA Nails (Singer Building)

Karate, USA Nails (former Singer Building), Coronation Building, 82 High Street, Leicester LE1, 2016 • Dilapidated grandeur, tiled with images of empire. Designed by Leicester architect Arthur Wakerley, it was the Singer […]

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 […]

Moulding Works

Moulding Works, 10 Leake Street, Waterloo, Borough of Lambeth, London SE1, 2006 • Big green-brick titling on a handsome building next to Waterloo’s ex-Eurostar terminal. The text-decorated sides were briefly revealed by building works […]

H. Samuel (Manchester)

H. Samuel (Manchester), 7-7A upper Mall, Arndale Centre, High Street, Manchester, 2009 • Tiled 1970s bunker with missing letter – Manchester’s famous Arndale Centre, whose specially-commissioned beige ceramic facade was likened by Bill Bryson […]

E. Watson & Son & Daughter, The Joiners Arms

E. Watson & Son & Daughter, The Joiners Arms, 120 & 116-118 […]

D’Posh

D’Posh, 103 Strand, City of Westminster, London WC2, 2011 • V posh Savoy surroundings for D’Posh clothes shop, which later became Laird Hatters.

The Duke of Cambridge

The Duke of Cambridge, 26 Bloomfield Road, Plumstead, Borough of Greenwich, London SE18, 2004 • The pub has gone, but the sign remains. Here’s the block of flats that replaced it. It […]

Engineers Builders Merchants Ironfounders

Engineers Builders Merchants Ironfounders, Station Street, Brighton, West Sussex, 2004 and 2014 • Boarded up when I visited in 2004 and 2014, but with the beautiful tiled typography still intact. […]

W.G. Miller

W.G. Miller, 93-95 Essex Road, Borough of Islington, London N1, 2012 • The kind of funeral parlour that does horse-drawn hearses. This handsome black facade would have been traditional even when […]

Building Supplies Ltd

Building Supplies Ltd, 49-51 High Street, Leatherhead, Surrey, 2003 • Classic fleapit-era tiled retail unit sold for redevelopment around 2015. You can see it still open in 2014 here.

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 – […]

Ian S Davis

Ian S Davis, 66 Hanover Street, Liverpool L1, 2014 • Ex-optician in art deco tiled building.

Saigon Vietnamese Restaurant

Saigon Vietnamese Restaurant, 54 Berry Street, Liverpool L1, 2003 • There used to be lots of nice old neon signage in Liverpool. This charming example is now totally gone, replaced […]

Religion

Religion, 154 Brick Lane, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E2, 2011 • The glazed green tiles suggest this was once a food business, or maybe a pub. It’s apt name for Brick Lane – across […]

Trayman Solicitors

Trayman Solicitors, 247 Bethnal Green Road, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E2, 2005 • Rather beautiful in an understated, random way: Doric portal, bathroom tiles, bottleglass windows, vintage street number […]

J. Seal Quality Butcher

J. Seal Quality Butcher, 7 Barnes High Street, Borough of Richmond upon Thames, London SW13, 2006 • Not only named in Profil, but in tiles. The butcher and tiles are […]

Gents Hairdresser D. Burns.

Gents Hairdresser D. Burns., 76 Herbert Road, Plumstead, Borough of Greenwich, London SE18, 2004 • Barber embedded in an old tiled grocer’s, and you can see an even older sign […]

Sutton Wash House

Sutton Wash House, 2 Sutherland House, 29 Brighton Road, Sutton, Surrey, 2002 • Welcoming laundry with a Dickensian name and a logo like a car number plate. It lasted until around 2012 but now, […]

Chelsea Methodist Church

Chelsea Methodist Church, 155a Kings Road, Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London SW3, 2003 • The only church with an entrance on Kings Road, and an attractive one it is. The […]

Abba Electronics

Abba Electronics, 236 Kentish Town Road, Borough of Camden, London NW5, 2012 • Now I’m going to spend a few weeks featuring London postcodes I’ve not published before (though there are […]

Hong Kong Garden

Hong Kong Garden, 199 Mile End Road, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2015 • Nice tiles! Pity about the ubiquitous superimposed shutters, though.

Golden Dragon

Golden Dragon, 228 Mile End Road, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, 2015 • Chinese takeaways are one of the last redoubts of old-school grunge on this increasingly gentrified east end […]

A.Z. Halal. Butchers

A.Z. Halal. Butchers, 83 Deptford High Street, Borough of Lewisham, London SE8, 2002 • Huge wavy pediment dwarfing a mini meat emporium.

Starr Racing

Starr Racing, 144 Devonshire Road, Chiswick, Borough of Hounslow, London W4, 2002 • Nice name, illustrations and tiles on this 1970s-era bookie, which looks like a set from The Sweeney. It’s […]

Paradise Cottage

Paradise Cottage, 477 Bethnal Green Road, Borough of Tower Hamlets, London E2, 2005 • A colourful mixed metaphor in traditional plastic, complete with desert arch illustrations. By 2014 the shop was being […]

Stones Television & Radio

Stones, circa 22 Atlantic Road, Brixton, Borough of Lambeth, London SW9, 2014 • 1920s-style ghost logo for a Brixton business that’s long, long gone. There’s a great picture history on […]

G. Makepeace (Dance Music Finder)

G. Makepeace (Dance Music Finder), Makepeace House, 136 Digbeth, Birmingham, 2005 • Dance music found via fax departs, but the original occupant lives on. According to Andy Foster’s   Pevsner Architectural Guides: […]

Edmund Martin Ltd

Edmund Martin Ltd, 3 Lindsey Street, Smithfield, City of London, EC1, 2004 • Sigh, you don’t see many tripe dressers around these days. It’s now a giant hole in the […]

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 […]

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 […]

Sir Robert Peel, Krystals Express

Sir Robert Peel, Krystals Express, 178 Bishopsgate, City of London, London EC2, 2004 • Something of an oddity – commemorative 1930s tiling on a circa 1900 pub named after the prime […]

Criterion Restaurant

Criterion Restaurant, 129 Peckham High Street, Borough of Southwark, London SE15, 2010 • No T outside, but plenty within, for this handsomely shabby caff with a fine old-fashioned name.  

Manchester Victoria Station kiosks

Victoria Station, Station Approach, Manchester, 2010 • Grand European cities like Vienna are stuffed with beautiful old commercial typography, but in the workaday UK, it’s rare indeed. Glad Manchester’s rather […]

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 […]

Thornton & Co Ltd

Thornton & Co Ltd, 50-51 Briggate, Leeds, West Yorkshire, 2014 • Next door to M&S is this re-purposed HQ of an India rubber manufacturer. Moral: cast your name in stone if you […]

Dorothy Goodall

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

Beaman & Sons

Beaman & Sons, 46 High Street, Bridgnorth, Shropshire, 2014 • Traditional family butcher, established 1890 and looking little altered. It’s  only closed here because it was a Sunday.

Crown House (Subway)

35 St Mary’s Street, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, 2014 • Not everything in Shrewsbury is half-timbered: here’s a classic new town-style 1960s precinct, not enhanced by Subway. The block sold for £1.5m in […]

Hawkes

Hawkes, 99b High Street, Poole, Dorset, 2004 • High quality 1960s frontage, complete with a tiled hawk sign on the floor (just visible) and some French onions outside. Once the largest […]

Two Way Books

Two Way Books, 54 Gardner Street, Brighton, East Sussex, 2010 • Old-fashioned book exchange in Brighton’s trendy Laines.

Easiephit Footwear (Wherry)

“Easiephit” Footwear (Wherry Estate Agents), 115 High Street, Lowestoft, Suffolk, 2007 • Great mosaic ghost sign step with a boring estate agent attached. I assume it was once a shoe shop.

Wainwright & Sons (Risborough) Ltd.

Wainwright & Sons (Risborough) Ltd., 69 High Street, Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, 2007 • Formerly Grover, according to the doorstep, and in its last days here. Google Street View showes it vacant […]

Lady Godiva News

Lady Godiva News Devlins, 26 Broadgate, Coventry, West Midlands, 2013 • The equally weird twin of yesterday’s Peeping Tom newsagent; they’re situated either side of Coventry’s “famous” Lady Godiva clock, hence […]

Peeping Tom News

Peeping Tom News Devlins, 20A Hertford Street, Coventry, West Midlands, 2012 • Creepy name for a toyshop, you may feel. All will be revealed tomorrow (no pun intended).

Cooplands

Cooplands, Trinity House, 71 Paragon Street, Kingston upon Hull, 2013 • This is a branch of the bakery that bought Skeltons, featured yesterday. Apparently the big yellow tiled panel once held a […]

Kingston Tavern

Kingston Tavern, 76 Paragon Street, Hull, 2013 • Delicate tiled ghost sign (look at that intricate ‘O’) on the side of a closed-down city centre hostelry.

Thearne

Thearne, 15 South Street, Kingston upon Hull, 2013 • Not all the old shops in Hull are run down, as this superbly-signed example shows.

Co-op Mosaic (BHS)

Co-op Mosaic (BHS), 32-38 Jameson Street, Kingston upon Hull, 2013 • Immense 1963 “three ships” mural by Alan Boyson, on what was then a super-duper new Co-Op building. There’s a huge […]

Tower

Tower (Tokyo Hull), 52 Anlaby Road, Kingston upon Hull, 2013 • A rather grubby topless lady keeps vigil over this magnificent 1914 cinema designed by H Percival Binks, which has been […]

Boots Opticians (Horsham)

Boots Opticians (Horsham), 39 West Street, Horsham, West Sussex, 2003 • Modern variant of the last two days’ vintage 3D Boots signs, which, though cheapo-looking, shows the benefit of not giving […]

The Shakespeare (Victory Amusements)

The Shakespeare (Victory Amusements), 34 Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough, 2013 • Another theatrical boozer; but unlike yesterday’s Garrick, poor old Bill’s given way to a less rewarding form of entertainment. Still, the […]

Garrick’s Head

Garrick’s Head, 50 Saville Street, North Shields, North Tyneside, 2013 • Beautiful 1899 pub, but the local council doesn’t seem to like its clientelele very much, according to this report of […]

Victory Cafe

Victory Cafe, 54 Eversholt Street, Euston, Borough of Camden, London NW1, 2013 & 2002 • Patriotic Pepsi cafe happily little changed since I first photographed it in 2002 (bottom).

Moira’s

Moira’s, 123 Upper Spon Street, Coventry, West Midlands, 2013 • As featured yesterday, more of Coventry’s conserved Black Swan Terrace – underneath these green tiles lies a medieval building, which until 1903 […]

London Laundry

London Laundry, 120 Upper Spon Street, Coventry, West Midlands, 2013 • Part of Black Swan Terrace, a row of historic cottages that was derelict in the 1990s, and now restored to […]

SpiceNite

SpiceNite, 23 Exeter Road, Exmouth, Devon, 2009 • SpiceNite’s pretty dull-looking, but the tiled shopfront it’s set into certainly isn’t.

Chard & Sons (Hardware Homeware)

Chard & Sons (Hardware Homeware), 101 Gloucester Road, Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London SW7, 2005 • A ex-butcher’s (and probably something fancier before that), now London’s most beautiful hardware shop. […]

Fancy Dress @ Party! Party!

Fancy Dress @ Party! Party!, 225-227 Mansfield Road, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, 2011 • Not much party cheer here – ambitious punctuation and nice tiles weren’t enough to save it. Still closed in […]

A217 Indian Take Away

A217 Indian Take Away, 9 The Parade, Brighton Road (A217), Burgh Heath, Surrey, 2001 • Yet another grim example of the festive season in Surrey (which is where I used to […]

Tasty Grill

Tasty Grill, 158 Brighton Road, Coulsdon, Borough of Croydon, London CR5, 2001 • A lonely Christmas kebab lady in deepest, dullest Surrey (historically, if not technically) – the word Hopperesque springs to […]

Maries Cafe

Maries Cafe, 90 Lower Marsh, Waterloo, Borough of Lambeth, London SE1, 2005 (top), 2011 (middle), 2003 (bottom) • Shrunken-headed Santa greets curious punter at this popular Thai-cum-greasy spoon caff, which still […]

Kents Chemists

Kents Chemists, 104 Walton Road, East Molesey, Surrey, 2002 • Hard to believe such a beautiful “chymist” exists in unassuming suburban Surrey. Both it and the building it’s in were established […]

The Prince Albert Hotel

The Prince Albert Hotel, 27-29 Rendezvous Street, Folkestone, Kent, 2011 • This beautifully tiled rendezvous has had several looks, including an incongruous 1970s one – there’s a history here.

H. Samuel (Manchester)

H. Samuel, 7-7A upper Mall, Arndale Centre, High Street, Manchester, 2009 • Tiled 1970s bunker with missing letter – a stirring brutalist sight. The U was still missing three years later; […]

Hotel de Boulogne (London Chinatown)

Hotel de Boulogne (London Chinatown), 27 Gerrard Street, City of Westminster, London W1, 2002 • Belle epoque mosaic step now adding an incongruous continental flavour to Soho restaurant London Chinatown. 

Teignmouth Parade: Terry’s News, Lloyds TSB

Terry’s News, Lloyds TSB, 4 & 3 Teignmouth Parade, Perivale, Borough […]

Teignmouth Parade: Devine Creations, Videotalk

Devine Creations, Videotalk, 5 & 6 Teignmouth Parade, Perivale, Borough of […]

G.S. Williams

G.S. Williams,  JT Barbers, Devon House, 19 Bath Street, Frome, Somerset, 2008 • Fabulous tiled facade in a fascinating town – a pity half the original sign is obscured.

Livebait

Livebait, 43 The Cut, Waterloo, Borough of Southwark, London SE1, 2006 • This was the first Livebait, launched in 1996, which had a fully-tiled interior in classic pie-and-mash parlour style (I’m […]

Tienda Tropical, Green Jade

Tienda Tropical, Green Jade, 217-219 Holloway Road, Borough of Islington, London N7, 2005 • Fanciful interlude on a pretty grim thoroughfare – I love it when whole buildings get divided up […]

Mersin 2 Fresh Fish Shop

Mersin 2 Fresh Fish Shop, 16a Lower Clapton Road, Borough of Hackney, London E5, 2010 • I wonder what Mersin 1 looks like?

Hop Kweng

Hop Kweng, 1 Majestic Parade, Sandgate Road, Folkestone, Kent, 2008 • Superb decorative facade more redolent of a 1960s New Town such as Crawley than a genteel seaside shopping parade. I […]

Old Town Tea Shop

Old Town Tea Shop, 7 High Street, Poole, Dorset, 2004 • Now poshed up in heritage green as The Old Townhouse, with net curtains and orange tiling gone.

Hilton Aqua Emporium

Hilton Aqua Emporium, 5a Hilton Street, Manchester M4, 2009 • Nice graffiti comment on proximity of fish supplies emporium to snack bar (I guess fish can’t speak proper English).

W. Bishop

W. Bishop, 12 Merkland Street, Partick, Glasgow G11, Scotland, 2010 • What a great old butcher’s sign. Even the letters look like they’re made of sausages!

Doves Solicitors

Doves Solicitors, 200 & 202 Old Kent Road, Borough of Southwark, London SE17, 2002 • Yes, I’d certainly get my mission-critical legal work done here.

Dallas Steak House

Dallas Steak House, 184 Hackney Road, Borough of Hackney, London E2, 2006. • One of those absurdly tall and skinny standalone buildings you sometimes get in London. Now called Golden Grill. […]

Bert’s

Bert’s, 354 East Street, Borough of Southwark, London SE17, 2002 • A yellow plastic sign replaced the splendour of this intricately patterned lenticular gold lettering; see close-ups for detail.

Jack Hall

Jack Hall, 150 Battersea High Street, Borough of Wandsworth, London SW11, 2002 • Charming old dining rooms, with “Brilliant” brand glass sign. Now houses a gallery of some kind, retaining the […]