21 Jun 2007

Hovis (Islington)

Hovis Camden Passage Islington

I discovered this sign at night on 3rd April this year and only got round to photographing it on Tuesday this week. I’ll have to go back to take another picture once the estate agent’s sign is removed but have put it up today because of the story behind it.

On Tuesday I asked the man in the shop opposite (Origin) if I could go up to his first floor to take a photo square on, which he agreed to. I then asked him if he knew anything about the sign and he mentioned a local walk guide that stops outside his shop and talks about the sign and the building it’s on.

Doing a Google search today I found the man, Peter Powell of Angel Walks and Islington Archaeology & History Society. A phone conversation later I had learned that the baker was resident in the building until the 1930s or 1940s and that, as part of his role as an Islington councillor in the 1980s, Peter Powell had managed to get a preservation order on the sign itself. I’m going to try to locate details of this at the local archives.

This sign is in the brand sponsored style where the wall space of the retailer was exchanged in return for an advertisement, paid for by Hovis in this instance, that featured the big brand prominently. There are many examples of this and it appears to have been commonplace in the world of painted wall advertising.

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