28 Feb 2015

E.Mono in North London

Two signs for E.Mono
Top: Kentish Town High Street, Bottom: Station Place, Finsbury Park

Back in 2011 an old 1920s shop fascia was revealed on Kentish Town High Street. The nature of the E.Mono business remains a mystery but the new occupants, a kebab shop, decided the sign was worth keeping and named their shop after the historic proprietors. (Andrew Whitehead has written detailed pieces on the reveal on his own blog and History Workshop Online.) Their efforts to align with the brand went to the extent of having greaseproof paper printed with a faithful replication of the script and other lettering on the sign. (Sadly this has been discontinued. [Update, June 2015: The paper has been reinstated.])

E.Mono greaseproof paper
Photo: Stephen Emms

I recently passed through Finsbury Park Station and noticed that a new branch has been opened. Business for E.Mono has clearly been going well, perhaps in light of rave reviews for the Kentish Town branch. Here are some photos documenting these more recent efforts to replicate the lettering, juxtaposed with some contextual photos of the original shop and sign. The next branch is apparently set to open in Luton so we’ll see how the signage evolves there…

E.Mono shop front
Station Place, Finsbury Park. Note the mounted station letters above, gradually shifting and falling off.
E.Mono Shop Front
Kentish Town High Street
E.Mono shop front
Station Place, Finsbury Park
E.Mono Shop Front
Kentish Town High Street
E.Mono glass work
Station Place, Finsbury Park
E.Mono sign
Station Place, Finsbury Park
E.Mono Interior
Station Place, Finsbury Park
E.Mono chalk board
Station Place, Finsbury Park

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