Fading painted signs

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Pickles Street in Melbourne was once home to the Joshua Brothers Distillery, and later United Distillers. The latter adorned the building with a series of painted bottles depicting the products that they distributed in Australia. The pieces were painted in the 1960s by signwriter Keith […]

The Enduring Legacy of the Joshua Brothers Distillery

This entry was posted in Sign Preservation and tagged Australia Bundaberg Conservation Jameson's Joshua Distillery Keith Martin Melbourne oldsignspotter Pickles Street Preservation Protection United Distillers Whiskey on July 6, 2018 by Sam Roberts

Windrush Square in Brixton is home to this, one of the most famous ghost signs in London. While the Bovril sign is still very prominent, less well known is that beneath it are the remains of what was once a painted advertisement for Butlin’s. While […]

Bovril’s Windrush Square Legacy

This entry was posted in Sign Stories and tagged Bovril Brixton Brixton Society Butlin's London Roy Reed UK Windrush Square on June 29, 2018 by Sam Roberts

The following article is re-posted from the original on Better Letters. This August we’ll be opening a very special sign painting exhibition within the public-facing part of Letterheads 2018: London Calling. It is being curated by Meredith Kasabian of Best Dressed Signs and the Pre-Vinylite […]

The Grand Exhibition of the Society of Sign Painters

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Collections Sign Destinations Sign Folk Sign Initiatives Sign Making Sign Stories and tagged 18th Century Better Letters Exhibition Grand Exhibition Letterheads 2018 London Calling Meredith Kasabian Pre-Vinylite Society Signs on June 22, 2018 by Sam Roberts

The restoration of ghost signs seems to be becoming more prevalent in the UK, or perhaps I’m just more conscious of them taking place. While I don’t document every instance, I thought that this one had an interesting back story, as shared by Stefan Lewis […]

Evans, Jones & Ricketts Restoration in Talgarth, Mid Wales

This entry was posted in Sign Initiatives Sign Preservation Sign Stories Signs of Note and tagged Conservation Evans Garage Jones MId Wales Restoration Reveal Ricketts Talgarth UK Wales World War 2 WW2 on June 15, 2018 by Sam Roberts

This ghost sign for Ariel motorbikes, and the Writers shop that sold them in Kennington, is one of my London favourites, partly due to the illustrated element, and partly due to the historical connections that emerged after I first wrote about it in 2007. The […]

Ariel / Writers Revisited

This entry was posted in Sign Preservation and tagged Albion Coffee House Ariel Conservation Kennington London Preservation UK Weathering Writers on June 8, 2018 by Sam Roberts

Job Weessies is a Dutch model maker and, after some time working on railway models, he has moved into working with card and on creating street scenes. While he has never visited London, or indeed the UK, he uses a variety of publically available resources […]

The Dioramas of Northall by Job Weessies

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs and tagged Diorama Job Weessies London Model Making Northall UK on June 1, 2018 by Sam Roberts

I first posted about this illustrated Gillette ghost sign on Commercial Street back in 2007 when I came across it on Frank Jump’s Fading Ads blog. Frank told me that the best place to photograph it was from the top of the nearby carpark which […]

A 1984 Photo of the Spitalfields Gillette Ghost Sign

This entry was posted in Signs of Note and tagged 1984 Archival Photos Commercial Street E1 Gillette London Philip Marriage Spitalfields UK on May 25, 2018 by Sam Roberts

[This book review is reposted from the original on the Better Letters blog.] “Signwriters are entitled to their immortality just as are other artists and craftsmen” – Kevin Corrigan Kearns, Dublin’s Vanishing Craftsmen Signwriting is perhaps the least documented of the lettering disciplines; it’s nature […]

Karl Blaschke: The Sign Man of Munich

This entry was posted in Sign Destinations Sign Folk Signs in Media and tagged Blaschke Book Germany Munich Oliver Linke on May 18, 2018 by Sam Roberts

This ghost sign in Rockford, Illinois advertises Viceroy cigarettes, and that they are ‘Now King Size’. It was shared on Twitter by BarbarianDiva and is a lovely example of a ‘reverse’ ghost sign. This effect is achieved by the demolition of the host building, leaving […]

King Size Viceroy Reversal in Rockford IL

This entry was posted in Signs of Note and tagged Cigarettes IL Illinois King Size Mirror Reverse Rockford Tobacco USA Viceroy on May 11, 2018 by Sam Roberts

After publishing the wonderful photos of one-time Paris sign business E. Gautier, I was alerted to this project and the above video where the sign makes a brief cameo. Five of my favourites below, but make sure you check out the full collection, including background […]

The Shopfronts of ‘Paris Re-Tale’

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Collections and tagged France Paris Pixartprinting Sebastian Erras Shop Fronts on May 4, 2018 by Sam Roberts

Roy Reed is a prolific collector and researcher of ghost signs, and uses his skills as a designer to decipher them. I’ve featured his work previously, on the almost illegible William Walker & Sons sign in Bermondsey. Roy is also a co-collaborator on the forthcoming […]

Roy Reed’s Reconstructions

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Collections Sign Folk Sign Initiatives and tagged Deciphering Reconstruction Roy Reed on April 27, 2018 by Sam Roberts

Michelle Heron is a London-based painter with a paticular fascination for old shops and shop fronts. Her paintings depict iconic fascias, many of which have been lost since she turned her attention to them, and some that survive in a state of perpetual uncertainty. As […]

Michelle Heron’s Fantastic Fascias

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Collections Sign Initiatives and tagged Art Blustons Cooke Egg Stores Jones Dairy London Michelle Heron Peter Hardwicke UK Zodiac on April 20, 2018 by Sam Roberts

Following a series of discussions on Twitter myself and a handful of others have decided to run a scavenger hunt to locate, photograph and map the remaining street signs featuring the now-defunct NE London Postal District. It will take place 2-5pm on the afternoon of […]

NE Signs Scavenger Hunt

This entry was posted in Sign Destinations Sign Initiatives Signs of Note and tagged Hackney London NE Postal Districts Postcodes Street Signs UK on April 13, 2018 by Sam Roberts

Independently of each other I have been sent photos of this beautiful Paris ghost signs by Wim Dammers and book contributor Leisa Clements. It is a remarkably elaborate piece of work, including picturials in other sections. This is isn’t surprising as it is advertising the […]

E. Gautier’s Beautiful Paris Ghost Signs

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Folk Signs of Note and tagged Art E. Gautier Enseignes France Frederick Brill Homage a' Atkinson Grimshaw Leisa Clements Paris Signwriter Stephen Gavin Tot Brill Wim Dammers on April 6, 2018 by Sam Roberts

Back in 2016 I gave a short talk about my archiving work at the annual conference of the Business Archives Council, where one of the organisers was a project archivist for Boots chemists. Afterwards I shared the above image and forwarded her the archival photo […]

Tracking Down Boots in Stoke-on-Trent

This entry was posted in Sign Stories and tagged Archival Photos Archive Boots Business Archives Council Chemist Chris Morris HAT Horace Dudley Middlesbrough Stoke Stoke-on-Trent UK Wigan on March 30, 2018 by Sam Roberts

Following my talk to the Clapham Society last summer we are joining forces, with Roy Reed, to develop a walk exploring the many ghost signs visible on and around Clapham High Street. We are currently carrying out a mixture of archival and web-based research into […]

Ghostsigns of Clapham, a Forthcoming Walk

This entry was posted in Sign Destinations Sign Initiatives and tagged Batten & Davies Clapham Clapham Society Deane & Co Gillette H.G. Benwell London Music Roll Exchange Research Ribbans Engineering Roy Reed Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Tours UK United Dairies on March 23, 2018 by Sam Roberts

This blog post highlights an entire category of fading painted signs that I have never come across. They are for ‘ancient lights’ and reference an English law protecting the right of property owners to receive natural light through their windows. The assertion of this right […]

Ancient Lights in English Law

This entry was posted in Painted Lettering and tagged Ancient Lights Legal London Protection Spiritual Vigor UK on March 16, 2018 by Sam Roberts

Alistair Hall of We Made This has spent the last couple of years documenting and researching the various forms taken by London’s Street Signs. He is set to present his findings in a lecture at St Bride on 31 May, so of course I’ve bought […]

London Street Signs with Alistair Hall

This entry was posted in Sign Collections Sign Initiatives and tagged Alistair Hall Event Lecture London London Street Signs Name Plates St Bride Street Signs UK We Made This on March 9, 2018 by Sam Roberts

The list below of painted advertisements in Islington was compiled in the hope that some of those reading it might write in with additional locations not known to the compiler, and in the belief that painted advertisements in other parts of London would make a […]

Painted Advertisements in Islington: Part 4

This entry was posted in Sign Collections Sign Destinations Sign Initiatives Sign Preservation Signs in Media and tagged A. D. Harvey Islington London Painted Advertisements in Islington Research Reveal RIP UK on March 2, 2018 by Sam Roberts

The list below of painted advertisements in Islington was compiled in the hope that some of those reading it might write in with additional locations not known to the compiler, and in the belief that painted advertisements in other parts of London would make a […]

Painted Advertisements in Islington: Part 3

This entry was posted in Sign Collections Sign Destinations Sign Initiatives Sign Preservation Signs in Media and tagged A. D. Harvey Islington London Painted Advertisements in Islington Research Reveal RIP UK on February 23, 2018 by Sam Roberts

The list below of painted advertisements in Islington was compiled in the hope that some of those reading it might write in with additional locations not known to the compiler, and in the belief that painted advertisements in other parts of London would make a […]

Painted Advertisements in Islington: Part 2

This entry was posted in Sign Collections Sign Destinations Sign Initiatives Sign Preservation Signs in Media and tagged A. D. Harvey Islington London Painted Advertisements in Islington Research Reveal RIP UK on February 16, 2018 by Sam Roberts

Historia de la Publicidas is a wonderful archive documenting the advertising history of Buenos Aires in Argentina. Curated by Raul Manrupe the collection features a mixture of archival photography, contemporary images of ghost signs, and other artwork involved in the production and documentation of outdoor […]

Images of Buenos Aires’ Advertising Past

This entry was posted in Sign Collections Sign Destinations and tagged Aluvion Argentina Billboard Buenos Aires Champagne Protocolo Fanta Gancia Historia de la Publicidas Llauró Nazca Nestle Nido Orbis Polaris Publicidad Orbis Quilmes Imperial Raul Manrupe South America on February 9, 2018 by Sam Roberts

After much deliberation I have taken the decision to cease leading my public walking tours after the last one in May this year. That means there are just two dates left for each of my Stoke Newington (18 Feb and 15 Apr) and Bankside (18 […]

The Future of Ghostsigns’ Walking Tours

This entry was posted in Sign Destinations Sign Initiatives and tagged Bankside Bankside Ghostsigns Walk Ghostsigns Ghostsigns Tours App Ghostsigns Walking Tour Sam Roberts Stoke Newington Tours on February 2, 2018 by Sam Roberts

The Cat & Mutton pub on Broadway Market in East London has a remarkable array of Victorian glasswork on display in the main bar (see samples below). However, on a recent visit for a family Christmas meal, my uncle and I discovered the above two […]

Gardiner & Lacey at the Cat & Mutton

This entry was posted in Sign Destinations Sign Stories Signs of Note and tagged Architectural Salvage Broadway Market Cat & Mutton Chemist Gardiner Gardiner & Lacey George Plunkett Glasswork Keith Roberts Lacey London London Fields Norwich Opticians Pharmacy Raven pub Salvage St Giles Street UK Victorian Youngs Crawshay & Youngs on January 26, 2018 by Sam Roberts