Fading painted signs

Bovril

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

Hand-painted lettering on a wall saying 'Furniture Bought, Sold Or' — This is a detail from one of my all-time favourite ghostsigns. It’s on Dulwich Road in South London and already features in the History of Advertising Trust Ghostsigns Archive. I had never actually seen it ‘in the flesh’ so it was a great surprise addition […]

S Errington and some other South London Ghostsigns

This entry was posted in Individual Signs and tagged Alcohol Beer Bovril Brixton Chemist Cigarettes Clothing Craven A Dulwich Road Food Furniture Ghostsigns Inch & Co John Lovibond London Mari Boman Our Sons Menswear S Errington Sam Roberts Tobacco on September 22, 2013 by Sam Roberts

London ghostsign photographed by Mari Boman — Mari Boman, a photographer, took ghostsigns as the subject matter for her project titled ‘Liminal Space: past/presence’. The result is this series of nine beautiful images of some of London’s most well known ghostsigns. Not only that but the titles offer cryptic clues as to […]

Liminal Space: past/presence by Mari Boman

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Collections Sign Stories and tagged Art Bovril Bryant and May Brymay Ghostsigns Liminal Space Mari Boman Peterkin Photographer Photography on August 25, 2013 by Sam Roberts

Hand painted advertising on a building for various motoring brands — Since handing over day-to-day responsibility for the archive to the History of Advertising Trust there has been a steady influx of new material. 49 new signs have been uploaded to the online galleries and this means that c.750 are now documented through the collective efforts […]

49 New Signs

This entry was posted in Sign Collections and tagged AA Alcohol Archive Beer Bookbinder Bovril Coca-Cola Coke Darvill's Drink Furniture Gramophones HAT Household Jewellery Little Miss Barber Motoring Music Pianos Printers Puck Matches RAC Soft Drink Stationery Tea Transport Twinings Vaux on August 5, 2011 by Sam Roberts

Bovril Ghostsign in Leicester by Dennis Duggan — Colin Hyde from the Centre for Urban History at Leicester University sent me an email with a fascinating link today. It is to a project he has been curating over the last couple of years which features an unrivalled collection of Ghostsigns from the county of […]

My Leicestershire Digital Archive

This entry was posted in Related Work and tagged Archive Bovril Colin Hyde Leicester Leicestershire on May 16, 2011 by Sam Roberts

Photo: Creative Review Photo: Creative Review Creative Review and a few others have spotted this new outdoor campaign for Anchor Butter. When I first saw the photos I assumed they were genuine hand painted ads but they are actually printed billboards which, in the case […]

Anchor

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Signs in Media and tagged Bovril Contemporary Issues Event Modern Brickads People Press Print Related and Random Watneys on August 5, 2010 by Sam Roberts

I’d love to get your feedback on a draft chapter for a possible book to accompany the archive. If this gets published then it will help raise funds to support the ongoing work of the History of Advertising Trust in this area. As usual please […]

Draft Chapter (Food & Drink)

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Collections Sign Initiatives Sign Stories Signs of Note and tagged Archive Books Bovril Hovis Peterkin Research UK on January 8, 2010 by Sam Roberts

Bovril, Station Road, Redhill, RH1 (Photo by dozymoo) The appearance of this sign in Redhill, Surrey acted as a catalyst for an article on the subject of ghostsigns in the Surrey Mirror. This was kindly sent to me by David Griffiths as it wasn’t published […]

Surrey Mirror

This entry was posted in Signs in Media and tagged Bovril Press Print on November 14, 2009 by Sam Roberts

Bovril, Redhill by Alex Hunter Alex sent me this photo of the remnants of a Bovril sign in the Redhill area. In much the same way as the Ekco sign that Duncan sent me, this sign appears to have been revealed during some recent construction […]

Bovril Update

This entry was posted in Individual Signs Photo Essays and tagged Bovril Surrey UK on April 26, 2008 by Sam Roberts

Bovril and Greys Cigarettes Ghostsigns from Bedford — Andy sent me this great double sign from Bedford in response to my appeal for world record contenders. Although it isn’t a multitude of signs, the quality of preservation is exceptional. Either they’ve been retouched or they have been preserved by a billboard/adjacent building. redgrittybrick […]

Bovril & Greys

This entry was posted in Individual Signs and tagged Bovril London UK on October 19, 2007 by Sam Roberts