Fading painted signs

Tours

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

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

Back in March last year I had the pleasure of taking two groups from Melbourne’s RMIT on my Stoke Newington Ghostsigns Walk. This was the second time I’ve worked with the University on their special European study tour and, again, it was a really enjoyable […]

On Tour with Albani Calusin and RMIT

This entry was posted in Signs in Media and tagged Albani Calusin Australia Ghostsigns Walking Tour London Melbourne N16 RMIT Sam Roberts Stoke Newington Tours UK on January 5, 2018 by Sam Roberts

Back in May, Marco Bazelmans contacted me about a project he was working on as part of his communication design studies in Aachen, Germany. The brief was to create a guide of some sort, and he had selected signwriting as his theme. In particular, he […]

‘London Sign by Sign’ by Marco Bazelmans

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Collections Sign Folk Signs in Media and tagged Book London Marco Bazelmans Signwriter Signwriting Tours UK on October 4, 2017 by Sam Roberts

This ghostsign on Stoke Newington High Street comes at about the halfway point of my walking tour through the area. It is a palimpsest which has been well researched by Sébastien Ardouin. I recently took a couple of close-up photos, one of which has added […]

John Hawkins, Steeles & Chaney Signs

This entry was posted in Sign Making Sign Stories and tagged Chaney Chaney Advertising Dalston De Beauvoir Englefield Road Ghostsigns Walking Tour Hackney John Hawkings Kingsland Road London Palimpsest Sébastien Ardouin Signwriter Steeles Stoke Newington Stoke Newington High Street Tours UK William Chaney on February 25, 2017 by Sam Roberts

Amir Dotan’s excellent History of Stoke Newington project has just published over 4,000 images on Flickr, from a variety of sources. They are well worth a browse, as are his Facebook and Twitter feeds. While looking through I pulled out a handful relating to locations […]

Photos of Old Stoke Newington

This entry was posted in Photo Essays and tagged Alan Denney Amir Dotan Ghostsigns Walking Tour London N16 Stoke Newington Tours UK on January 3, 2017 by Sam Roberts

I’ve recently had the pleasure of meeting the Gentle Author, creator and driver of the incredible daily posts on Spitalfields Life. We explored the routes of my North and South London Ghostsigns Tours, which have been documented on the blog (here and here). As with […]

Ghostsigns with the Gentle Author on Spitalfields Life

This entry was posted in Sign Destinations Signs in Media and tagged Bankside Bankside Ghostsigns Walk Gentle Author Ghostsigns Ghostsigns Tours App Ghostsigns Walking Tour London N16 SE1 Spitalfields Life Stoke Newington Tours UK on October 17, 2016 by Sam Roberts

The Ghostsigns Tours App, and the Bankside Ghostsigns Walk within it, are now available from iTunes and Google Play (for Android). The app brings the popular Ghostsigns Walking Tours to your mobile device, for enjoyment at street level, or from the comfort of your own […]

The Ghostsigns Tours App is Out Now

This entry was posted in Sign Destinations Sign Initiatives and tagged Bankside Ghostsigns Walk Ghostsigns Ghostsigns Tours App Ghostsigns Walking Tour LDF16 Light Capsules London London Design Festival N16 SE1 Tours UK on September 16, 2016 by Sam Roberts

Craig Winslow is an experiential designer who has recently turned his gaze towards ghostsigns, and the creative possibilities offered by applying his expertise in light projection mapping. The idea first came to him during a trip across America and has grown since. In essence it […]

Light Capsules from Craig Winslow

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Folk Sign Initiatives Sign Preservation and tagged Adobe Barlow & Roberts Cakebread Robey Cockle & Co Craig Winslow Creative Residency Ghostsigns Gillette LDF16 Light Capsules London London Design Festival N16 Palimpsest Projection Mapping Projections Restoration SE1 Take Courage Tours UK Westminster Gazette Wire Works on September 7, 2016 by Sam Roberts

Large piece of painted advertising fading on a wall — This time last year I was setting out with my crash test dummies on the first ever Ghostsigns Walking Tour in Stoke Newington, London. It went well enough for me to continue running them and I’ve now taken the walk 24 times, with 220 people, […]

Ghostsigns Walking Tours: One Year On

This entry was posted in Sign Destinations Sign Initiatives and tagged Ghostsigns London N16 Sam Roberts Stoke Newington Tours on October 20, 2014 by Sam Roberts

This was the scene on Cazenove Road, Stoke Newington, on the morning of Monday 28 July. The photo was snapped from the top floor of flats overlooking this famous ghostsign for John Brown Whiskies. I received it via email with a message concerned about the […]

Who You Gonna Call?

This entry was posted in Sign Stories Signs of Note and tagged Alcohol Cazenove Road John Brown John Brown Whiskies London N16 Stoke Newington Stokie Tours UK Whisky on August 27, 2014 by Sam Roberts

I took N Quentin Woolf of Londonist Out Loud on a portion of my Ghostsigns Walking Tour in Stoke Newington. The result is this podcast (here on itunes, and here on Londonist) which we managed to record despite the myriad noises and distractions on the […]

Ghostsigns on Londonist Out Loud

This entry was posted in Signs in Media and tagged Derelict London Interview London Londonist Londonist Out Loud N Quentin Woolf N16 Podcast Press Radio Sam Roberts Stoke Newington Tours UK on June 14, 2014 by Sam Roberts

Small plaque for Pickering & Mayell — On 21 May, before my Type Talk at Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, I helped lead a walk through the city’s historic Jewellery Quarter. This was in collaboration with Geraldine Marshall of the Birmingham Graphic DNA Project, and focused on the ghostsigns and public […]

Ghostsigns and Public Lettering in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter

This entry was posted in Sign Collections Sign Destinations and tagged Birmingham Geraldine Marshall Ghostsigns Jewellery Jewellery Quarter Lettering Mapping Public Lettering Sam Roberts Tours UK Walk on June 4, 2014 by Sam Roberts

Partial remains of fading painted sign on a brick wall advertising Daren Bread — This fragment of a ghostsign for Daren Bread in Stoke Newington is one of the stops on my walking tour in the area. Now, thanks to Google Streetview’s new ‘timelapse’ feature, we are able to visit the location as it was in 2008, prior to […]

Time Travel with Google Streetview

This entry was posted in Individual Signs and tagged Daren Bread Google Hackney London Mapping N16 Stoke Newington Streetview Timelapse Tours UK on April 29, 2014 by Sam Roberts

Painted sign on a wall advertising R Ellis, Ironmonger — I’m pleased to announce to regular readers of the Ghostsigns blog that I have some events coming up that should be of interest. Ghostsigns at St Bride: An illustrated talk on 20 November, previewed on Creative Review Ghostsigns walking tours: Join me in admiring some […]

Talks and Tours from Ghostsigns

This entry was posted in Sign Destinations Sign Initiatives and tagged Event Ghostsigns London N16 Sam Roberts St Bride Stoke Newington Talks Tours on November 3, 2013 by Sam Roberts

'O to the Priory Church — Yesterday I had the pleasure of joining Phil Baines and Catherine Dixon on their latest Public Lettering walk, organised through the excellent St Bride Library events programme. As with my earlier walking tour in this part of London (Type Tour West) it started at the library but […]

Public lettering walk with Phil Baines and Catherine Dixon

This entry was posted in Sign Destinations Sign Folk and tagged Catherine Dixon Event Farringdon Fleet Street Ghostsigns Lettering London Phil Baines Smithfield St Bride Tours UK Walk on May 24, 2013 by Sam Roberts

Photographic film showing large hand-painted sign on a wall in New York — A couple of treats next week for those residing in, or visiting, New York from Frank Jump, author of the excellent ‘Fading Ads of New York City’: 1. An Illustrated Lecture and Book Signing on the evening of Wednesday, 3rd October at the New York Society for […]

Walking tours and talks with Frank Jump

This entry was posted in Sign Destinations and tagged Event Fading Ads Frank Jump New York Talks Tours USA on September 29, 2012 by Sam Roberts

Mosaic depicting a New York gangster from the prohibition era — ‘Mosaic Man’ Jim Power profiled in this film showing his work on the Mosaic Trail, a Lower Manhattan art exhibit depicting the people and the history of the area and the city. Sadly many of his works were destroyed but he’s now on a mission […]

Jim Power’s mosaics, a piece of New York history

This entry was posted in Off Piste Related Work and tagged Art Jim Power Mosaic Mosaic Man Mosaic Trail New York Tours USA on August 6, 2012 by Sam Roberts

Hand painted counter with the words, "Who let the dogs in...who...who...who?" — Walldog is the nickname given to those that once roamed the USA painting signs and slogans on brick walls, roadside barns and any other surface capable of providing a canvass for their advertising art. The International Walldog Mural & Sign Art Museum is a celebration of […]

The International Walldog Mural & Sign Art Museum

This entry was posted in Sign Destinations Sign Making Signs in Media and tagged Murals Museum Pontiac Route 66 Signwriter Signwriting Tours USA Video Walldogs on July 31, 2012 by Sam Roberts

Excerpt of the Ghost Signs of Fort Collins Walking Tour — Building on the various tours and trails already published on this site, here are some more: Download a pdf of the Fort Collins Ghost Signs Tour (1) Download a pdf of the Fort Collins Ghost Signs Tour (2) Download a pdf of the Watertown Murals […]

Fort Collins and Watertown Ghostsigns

This entry was posted in Sign Collections Sign Destinations and tagged Article Fort Collins Research Tours USA Watertown on July 17, 2012 by Sam Roberts

Close up of portion of Hackney Peace Mural in Dalston, London — The London Mural Preservation Society has organised two walking tours showcasing some of London’s most iconic murals. Check the PDFs below for full details and contact information for the society. East London Line Mural Walk, Saturday 30th June (download PDF with details of East London […]

Mural walks in Brixton and East London

This entry was posted in Related Work and tagged Brixton Dalston East London Line LMPS London London Mural Preservation Society Murals Tours Walk on June 25, 2012 by Sam Roberts

Monster Clothing Company, Southwark Bridge Road — Bicycles supplied for this intriguing tour of Southwark and the City’s ghostsigns and lettering on buildings. It’s on 24th June and is part of the London Festival of Architecture. Book here.

Ghost Signs and Typographic Buildings tour in London Festival of ...

This entry was posted in Sign Destinations and tagged lfa2012 London Tours on June 19, 2012 by Sam Roberts

It may be too late to book but for those in the Utrecht area this (pdf flyer) looks to be an informative tour of the city’s historic wall advertising. (Organised by Writing on the Wall.)

Guided tour of hand painted advertising on walls in Utrecht, ...

This entry was posted in Sign Destinations Sign Initiatives and tagged Ghostsigns Netherlands Tours Utrecht Writing on the Wall on May 10, 2012 by Sam Roberts

Frank Jump led this tour last week to raise awareness of the ‘fading ads’ in this part of New York. I was a bit slow off the mark to preview it but fortunately Jeremiah at Fading New York did just that and used the opportunity […]

Frank Jump leads a guided tour of Greenpoint, New York

This entry was posted in Sign Destinations and tagged Frank Jump Ghostsigns Mapping New York Tours USA on March 24, 2012 by Sam Roberts