1 Oct 2022

The Theft of L. Lambert, Timber Merchant

I am reporting the theft of the enamel sign advertising L. Lambert, Timber Merchant, on the South end of Hoxton Street last night. (Map.) The building owner to in touch via Vici MacDonald’s Shopfrontelegy post in the hope that the sign might be found and put back in its long-time home. He notes that:

“We are devastated as restoration to the building is planned very soon. It must have been well organised, as the sign is a good 15ft [5m] long and quite heavy. It’s been there over a hundred years.”

I have written before about the value of authentic antique and vintage signs in the architectural salvage market, and also of another theft not far from yesterday’s incident. One of our fears when doing the survey of surviving N.E. postal district signs was that it would draw attention to them, and possibly encourage malicious actions. So far this hasn’t happened, but there are clearly people willing to steal, rather than salvage, these relics.

If anyone has any information that might assist in locating the sign then please get in touch via sam@ghostsigns.co.uk or with the police who the owner is already liaising with.

PS. I’ve not been able to find any historical records connected to the firm, so please share anything you may know via the email above, or in the comments below.

• Enamel Sign
• Fascia
• Hoxton
• Hoxton Street
• L. Lambert
• London
• N1
• Shopfront
• Timber Merchant
• UK