5 Sep 2024

Pawned for Good: The Partial Palimpsest in St James

News has reached me that the pawnbrokers palimpsest in St James, east London, has been whitewashed into oblivion. This is in close proximity to the London Co-Op ghost sign that was senselessly taken from us in 2017. RIP.

The side wall of an end-terrace building with fading paint on the brickwork and, in the central portion, fading painted letters overlapping one another from two iterations of painted advertising.
This partial palimpsest has been whitewashed in the recent redecoration of its host building.

The sign has an entry in the ‘Dressing the City’ chapter of Ghost Signs: A London Story, pasted below.

“The Smiths set up as pawnbrokers in 1901 and took over Albert Pocock’s existing shop in the late 1920s. He also had a sign on this wall but it is two layers of Smiths’ signage that a currently visible in palimpsest. The central section was protected by a billboard until about 2015. An additional vertical strip of faded signage can also be seen on the front of the building, facing St James Street.”

Ghost Signs: A London Story, page 119

Sadly, there wasn’t space in the book to include this wonderful archival photo of the earlier Pocock sign.

Black and white archival photo showing a corner shop with unidentifiable goods and price tickets hung outside. A man, presumably the shopkeeper is standing in the doorway which is set on the ground floor in the chamfer of the building. Very prominent is then a two-storey tall painted sign advertising A.T. Pocock, Pawnbroker, Estabd. 1894.
A postcard showing the former A.T. Pocock pawnbroker in St James, east London.
A portion of painted brick wall with layers of fading painted letters visible. Not all the words can be made out, but they included 'pawnbrokers', 'jewellers', and 'general sales'.
A closer look at the central portion of the wall, where the partial palimpsest for the Smith business was protected for many years by a billboard.

J.A. & G.E. Smith

J.A. & G.E. Smith

Estab. 1901

Pawnbrokers

Jewellers, Clothiers

and General Salesmen

298 Higham Hill Rd, Walthamstow

Grange Road (corner of St James Street), London E17 [Streetview]

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