Beer

Brain’s Honest Ale: Lost But Not Forgotten in Cardiff

A wonderful pictorial ghost sign for Brain’s ‘honest’ ales, photographed in Cardiff in the late-1970s by John Jenkins.

10 Jun 2024

More Minnesota Ghostsigns…

Earlier this month I was back in Mazeppa, Minnesota for more workshops with Mike Meyer and Better Letters. This gave me an opportunity to see some of the signs there without the snowy backdrop, and also to spend some time in Minneapolis where there were numerous new ghostsigns to discover. (See my earlier photos here.) […]

21 Jul 2017

S Errington and some other South London Ghostsigns

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 to a trip down south to meet Mari Boman and […]

22 Sep 2013

Hand-painted Asahi beer sign at the Earl of Portobello

Regular correspondent Ross Corben sent me this newly painted sign for Asahi beer on the side of the Earl of Portobello pub in West London (close up below). It’s an unusual brand for a piece of hand-painted advertising in my opinion, at least in light of the synergy between other users of the medium such as Jack […]

24 Nov 2012

French ghostsigns blog: Les murs peints s’affichent

Les murs peints s’affichent is a blog written by Philippe Célérier on the topic of ghostsigns in France. He adds updates quite regularly and it is well worth following if you are interested in hand painted signs on buildings from this country which seems to have so many. The image above is taken from this post […]

29 Jul 2012

Fuller, Smith & Turner: Chiswick Ales & Stouts

This new hand painted sign on the building housing the Union Tavern was sent to me by regular correspondent Ross Corben.  It is advertising the famous Fuller, Smith & Turner brewery from nearby Chiswick and has clearly been produced to have a dated look, in keeping with some of the ‘faux’ ghostsigns discussed previously.  It […]

7 Jul 2012

Hemingway’s Ales (RIP)

This wonderful gable end sign for Hemingway’s Ales (Big Ben’s brand) ceased to exist as of 9th March 2011.  It was a truly remarkable ghostsign and featured as the backdrop for my interview with John Seargent in the piece broadcast on the One Show.  Incidentally I notice that it isn’t currently featured in the archive […]

15 Jan 2012

49 New Signs

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 of photographers across the country. I’ve listed the codes for […]

5 Aug 2011

Fresh lick of paint

I received an email this morning from a mural artist with an interest in working to restore/repaint Ghostsigns in the UK. She found me via a great project being run by the London Mural Preservation Society. I started drafting a response and then realised I’ve never written specifically about this topic and thought a blog […]

7 May 2011

Production Process

Click here for some interesting notes on the production of Ghost Signs from the USA Museum of Beer Brewing. It implies that the sign writers (or Wall Dogs in USA) used sheets of paper to create a dotted chalk outline on the wall which they could then use to guide the application of paint. I […]

27 Jun 2007