Food

22 Hovis Ghost Signs Across the Capital

Documentation of Hovis ghost signs across London, including archival photos and contextual research.

21 Dec 2020

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

Multi-business ghostsign revealed in St. Petersburg, Texas

Fantastic reveal from St. Petersburg (Texas, not Russia). Three brands once resided in the building: Ermatinger hatters; Hayward’s toy shop; and the Wisteria confectionery company. Given the equal portion of wall space allotted to each business it is likely they split the cost of this sign three ways. It has been dated to 1929 and some […]

12 Sep 2012

Eddy’s Bread ghostsign restoration in Helena

A preview of the planned restoration of this Helena ghostsign later this year with some interesting debate on preservation issues and the history of the sign itself.

30 Jul 2012

Unusual Hovis Ghost Sign in New TV Commercial

This new TV commercial features a ghostsign at around 00:56.  It is unusual because it is advertising the farm as a supplier to Hovis, rather than the well know bakers being supplied by Hovis.  To what extent this is authentic I can’t say.  It seems unlikely that Hovis would have used this as a form […]

5 Jul 2012

Stoke Newington Ghostsigns: History Pin Tour

After discovering the ‘Ghost Signs of Louisville’ Tour on History Pin I couldn’t resist having a go myself. The preliminary result is my first tour, ‘Stoke Newington Ghostsigns’.  I reckon the walk would take a couple of hours depending on how long you stop to photograph the 18 featured signs and former locations of signs. […]

18 Dec 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

Whitton’s Bread

Andrew Hughes, who is writing his dissertation on the protection of Ghost Signs, sent me this well preserved sign from Lincoln.  The bread would most probably have been made at Whitton’s Mill in nearby Whitton, perhaps an early competitor to Hovis as this sign is actually for the shop but probably paid for by Whitton’s. […]

25 Jun 2007

Thetford Warrens

This picture was sent to me by my uncle who lives in Norwich. I saw it for myself when I visited recently.  It is advertising the rabbit warrens at Thetford and is part of a series of similar signs on this building between the windows on the first floor. The sign writer has picked a […]

23 Jun 2007

Hovis (Haringey)

Further to the previous post on the Hovis sign in Islington, here’s another example of this style from along Stroud Green Road in Haringey. The Hovis logo is different but the principle of Hovis sponsoring the painting of the sign in return for it being featured is the same.

21 Jun 2007

Hovis (Islington)

I discovered this sign at night on 3rd April this year and only got round to photographing it on Tuesday this week. I’ll have to go back to take another picture once the estate agent’s sign is removed but have put it up today because of the story behind it. On Tuesday I asked the […]

21 Jun 2007

Peterkin’s Custard

Further to the post on Louis Sheldon-Williams, here’s my photo of the full Peterkin’s Custard sign (featured in the Time Out piece). The little boy looks to be of Dutch origin (look at the clogs) but information on the company is thin on the ground.

19 Jun 2007

Hovis Process

Also on my visit to HAT I found this nice example of how big companies got the consistency of style across the country.  It is some directions issued by Hovis as to how the back of a bread van should be painted. In a 1952 Association of National Advertisers (USA) book there is a reference […]

18 Jun 2007