London

Sign Painter Movie / Horn Please Double Bill

[Update: Read a review of the screenings here] I’m very excited to announce that The Sign Painter Movie is coming to London and will be screened alongside Horn Please on Wednesday, 5 February 2014 [Update: Sold Out, tickets now added for Thursday, 6 February and Friday, 7 February]. The tickets were released on Friday and […]

16 Dec 2013

Talks and Tours from Ghostsigns

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 of ghostsigns that started my interest (including the one above), […]

3 Nov 2013

Anarchy on the Walls: Ghostsigns, Street Art & Graffiti

Kasey Smith’s ‘Perception Filter‘ blog is well worth a follow for all ghostsigns enthusiasts. Her dispatches from San Francisco have been a big influence on me, as evidenced by the number of times I’ve decided to highlight her observations, insights, investigations and mapping efforts here on Ghostsigns. Her latest post concerns the work above by artist Augustine […]

27 Oct 2013

Inch & Co Chemists Inspires Poetry

Coming back from my visit to South London I also spotted this ghostsign advertising Inch & Co Cash Chemists on Kennington Park Road. As I was trying to recall the location I searched for the company name and found a couple of references to it on the Formerly blog. The sign has provided a springboard […]

20 Oct 2013

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

The Mick McTiernan ‘Wall Paintings’ Collection

Mick McTiernan has sent me his collection of archival ghostsigns photography, and what a collection it is. (More in his Ghost Signs set.) Proving that fading advertising painted on walls has held people in fascination for many years, Mick dates some of his images to the mid 1980s. Lots of them I recognise from submissions […]

15 Sep 2013

Beanfeast: Ghostsigns at Type Tasting

This is my/Ghostsigns’ submission to an inspiring project from Type Tasting, part of this year’s London Design Festival. It will be displayed alongside works from myriad designers and artists, including Alan Kitching and Ralph Steadman (Wow!), at the Victoria and Albert Museum, 14-19 September. The brief was to create a word that completes the sentence […]

1 Sep 2013

Public lettering walk with Phil Baines and Catherine Dixon

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 then took a different route to weave through Smithfield before […]

24 May 2013

Local Listed Status for Hackney Ghost Signs

Love Local Landmarks, an English Heritage-backed project, has been successful in gaining local listing status for two of Hackney’s most famous ghostsigns. The Blooms Piano sign (above) and the Waterman’s Fountain Pen sign on Stoke Newington Church Street have both been recognised for their “Aesthetic or Artistic” merit, and also for their historical significance. The […]

12 May 2013

Brymay Reveal from West Norwood

You win some, you lose some and Caroline has definitely found a winner with this fantastic Brymay matches reveal in West Norwood. It is part of a wider campaign by the Bryant & May company, as can be seen by the other examples of their advertising in the History of Advertising Trust Ghostsigns Archive. In […]

24 Oct 2012

The restoration of the Brixton Windmill mural

Check out this photo essay from the London Mural Preservation Society documenting their project to repaint Brixton’s Windmill mural.  It is a fantastic achievement and a vibrant and colourful result at the end of this undertaking which involved many people from the community and beyond. Bravo!

9 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

Mural walks in Brixton and East 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 Line Mural Walk) Brixton Mural Walk, Sunday, 15th July (download PDF with details […]

25 Jun 2012

The Partial Repainting of F.C. Dyson Provisions & Groceries, Stoke Newington

While back in the UK recently I spotted this while strolling around in my old Stoke Newington stomping ground.  Those familiar with the site as it once was will have some sense of what they’re trying to do here.  I’m guessing the primary motivation is the removal of the graffiti covering the old ghostsign that […]

9 Jun 2012

1970s London graffiti profiled in (sadly) out of print book

Check this out and don’t forget to eat your prunes! If you know a place to buy the book please let me know.

7 Jun 2012

The stories behind some of the intriguing ghostsigns of Clapham and Battersea

A few years ago I spoke with Russell Norris who, at the time, was writing an article on ghostsigns for  a local free circular publication in South London.  Like him I was waiting for its eventual publication which never came until this week when Russell took matters into his own hands and published it on […]

6 Jun 2012

Then and now: shopfronts 1988 revisited

Via this review of the East End shopfronts exhibition happening now in Tower Hamlets, I came across this incredible site which is the work of Lady Lamo and her colleague Alabama.  It retraces the steps that Alan Dein took in 1988 and documents what has become of the shops he photographed.  The result is absolutely […]

3 Jun 2012

Noor and Noor 2’s new hand painted sign in Bow

An interesting array of lettering types used in this newly painted sign.  Anyone know who did it and when it was done? (Thanks Ross for the photos.)

27 May 2012

(P)Imp and the Herbrand Street ‘Mural’ from @nycsouthpaw

I’ve just started watching Game of Thrones (highly addictive) so can appreciate this new piece of street art now covering part of the Herbrand Street ‘Mural’.  Does anyone know anything about the artist and the reaction of the locals which was quite hostile the last time..? PS. Does the Imp remind anyone else of Eddy Izzard […]

26 May 2012

East End shop fronts exhibition profiled on Spitalfields Life

Photo: Alan Dein Interview with Alan Dein and more preview images of this exhibition on the Spitalfiends Life blog.

21 May 2012

An opportunity to grab a brush or spray can and contribute to the restoration of a Brixton mural

My friends at the London Mural Preservation Society have successfully obtained lottery funding to restore the Brixton Windmill Mural.  The fun part is that members of the public can get involved this weekend (19th and 20th), next weekend (26th) and the Tuesday and Thursday (22nd and 24th) in between.  Find out more, including additonal work […]

18 May 2012

Photographic exhibition of East End shop fronts opens today

I’m gutted I won’t be able to visit this exhibition (pdf flyer below) of Alan Dein‘s late 1980s images of shop fronts in Tower Hamlets. If anyone writes a review then let me know and I’ll link to it here. (Hat tip to Lorna at History Workshop Online for the discovery.) Download exhibition poster.

17 May 2012

Farewell and RIP to the Hammersmith Palais

[Update, November 2020: This sign is still visible, and the demolition works appear to have only affected the building immediately behind this wall.] Thursday, 10th May 2012 marked the final destruction of the once proud Hammersmith Palais, home to this underground-platform-long ghostsign. Dances were once twice daily but the evidence of this now only remains […]

11 May 2012

London Remembers searching for clues about mystery girl painted onto wall in Belsize Park (@LondonRemembers)

Click here for more information and to add any leads to the case.  (London Remembers’ homepage is here.)

11 May 2012