Research
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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 […]
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Black Cat Cigarettes
One of my personal favourites, this one is on Dingley Road, EC1. It is for an old brand of cigarettes that no longer exists. There used to be a factory located on this site but more interesting is that Greater London House in Mornington Crescent was originally built as a factory for these cigarettes by […]
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BP (British Petrol) Revealed
This sign was partially covered for a long time but, just the other day, the modern poster was taken down revealing an old ad for British Petrol (BP) and some other ads faded behind but in a similar colour. The history of the logo indicates that this sign may well date from pre-1930.
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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 […]
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Bile Beans
Speaking yesterday with a guy writing his dissertation on the preservation of Ghost Signs I heard about this iconic example from York for Bile Beans. According to my contact it was restored by the York Arts Forum in 1986 just at the same time as the product was being discontinued by the manufacturer. However, despite […]
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Watneys Wall
Yesterday I visited the History of Advertising Trust (HAT). I came across a funny old poster for Watney’s Ale. It was a parody of the painted ad format and of painted political slogans and was done in 1938 by an advertising agency called Horrocks and Company. This picture from the October 1938 edition of ‘The […]