Clapham Ghostsigns Walk
Join ghost signs expert Sam Roberts for the Clapham Ghostsigns Walk. You’ll take a stroll (in real life, or virtually) through Clapham, South West London, and learn about its fading painted signs. With both audio and text options, you’ll hear their stories told, and those of the businesses they represent, including:
- The connections between the former garage on Landor Road and the nearby Bedford pub;
- How the whitewashing of an old painted sign resulted in a question to the Mayor at the London Assembly;
- How two-part gold leaf shopfronts are created;
- And the lost London postcode that shares a building with an old sign for a former chemist’s shop.
The walk lasts about an hour on foot, or 40 minutes if done in ‘armchair’ mode using the google streetview links. Each stop is located on google maps, with directions given to aid navigation between them. The signs are transcribed and their stories (audio and text) enriched with a wealth of archival and other contextual images. For those that want more at the end there are some bonus stops with four of London’s best ghost signs included.
The walk was originally developed in 2018 for the Lambeth Heritage Festival in collaboration with Roy Reed and The Clapham Society. Many of the featured signs are included alongside more than 250 across the Capital in the book Ghost Signs: A London Story, published by Isola Press (order page).
Free Tour
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