advertising ghosts

Casa Massana

2007-02-13T19:45:00.001Z

Casa Massana
Originally uploaded by Mags.

An old sign above a boring shop in Barcelona...

Horses Jobbed

2007-01-20T12:53:00.000Z

originally taken and posted by Ronald Hackston

Horses being overwritten by cars in Clapham.

Mirrors & Corsets

2007-01-20T12:47:00.000Z

originally taken and posted by lipska
click through to see translations of the signs. Now destroyed, apparently.

Monster Clothing

2007-01-20T12:38:00.000Z

originally taken and posted by jon's pics

In Borough, London. Where the monsters dress up.

Harry Susman Novelties

2007-01-20T12:23:00.000Z

originally taken and posted by cmrowell

via flickr. I like the fact the big selling point is novelties, but that you can also get housewares.

Also, the garage in front is fabulously retro 50s.

Hughs and Cleary

2007-01-20T12:17:00.000Z

originally taken and posted on flickr by Dania_H

Redfern Rubber

2007-01-12T13:11:00.001Z

red
Originally uploaded by mintea.

Lambourn Road, Clapham. Click through for more discussion, or click below for close-ups:
top advert in close up
bottom advert in close up

Chemists on Cloudesley Road, Islington

2007-01-07T17:22:00.001Z

Oringinally taken and uploaded by 3x0=3

Relieves Fatigue!

2007-01-07T17:12:00.000Z

Originally posted by greynotgrey
The comment thread details a history, both of this sign and of Coca Cola.

I'm not sure if I'd want a carriage made by a guy on coke...

M. Lann

2007-01-07T12:17:00.001Z

Dartmouth Arms advertising ghost
Originally uploaded by Mags.

I've meant to photo this one for months, but I nearly always go past it at night. The other weekend we had breakfast in the Dartmouth Arms and emerged in daylight.

E. Gaut....

2006-10-15T21:41:00.000+01:00

originally posted by Mags
Ensignes means signs. Yes, it's a ghost advertising itself.

Harrogate Carriage Co. Ltd

2006-10-15T21:31:00.001+01:00

originally posted by Mags
It's hard to decipher in the photo, and even in real life, but we eventually found what one of the adverts here was for. I suspect the carriages were of the horse-drawn kind.

MacKay's All Night Garage

2006-10-15T21:28:00.000+01:00

originally posted by Mags
Now above some shops and offices.

General Printers & Newspaper Propriators

2006-10-09T22:57:00.000+01:00

Originally taken by Mags

The former Herald building on Montpellier Parade, Harrogate (read a history here). The 'list of vistors' was just that - an early society page listing who was in town to take the waters.

Now a Slug and Lettace chain pub.

A. H. Dunn

2006-09-27T12:36:00.000+01:00

external link: A. H. Dunn
High Class Bakers & Confectioners, originally photographed by mintea on flickr.

Catering for Beanfeasts, Parties, Clubs

2006-09-26T22:34:00.000+01:00

|
originally posted by Mags
Still in the catering trade, but I doubt I'd get a beanfeast at this modish Italian restaurant on Highgate Road.

Shorthand & Typing

2006-09-08T12:09:00.000+01:00

originally posted by esterase
Walthamstow School of Shorthand and Typing, London.
via estherase's flickr set.

Palace Newreel Theatre

2006-09-07T18:41:00.000+01:00

external link: Palace Newsreel Theatre
continuous performances

originally posted by Googiesque

via the Faded Signage group

10 for 6d

2006-09-07T11:32:00.000+01:00

originally posted by esterase
Black Cat cigarettes, on Dingley Road in London.
via a complex chain of links on flickr!

Cadbury's Chocolates

2006-09-07T09:49:00.000+01:00

external link: Cadbury's Chocolates - made at

My guess, being a Midland's girl, would be "made at Bourneville". Cadbury's is still going strong, despite the recent salmonella scare, but this sign is clearly old and abandoned.

via flickr's Urban Decay group.

City Goods Station and Bonded Stores

2006-08-25T11:29:00.000+01:00

originally posted by by helen.2006 on 15 Aug '06, 11.04pm BST.

Taken from Royal Mint Street, E1.

[admin note: posting from flickr seems to be disabled in beta.blogger so I had to add this manually. grr.]

[meta] admin stuff

2006-08-23T11:28:00.000+01:00

Blogger is changing to a shiny new form with what looks to be tagging of posts etc. but team blogs are not allowed to change over. So in the short term, advertising ghosts will be a solo blog. As soon as team blogging is permitted I'll be restoring the existing team, and also looking for new people to join.

I'll also be tweaking the template etc.

See you on the other side...

old goods

2006-08-17T20:37:00.000+01:00

old goods
Originally uploaded by voodooangel.

via the Faded Signage flickr group.

Utah Ice and Storage

2006-08-17T20:36:00.000+01:00

Detail: Utah Ice and Storage
Originally uploaded by arts enthusiast.

via the Faded Signage flickr group.

Star Tobacco

2006-08-17T20:35:00.000+01:00

Star Tobacco
Originally uploaded by cynical pink.

via the Faded Signage flickr group.

Ginger Mint Julep

2006-08-17T20:34:00.000+01:00

Ginger Mint Julep
Originally uploaded by bwalsh.

gimmie one of those...

via the Faded Signage flickr group.

SA Doody's Reliable Shoe Store

2006-08-17T20:32:00.000+01:00

SA Doody's Reliable Shoe Store HPIM3661
Originally uploaded by color01569.

via the Faded Signage flickr group.

Storefronts at sunset

2006-08-17T20:28:00.000+01:00

Storefronts at sunset
Originally uploaded by REMac1981.

A strip of older storefronts in Talladega, Ala.

via the Faded Signage flickr group.

Chalk Farm Garage

2006-08-06T23:58:00.000+01:00

Chalk Farm Garage
Originally uploaded by Mags.

now a furniture shop

Peppiatt & Son, NW3

2006-08-06T23:57:00.000+01:00

Peppiatt & Son
Originally uploaded by Mags.

John Hirst, builder

2006-08-06T23:56:00.000+01:00

John Hirst
Originally uploaded by Mags.

NW5

Econ-o-wash?

2006-02-26T13:27:00.000Z

LAUNDROMAT!!!
Originally uploaded by Decrepit Telephone.

via the urban decay group on flickr

Ironmonger

2006-02-21T14:59:00.000Z

Ironmonger
Originally uploaded by sadmafioso.

via flickr - whereabouts unknown

Ghost Sign 10

2005-12-29T00:17:00.000Z

Ghost Sign 10
Originally uploaded by actor123.

from the architecture pool on flickr

Scales & Weights

2005-11-13T13:13:00.000Z

Scales & Weights
Originally uploaded by Mags.

Street Address: top of Grey's Inn Road

Comment: now some sort of hardware shop

Marmal

2005-11-08T00:17:00.000Z

Marmal
Originally uploaded by Mags.

Street Address: Notting Hill Gate

Comment: multiple signs overlaid. Not sure what it is now.

Helderkin Wood Chemist

2005-11-05T16:55:00.000Z

Originally uploaded by Monkeyboy69

Address: Watford, Hertfordshire

Comments:More info here

Quality is our first consideration

2005-11-05T16:35:00.000Z

Originally uploaded by Monkeyboy69

Address: Watford, Hertfordshire

Comments: More details here

W Martin

2005-09-22T15:14:00.000+01:00

Ghostly signs
Originally uploaded by Mags.

Address: ? Wynd, off High Street, Edinburgh

Comments: There are about six signs in total, I think.

Smith Fletcher ? Wirework Manufacturer

2005-09-01T20:32:00.000+01:00

Manufacturers
Originally uploaded by Mags.

Address: the Tron Square alleyway, off High Street, Edinburgh.
Comment: see also its matching sign on the other side of the alley.

Tea Rooms

2005-08-30T23:04:00.000+01:00

Tea for Two
Originally uploaded by 24db.

via Guess where London?. Click for more details.

I love Guess Where London. You can tell.

Stewarts

2005-08-30T09:37:00.000+01:00

Close Sign
Originally uploaded by Mags.

Old Post Office Close, off the High St., Edinburgh
Comments: barely legible

Old Town

2005-08-27T22:38:00.000+01:00

I'm just back from Edinburgh, where I doubtless confused street performers and tourists alike by ducking in and out of every Close and Wynd on the Royal Mile. I have a fair few signs to post, along with a handful actually on the other streets. I'll post the up & down the Royal Mile photos over the next week or so.

Branches of what?

2005-08-27T22:37:00.000+01:00

Registered signs
Originally uploaded by Mags.

Location: West Bow, Edinburgh
Comments: I don't know what it was branches of...

Robert Cresser Est. 1873

2005-08-27T22:35:00.000+01:00

Robert Cresser
Originally uploaded by Mags.

Location: West Bow, Edinburgh
Comments: empty shop with nothing but dust and a vintage vacumn cleaner in it.

New Palace Cinema

2005-08-27T22:32:00.000+01:00

New Palace Cinema
Originally uploaded by Mags.

Cannongate, Edinburgh
Comments: a nice art deco facade - now a shop selling tourist tat to foolish foreigners.

Motor Body Works

2005-08-22T09:33:00.000+01:00

Sign
Originally uploaded by davehodg.

via the "guess where london?" flickr group. click for more details.

Wounds-and-Sores

2005-07-06T16:53:00.000+01:00

Wounds-and-Sores
Originally uploaded by Trois Tetes.

via the "Guess where London?" group on flickr. Click to see location.

Consult C. Bateman

2005-06-02T23:23:00.000+01:00

Consult C. Bateman
Originally uploaded by Mags.

Address: Boscombe

Notes: I don't know what C Bateman was a consultant in (detecting? law? dentistry? wallpaper?) but it's now a nail bar.

Pictoral Postcards, Covent Garden

2005-04-24T14:49:00.000+01:00

Monmouth Street - Covent Garden
Originally uploaded by Steve J.

via the London group on flickr

old canada life building

2005-04-17T16:20:00.000+01:00

old canada life building
Originally uploaded by bigmagpie.

Just off Grafton Street, Dublin and spotted 16th April 2005.

Dublin has lots of advertising ghosts, it's just hard to get shots of them without getting run over...

billboard leftovers

2005-04-15T21:38:00.000+01:00

billboard leftovers
Originally uploaded by bigmagpie.

Spotted April 1st 2005, during renovation at Oxford Circus tube. (Can't remember which line.)

est 1886

2005-03-15T10:09:00.000Z

more wall signs, Astoria
Originally uploaded by Joseph Robertson.

via flickr's urban decay pool...

Downtown Omaha

2005-03-09T15:19:00.000Z

Downtown Omaha
Originally uploaded by blackcoil.

machinery parts for all kinds of industries.

via urban decay....i spend waaaaaay too much time on flickr, don't I?

The Palace of Trousers

2005-03-02T16:22:00.000Z

The Palace of Trousers
Originally uploaded by Mr Jaded.

via urban decay on flickr

Doorway 6

2005-02-22T10:31:00.000Z

Doorway 6
Originally uploaded by ZenOptic.

via urban decay.

Food Mkt. Eer Win

2005-02-22T10:30:00.000Z

Food Mkt. Eer Win
Originally uploaded by Urban Tiki.

via "urban decay" on flickr. I love the colours.

British Welding

2005-02-19T12:37:00.000Z

British Welding
Originally uploaded by firemind.

from funky old neighbourhood on flickr

Dahlquist Decaying Sign

2005-02-14T14:28:00.000Z

Dahlquist Decaying Sign
Originally uploaded by Smaragd.

from the architecture flickr tag

Updated to add: thanks to Smaragd for popping by and detailing what the building now houses (see the comments).

the ground floor houses a small Chinese restaurant on the left side, and a tavern -- The Rogue Hero -- on the right side

Dolphin Inn, Brighton

2005-02-13T22:14:00.000Z

Dolphin, Brighton
Originally uploaded by Mags.

Street Address: Brighton

Comments: now a drum shop

Dying & Cleaning Work, Brighton

2005-02-13T22:06:00.000Z

Dying & Cleaning Work, Brighton
Originally uploaded by Mags.

Street Address: The Laines, Brighton

Comments: didn't actually check what this is now

Cafe Sluteru

2005-01-13T15:35:00.000Z

amsterdam-0448
Originally uploaded by Rod Graves.

via urban decay

Medbury Saunders Twose Ltd

2005-01-03T16:44:00.000Z

Medbury Saunders Twose Ltd
Originally uploaded by Mags.

Street Address: Marsh Barton Road
Comment: this was a farm machinery shop, selling tractors, combines etc.

Paper Bags, Spitalfields

2004-12-30T17:15:00.000Z

Spitalfields
Originally uploaded by Planethalder.

via the London photopoll on flickr

--

question for any regular readers: would it be better to just supply a text link to 3rd party photos such as this one (see previous posts), or to show the small version as I've done here?

I sort of feel like only ones spotted by contributors here should be posted in full, as our own work, and the others should be plain links, but what works for others?

Law's Hygenic Bakers / Memory Makers

2004-12-27T18:12:00.000Z

Memory Makers
Originally uploaded by Mags.

Street Address: South Street, Exmouth
Comments: two for one! Law's Hygenic Bakers and Memory Makers. The building itself is derelict, with boarded up or broken windows.

F. R. Holt

2004-12-27T18:02:00.000Z

F. R. Holt
Originally uploaded by Mags.

Street Address: Exeter Road, Exmouth, UK
Comments: outside the library

Perry?

2004-12-27T17:55:00.000Z

Perry?
Originally uploaded by Mags.

Street Address: Bicton Street, Exmouth, UK
Comments: not sure what this is for at all. I was back at the parents' for the break and got these during the post-dinner walk.

Auto Outo?

2004-12-17T10:19:00.000Z

Auto Outo?
Originally uploaded by Special

one via the urban decay group on flickr.

Allen's Chargrilled Hamburgers

2004-12-05T15:04:00.000Z

Allen's Chargrilled Hamburgers
Originally uploaded by jekemp.

a photo via the urban decay group on flickr

Luncheon & Confectionery, Penzance

2004-12-05T14:36:00.000Z

Luncheon & Confectionery, Penzance
Originally uploaded by Mags.

Street Address: Alverton Street, Penzance, Cornwall

Comments: I didn't spot this side-hoarding for several days, as I was walking along the street from west to east. Came at it the other way and saw this, where an estate agent now works.

Station Cafe, St Ives

2004-12-05T14:28:00.000Z

Station Cafe, St Ives
Originally uploaded by Mags.

Street Address: St Ives bus station

Comments: part of a 1960s bus station complex now almost all derelict. taken Dec 2004.

Warehouses

2004-11-26T14:48:00.000Z

Warehouses
Originally uploaded by mathowie.

another US worn sign via flickr.

Dining Rooms

2004-11-24T10:15:00.000Z

New and Old Signs in London
Originally uploaded by TeddyBare.

another great sign via flickr, this time showing an old painted one and a new brash board.

Wm Brock & Co

2004-11-14T21:04:00.000Z

Wm Brock & Co
Originally uploaded by Mags.

Address: Fore Street, Exeter

Comment: now above a BHS and a B-wise

Exeter Post Office

2004-11-14T21:02:00.000Z

Exeter Post Office, Bedford Street
Originally uploaded by Mags.

Address: Bedford Street, Exeter

Comment: The existing Post Office is due for demolition as part of the Princesshay re-development, and with it this neon sign which has not been lit for many years.

W.H. & H Le May

2004-11-09T16:39:00.000Z

W.H. & H? May
Originally uploaded by Mags.

Address: Borough High Street, South London

Comment: Hop Factors building, now an employment agency. Spotted 6 Nov 2004

Some more information and closer photographs are here.

Twine Factory on Flickr

2004-11-02T13:24:00.000Z

This is a lovely b&w photo of an old factory's sign in California, via the flickr urban decay pool:

Twine Factory.

See also:
building art which is two painted ghosts above one another.
words flickr group.

shortens every road

2004-10-22T23:11:00.000+01:00

russell davies: lost (but good) straplines of yesteryear : a lovely photo of an old tin sign (though probably not in situ).

Tinley's

2004-09-30T20:48:00.000+01:00

Street Address: Cathedral Green, Exeter, UK
Comment: Tinley's was a fine tea and cake room, still running in the 1980s. You can see archaeological sketches of the history of this corner here.

Now one in a nationwide chain of pizza restaurants. And not even the best pizza restaurant on the Cathedral Green.

J. H. Bibbings, Pharmacist

2004-09-24T10:41:00.000+01:00

Street Address: Queen Street, Newton Abbot, Devon, UK
Comment: now a classy coffee shop for country ladies. spotted 22 Sept 2004

W.H. Smith & Son

2004-09-24T10:30:00.000+01:00

Street Address: High Street, Exeter, UK
Comment: more stubs of old signs revealed by renovation work, this time for a business still going strong (founded 1792) but which is no longer in these premises and has long since removed all that punctuation (and the "& son").

for knitting wools

2004-09-17T23:03:00.000+01:00

Street Address: Cowick Street, Exeter, Devon
Comment: half-hidden by the 1960s post-war additions to the streets. spotted 1996, photographed september 2004.

Exeter Pram & Toy Shop

2004-09-15T21:52:00.001+01:00

Street Address: Sidwell Street, Exeter
Comment: once two storeys of toys now a cheap interiors shop next to a Poundland. The lettering was taken down when the shop closed but the iron stork remains.
Photographed August 2004

Redline Petrol

2004-08-10T16:46:00.000+01:00

Redline Petrol, Cowley Road, Exeter.
Exposed by the removal of a billboard, this old petrol advert is right next to a modern petrol station.

Exeter Literary Society, 1890

2004-08-01T12:16:00.000+01:00

Street Address: Barnfield Road, Exeter
Comment: stone advert on a building now converted to the Barnfield Theatre

Brooke Bond in Bruton

2004-07-29T17:14:00.000+01:00

Brooke Bond Dividend Tea, High Street, Bruton, Somerset.
Sign outside a disused shop, in a town time seems to have forgotten. But it looks as though someone is polishing the sign and keeping it clean. First spotted July 2004

Karpol - buy it here! (flickr test)

2004-07-21T21:09:00.000+01:00

karpol
Originally uploaded by Advertising Ghosts.

Street Address: Gabriel's Wharf

Comments: Karpol - buy it here!

A glass and a half

2004-07-21T20:10:00.000+01:00

Street Address: Gabriel's Wharf, South Bank, London
Comment: spotted 12th July 2004. Again, I suspect this isn't a genuine in situ...

Going Sarf of the River

2004-07-21T20:00:00.000+01:00

Street Address: Mutual Insurance, street junction near Clapham Common
Comment: spotted 11th July 2004, from a moving vehicle.

24 Hour Paraffin

2004-07-11T16:28:00.000+01:00

24 Hour Paraffin Service, Thurlow Road, Exeter, Devon.
Paraffin shop is now a beauty parlour. First spotted June 2004, despite living around the corner for four years.

2004-07-11T16:06:00.000+01:00

Old Ironmongers, High Street, Castle Cary, Somerset.
An empty shop with a beautifully kept tiled sign for the old ironmongers. First spotted July 2004.

A. Davey, Builder est. 1851

2004-06-27T21:50:00.000+01:00

Street Address: top of Portobello Rd, London
Comment: june 2004. now over an antiques shop. spotted by Misty69 and Mags whilst shopping.

Hatcher & Sons Depository

2004-06-23T19:32:00.000+01:00

Hatcher & Sons Depository, Kingston Road, Taunton, Somerset.
What looks like a Victorian warehouse, now a block of flats just outside the town centre.First spotted January 2004.

St David's Dairy

2004-06-16T22:28:00.000+01:00

Street Address: St David's Hill, Exeter
Comment: two overlapping signs for one! Not only that but I noticed that the electrical substation close to it is labelled St Davids Dairy as well. I have never seen a dairy in this area.

The Stores

2004-06-10T18:54:00.000+01:00

Street Address: Buddle Lane, Exeter, UK
Comment: The Stores, now on the end of a bakers.

Cecil Road bakers

2004-06-10T18:48:00.000+01:00

Street Address: Cecil Road, Exeter, UK
Comment: almost gone

Route 79: Wembley 1567

2004-06-06T16:14:00.000+01:00

external link: Route 79: Wembley 1567

Natural Fur

2004-06-06T15:53:00.000+01:00

Street Address: Bedford Square, Exeter, UK
Comment: this is one of the shops revealed when Land Securities began renovating St Stephen's House. Only the stubs of the lettering remains of a fur shop that must have stood there in the 1950s or 1960s.

neon Dingles

2004-06-06T15:46:00.000+01:00

Street Address: Catherine Street, Exeter
Comment: Dingles is a House of Fraser department store with many different entrances. This sign points to an old entrance now solely used for goods and is never lit anymore.

the starting point

2004-06-06T15:27:00.000+01:00

This blog is intended to become a photoblog archive of ghostly adverts. These are the (usually) hand-painted advertisements which were put on walls and which now advertise a long-since closed business or service. Usually, they have not been repainted in years and have weathered until they are just traces of what was there.

As well as any photos we take ourselves, there'll also be links to other examples found on other blogs. In the sidebar are links to other sites with similar interests.

The photo used in the logo is of the Mitchell Jewellers' clock on Bedford Square in Exeter. This clock is on a building currently being rennovated and which, once the modern shop fronts were removed, revealed itself to have contained other businesses as well.