Tuesday 6 March 2012

Ghost signs

These hand-painted advertisements were once a common feature of gable-ends throughout the North of England and beyond ~ sadly most of them are long gone
Here's one [bottom left] from an old postcard, in the days before it became a ghost.

Bedford Road, Kempston (Beds.), late 1960s.  [Source: no idea]

Brougham Street, Burnley, 1960s/70s.  [By permission: Burnley in the 60s and 70s]

Madeley, Telford, Shropshire.  Thanks to commenter Andrew for the location and photo.  I'm sure the owners must repaint this one regularly

Unknown location see above, 1990s?  [Source: no idea]



This one's on Rochdale Road, Walsden, near Todmorden.  I suspect it's actually the remains of more than one advert, painted at different times.  Shame about the ivy.

I had a go at 'repainting' it but (inevitably) got bored very quickly.  [Both these photos are my own, hence the poor quality] ... By the way when I say I had a go at repainting it, I don't mean I waited till the residents had gone out then shimmied up a ladder with a bucket of white paint.  I wouldn't do that kind of thing.  Mainly because I hate going up ladders.  Anyway, no, what I meant was I had a go at repainting it using a computer art program ~ like Photoshop but not Photoshop, I forget its name.

STOP PRESS! STOP PRESS! [07/04/12]
The nice people who own the house have recently ripped down a lot of that ivy to reveal more:
 Thanks, folks :O)
 Lorne Road, Leicester [photo by Amy Barnes, reproduced by kind permission of ghostsigns.co.uk]
Southfield Lane, Bradford [photo by John Grogan, reproduced by kind permission of ghostsigns.co.uk]
No idea where this one is because I've forgotten where I found the photo ...
[EDIT] This one's at Honley, near Huddersfield ~ I drove past it yesterday (24/12/12).
Queensway, Rochdale [photo by me]
N.B. This ghost sign has now been pretty well destroyed (22/01/14).

And finally ...
 A cutting from the [erm ... erm ... I must start labelling stuff ...], 1960s/70s/80s.  Briston is in Norfolk, between Fakenham and Sheringham (apparently)

6 comments:

  1. Thanks for these very interesting photos, the two you have attributed to my website, www.ghostsigns.co.uk should actually be credited to Amy Barnes and John Grogan respectively. I hope you can update with this information. I'll be linking to this blog post soon from my Posterous.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Sam ~ done!
      Still enjoying browsing http://www.ghostsigns.co.uk/ :O)

      Delete
  2. Madeley, TELFORD, Shropshire http://tinypic.com/r/sxoksx/8

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  3. Madeley, Telford. Hadn't been repainted until I moved in a five of years ago - much more recent than the 1990s... this photo must have been taken in the last 4 years.

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