Goods station and offices, St Pancras

Here is a ghost sign that almost made it to the cinemas in 1967! Almost because the camera only caught the lower part of the sign, first when Frank jumps out of a car being chased by the police following the robbery of some diamonds, and second when the police car passes under the railway tracks leading to St Pancras a couple of seconds later. This happens in Robbery, a movie loosely based on the Great Train Robbery (the sign first appears at 0:14:19).

On the picture below, underneath the main ghost sign, a dark blue-ish rectangle can be seen. By now it has deteriorated so much it is impossible to make anything out of it. However that's the part that appeared in the movie and one could clearly read:

Abbotts
<----- I haven't found what this sign referred to.

Of the ghost sign visible nowadays only a tiny part can be seen in the movie. However upon close examination, it appears that what is in the movie and what can still be read today don't match. In the film, even though the first word on the last line is truncated, it clearly starts with a 'A' and that doesn't fit at all with 'Offices.' This indicates that in the 1960s another sign, with white letters on a crimson background, covered the ghost sign I photographed.

LMS [?]
Goods
Station
And
Offices
<-----

I am not absolutely sure of what was written on the first line, with the exception of the 'S' at the end. Since the rest of the ghost sign clearly refers to railway facilities, it can be assumed it would be the name or rather initials of the company. In that's case the only one that would fit is the London, Midland and Scottish or LMS.

On 1 January 1923 the London and North Western, the Midland, the North Staffordshire, and the Furness Railways in England, and the Caledonian, Glasgow and South Western, and Highland Railways in Scotland merged to form the LMS. In London the LMS operated out of two terminals, Euston and St Pancras. Built by the Midland Railway, St Pancras was a vast complex that included not only the famous passenger station but also the large Somers Town Goods Depot (demolished to make way for the new British Library) and many yards and sidings (an aerial picture taken in 1957 gives an idea of the omnipresence of the railways in that part of London). Together with the other three railway companies operating in Britain, the LMS was nationalised in 1948 and became the Midland Region and part of the Scottish Region of British Railways. Following the nationalisation, it is very likely the original LMS sign was altered if not, as the movie shows, completely painted over by a new one. Therefore, if 'LMS' is really what was written, this sign was painted between 1923 and 1947.

The only intriguing thing about this is that if this ghost sign pointed to Somers Town goods station, then it sent drivers on a bit of a journey round the neighbourhood. Unless there was some kind of one-way traffic or a specific route for lorries?

Location: Camley Street / Picture taken in August 2008

Bates's cures, St Pancras

Among the many products honoured with a medal at the 1851 Great Exhibition was King's effervescent citrate of magnesia manufactured by Bates & Co. This saline laxative had been launched in 1844 and was one of the firm's key products. The other one was a salve, which apparently was recommended especially for wounds and sores on breasts. However following a modification of the poison schedule in 1917 Bates & Co was forced to alter the recipe for this particular ointment.
The name of the company appears in professional publications, including Chemist & Druggist, on several occasions between 1870 and 1932, with most mentions dating from the last decade of the nineteenth century.
During that period sales must have been good enough, and Bates & Co, who operated from 1, Regent Square, London, opened a branch closeby at 55, Sidmouth Street.
I haven't been able to establish when Bates & Co was founded nor what happened to it after 1932. The houses on Regent Square weren't built until 1829 and the first inhabitants of number 1 were Isaac Seabrook, builder of St. Pancras Church, who lived there between 1834 and 1835 and 1838 and 1844, and Charles Templer Depree, solicitor, between 1848 and 1854. So Bates & Co was registered originally at another address and only moved to Regent Square at some point between 1854 and 1870, as the Chemists' Annual List from that particular year gives that address.


Bates & Co used this wall twice to advertise its remedies. Unfortunately the upper left corner, which is more exposed to the sun, has completely faded, leaving only a few letters on the right.
The most recent sign is on the left, the one in the background on the right:

...ric ... Salts ... Gout and Rhumatism Bates's Salve Cures Wounds & Sores

... the ...nowned [Renowned?] ... Salve For ...s [Wounds?] & Sores ... [Of?] All Kinds ... 80 Years Also For King's Citrate of Magnesia Invented in 1844 The Original Safest & Best

Location: Regent Square / Picture taken on: 01/04/2008