Safety precaution, Southwark

What does the central character of Prosper Mérimée's novella Carmen have to do with this safety notice painted on a warehouse in Southwark? This puzzled me for a second before I realised there were actually two words: 'car' and 'men'. But why did they stick them together? Or was this notice put especially for an employee called Carmen who got injured time after time by falling cases?

Safety Precaution
Carmen
Stand Clear When
Cases Are Going Up
Update: following JBS's comments, I have updated the transcription of the notice above as it is now almost certain there aren't two but one word: "Carmen." See the comments for more information.

Location: Glasshill Street / Picture taken on: 16/07/2009

F. Leney & Co., Raynes Park

Although very little information is available about F. Leney & Co., it seems pretty certain this was a wine merchant. Documents indicate F. Leney & Co. was purchased by Birchwood Inns Ltd, a company which eventually became part of the Unwins Wine Group. This is confirmed by the three companies being registered at the same address in Dartford. Also, before it became a pharmacy, this shop used to be an Unwins off-licence. Unwins went into administration in late 2005 and 200 of its shops were bought by its competitor Threshers. The one in Raynes Park wasn't included in the deal and it remained empty for a while. Barkers Chemist moved in in spring 2008 and for a few days the 'Unwins Wine Merchants' sign in green letters on a yellow background could be seen still hanging above the door of the newly-opened pharmacy.


Location: corner Lambton Road and Worple Road / Picture taken on: 12/08/2008

Pinder, Stockwell

More than a century after it was originally painted (judging by the style), this sign on the side of a house in a residential street reminds us a builder by the name of Pinder once traded in the area.

Carpenter Pinder Bricklayer
Plumber Painter Glazier
House Agent &
Contractor House Repairs
In ...es Branches
Location: Lansdowne Gardens / Picture taken on: 29/07/2010

Gillette, Tooting

A coat of white paint splashed on this wall makes the ghosts signs more... ghostly?


Although several ads were painted here, only the one for Gillette can be easily identified thanks to its famous words and font:Safety
Razor
Location: Coverton Road / Picture taken on: 11/04/2008

Morgan & Son, Hounslow

Two signs have been painted on this wall: one followed the slope of the roof while the other one was written horizontally.

Morgan & Son
Masons

Me...
Haircutting
Saloon
...
Location: Staines Road / Picture taken on: 19/07/2008

Stuarts DIY, Surbiton

At first sight, this is a pretty straightforward, easy-to-read sign painted at some point during the second half of 1950s or the first half of the 1960s (the style plus two other elements explained below allow to narrow it down to a decade): Stuarts
Your
Do it Yourself
Flooring Centre
Elm. 1017 [originally 0641]
"Elm." stands for Elmbridge, the name given to the telephone exchange in Surbiton (this name was adopted because the exchange was located on Elmbridge Avenue and not because Surbiton was part of Elmbridge. Surbiton -which didn't exist in Saxon times- would have been part of the Kingston hundred, not the Elmbridge hundred. The present borough of Elmbridge in Surrey was created on April 1, 1974, nine years after the Municipal Borough of Surbiton merged with Kingston-upon-Thames and a few others municipal boroughs to form the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and was transferred from Surrey to Greater London).
Since the Director System for telephone numbers (three letters and four digits) was replaced by All Figure Numbering in 1966, this sign must have been painted before that date.

A closer look at the wall shows the Stuarts sign was painted over an earlier one: ..
Milliner
Hosier &
...
It is this sign that can be seen partially on a picture taken around 1955 (one third from the left). Thus this picture and the change in the telephone numbering system give us a rough date when the Stuarts sign was painted.

Location: Victoria Road / Picture taken on: 15/04/2008

Gillette, Criterion and Iron Jelloids, Southwark

Happy New Year to all my readers! If you haven't done so, I invite you to visit my other blog for a festive picture.

Meanwhile on this blog I shall start 2011 by looking at a disappeared palimpsest. Unfortunately the building it was on was restored a few months ago and the painted signs disappeared in the process. Prior to that act of vandalism, three adverts could be seen above the entrance to a newsagent's.


Modern signs for The Times, The Sun, Today, and News of the World used to hide the lower half but a close look at the upper part revealed a combination of three products well-known to aficionados of ghost signs.


The most faded sign was for Iron
Jelloids
For some information about these sub-carbonate of iron and jujube mass tablets and the company that made them you can refer to an earlier post about the Windsor Road ghost sign.

The other two signs are much easier to read. One promoted Gillette
Safety
Razor
while the other one encouraged customers to Buy
Criterion
Matches
This isn't the only wall occupied successively by these brands. A combination of Gillette and Iron Jelloids can be seen in Clapham High Street (first sign of the post), while a palimpsest with Criterion and Gillette still adorns Stoke Newington Church Street. Other walls with those three products will be posted in the future, so keep visiting!

Location: Southwark Bridge Road / Pictures taken on: 10/04/2008