Dubonnet, Bréhémont

Here are not one, not two, not three but four ghost signs for French aperitif Dubonnet. Each sign is different, keeping up with the different designs of the brand name, from the classic white on blue up to the more modern black on white with an orange stripe above and a red one below. This latter design, with the 'U' in the shape of a glass (but without the base or stem) and the inclined 'O', includes the upper part of a bottle of the aperitif to the left of the name.

Dubonnet

Location: Avenue du 11 Novembre, Bréhémont, Indre-et-Loire / Pictures taken in May 2009

Hosier and outfitter, Acton

Even when this ghost sign was in good condition, I doubt many people passing along Churchfield Road would have noticed it. It is far too high and too small to be spotted easily.

Hosier & Outfitter

According to the 1889-90 edition of Kelly's Directory, hosier Edwin Walker Garthwaite carried out his business at 21 Churchfield Road. Three years later the premises were occupied by A. Van der Vord, hosier and outfitter. Van der Vord traded at least until the outbreak of the First World War as his name appears in successive editions of Kelly's Directory. His business seem to have been successful enough for him to pay for a full page advert in the 1907 edition of the aforementioned directory (right). My guess is that this ghost sign dates from the time of A. Van der Vord.

It was quite clever of the sign writer to insert the ampersand into the roundel.

Location: Churchfield Road / Pictures taken in July 2011

Cash store, Willesden

Most of the space available at this corner shop was used to advertise the products on offer inside, including a whole range of drinks manufactured by R. White, of Camberwell. As precised on one of the ghost signs below, these and other goods were not sold on credit but had to be paid straight away as this was a 'cash store' (see the post about Fred Palmer, the cash butcher).
R. White was founded by -you've guessed it- Robert White and his wife Mary in 1845. It produced mineral and aerated waters, cordials, lemonade and ginger beer. Their sons Robert James and John George became partners thirty years later. Under their leadership the family firm expanded, taking over in 1891 H.D. Rawlings Ltd, a company that had been making mineral waters and ginger beer for more than a century. In 1894 the company was incorporated as R. White & Sons Limited. Over the following years, in order to cope with the growing demand for its drinks, it acquired several manufacturing sites around the country. As a consequence of some take-overs, R. White also became involved through its subsidiaries in the production of a greater range of products, including vinegar and sauces (White, Cottell & Co, of Camberwell) as well as fermented liquors and spirits (London Essence Company, of Peckham).
In 1970 R. White & Sons Ltd was taken over by Whitbread & Co Ltd. Sixteen years later the brand was acquired by soft drink manufacturer Britvic.

This is a real palimpsest, with two ghost signs relatively easy to read, plus one where only a few letters still appear.
The older ghost sign was painted in black on a while background. It reads:V. & ...
Cash Store
Grocery
& Provision
Dealer
Agent For
R. White's
Mineral Waters
And
Ginger Beer
Stop ... Cheapness
The more recent ghost sign, in yellow letters against a dark red background, reads:Com...
Uncle Tom
Prices
For R. White's
Minerals
Lemonades Sodas
Or Mixed ...
All Pints ...
Sent Home
I am slightly puzzled by the first lines of this sign. Maybe the owner of this cash store was known as Uncle Tom?


This was the first time I saw a ghost sign advertising R. White's drinks. It seems the company preferred to use enamel signs, which lasted for longer and could be moved easily if necessary. Two pictures of H. Wilson's and George Adnams's shops taken in Brentford in the 1910s and 1940s respectively show such enamel signs. Many, such as the one on the right, have survived and can be seen around the country.

Location: Villiers Road / Picture taken in November 2011

Hovis, Clapham

If the Hovis ghost sign posted earlier this week is well preserved, possibly thanks to the initiative of an Islington councillor (check here), it is certainly not the case of its Battersea counterpart. Yet it is still possible to decipher enough letters to reconstitute what the message was. The only part that remains incomplete is the name of the bakery.
The peculiar spelling of 'Hõvis' with the dash or tilde on the 'o' suggests this sign, like the ones in Islington, Clapham, Guildford and Tonbridge, was painted during the inter-war years (although the branches of the tree hide the dash or tilde, the 'o' is much smaller than the following letters).

A..oose
Electric
Bakery
Maker of
Hõvis
Location: Wandsworth Road / Picture taken in June 2008

Uniformen Ullrich, Bautzen

Here is a ghost sign that may well disappear pretty soon. Indeed I doubt anybody would restore the house where Herr Ullrich once cut and sewed uniforms. It will most certainly be pulled down and a new building erected in its place.

This is really a typical German painted sign: sober, written with a blackletter typeface and with the long s of Schneidermeister in the shape of a f.

Uniformen
Ullrich
Schneidermeister [Tailor]
Location: Töpferstraße, Bautzen, Sachsen / Pictures taken in October 2011

Continental garage, St Giles

While abroad, many travellers look for places where their mother tongue is spoken and the French who came to London during the first decades of the 20th century were certainly no different. That's why many of them would have stayed in and around Soho, home until the 1920s to a large French community, and at places like the Hotel de Boulogne. It was undoubtedly to attract these visitors, or at least those wealthy enough to rent a car, that the Continental Garage and its successor the Prince's Garage included a few French words on their painted advert.

The upper part of this ghost sign overlooking the churchyard of St Giles in the Fields is dominated by the names of the two garages successively advertised there: Continental Garagewhich was replaced byPrince's
Garage
The lower part of the sign may have been painted for Continental Garage but was kept when Prince's Garage took over:

Open Day & Night

Cars on Hire

Ouvert Jour et nuit

Although there are only two garage names, it is possible this wall was painted on more than two occasions as letters can be seen here and there. However I have not managed to decipher what else was written, apart from what could be the name of the sign writer. Indeed in the upper left hand corner, written in small letters, one can read:R. Sandland
Opposite
Next to the French part of the text is an elaborate manicule, for once in colour.


This is not the only ghost sign in London where part of the text is in French. The 2 Little Crown one is another fine example.

Location: St Giles High Street / Pictures taken in March 2008

Hovis, Islington

When Hovis paid for this painted sign, electric baking machines were still relatively new (*) and worth advertising. Electricity was associated not only with modernity but also with cleanliness. No more potentially dirty hands mixing the ingredients and kneading the dough! Machines also suggested constant quality. Add the Hovis name (a brand whose success in the late 19th century was built on quality at a time when most of the loaves sold in Britain were rather bland, with little nutritious value and sometimes plain unhealthy), the slogan "Builds Health", and here is an advert that would have attracted modern, hygiene-conscious, and nutrition-aware customers.
This ghost sign was most certainly painted during the inter-war years, as indicated by the presence of the dash on the 'o' of Hovis. Hovis slogans with a particular emphasis on and featuring the word "health" were also characteristic of that period.

Wittick's
Electric Machine
Bakery
Maker of
Hõvis
Which
Builds Health
Since bread had had a bad reputation throughout most of the 19th century, bakeries that introduced modern technologies were usually keen on advertising it. For such a ghost sign, see the post about the Hygienic Bakeries in Richmond.

*: the first electric baking machines used in British bakeries seem to have been introduced towards the end of the first decade of the 20th century, once the production and distribution of electricity had become more reliable, but it was only after the First World War that their numbers really increased. Click here to see a picture of the Electric Machine Bakery of A. W. Davis in Herne Hill taken in 1910.

Location: Islington High Street / Picture taken in August 2008