Like my friend DrFumblefinger, I collect signs as I travel—but my collection tends to specialize in those with stylish lettering of one sort or another. Here are some from recent city visits in England, starting with London.
The lettering on the one above does have some spacing and kerning issues, but the design as a painting hung above the street is appealing. As is the thought that the well-known tailor behind the sign is known not only for dressing conservative financiers but also flamboyant rockers—each in their own style, of course. Below, simple lettering, beautiful glass.
Despite this impressive corner and complex lettering, the building itself, on Oxford Street, is occupied by a variety of small stores and a language school.
J. Welford, in Maida Vale, was once one of London’s biggest dairies, supplying milk to thousands of households, including the one that lived at Buckingham Palace.
In Liverpool, the Century Buildings on Victoria Street house, among other businesses, a vape shop called Beatles News, a chip shop called Filling Station and one called Wall of Fame, which may relate to the first-floor window displays.
Queen Avenue isn’t really a street; it’s an L-shaped gallery housing shops of various kinds, similar to a Paris-style ‘passage.’
At Prudential Assurance, it was perhaps considered prudent to not commit fully to Uncial alphabet characters in this charming mix…
In Gloucester, squeezed between two much-larger buildings, the Imperial Inn is dressed up in fine detail in its glass and molding work as well as its letters, lovely terra-cotta work.
