Uncovered gems

Last week I noticed a wonderful shop old sign that's been revealed during renovations on an old corner shop in Caledonian Road. I managed to get some great shots of it on the only sunny day we've had in ages. I wonder how long it will be there? Or, if they cover it up again, will they do so sympathetically?

I ask this because I have been lucky to have glimpsed quite a few old signs in the past year including the lovely old Segar shop sign in Finsbury Park that I've written about before.

And last Autumn some beautiful old hand lettering was revealed at 223 Holloway Road. It stayed on view for a few months but has recently been covered with roofing felt. I hope they've used nails and not glue.

Over two years ago a curve of gorgeous signs on an electical lighting shop were uncovered on Grays Inn Road near the junction of Theobald's Road. My friend alerted me to them when he said he saw someone up a ladder who was about to paint over them. For months they remained intact, except for one panel which the bloke had already obliterated. My hopes were high. But I'm sad to report that they have since all been painted over. Criminal.

All of these are far better than the back-lit bits of perspex we have along our high streets these days. Check out these modern old-style signs made by a talented friend of mine in the States.

Top row: White Hart Lane; Hackney Road x2; 280 Holloway Road (McDonalds)

Middle row: West Green Road; Caledonian Road; 223 Holloway Road, Brewer Street

Bottom row: Grays Inn Road; Markhouse Road; Seven Sisters Road; Balls Pond Road

And more here

A bit of Holloway ghostsign sleuthing – Henry Dell, grocer

Last week I was contacted via Twitter about a ghostsign at the rear of a property in Hornsey Road. Archway Ramblings @UpArchway asked if I knew any more about an old painted sign visible from Bracey Street. Well, this was the first I knew about it, which is not surprising seeing as Bracey Street is a little back street that I have rarely ever used, and the sign fairly inaccessible.

H....ELL, TEA MERCHANT....... 408 Holloway Road. Photo: @UpArchway

A quick bit of sleuthing and it turns out this was Henry Dell who had a grocery shop here at 450 Hornsey Rd, a few doors up from Thorpedale Road, today a launderette.

647-665 Holloway Rd, 1882 

Henry Dell appears to have been established in the area for decades. In 1882 he is shown at No.408 Holloway Rd (today, Santander) with another shop further up the road at 5 Northampton Place which later became No.657 (today, the fish and chip shop). Prior to the later 1880s, the upper section of Holloway Road northwards of Tufnell Park Rd on the west side and Tollington Way (then Grove Rd) on the east side was still evolving and there were no Holloway Rd door numbers – the houses or business premises were simply part of a named terrace* and, very often, the pub at the corner of that stretch was echoed in the name, as in Marlborough Terrace, Crown Terrace etc., though not in this instance. Northampton is probably a reference to the Marquis who owns Canonbury Tower (I will park that tangent for another day!).

647-665 Holloway Rd, 1939

Therefore, regarding what's visible of the ghostsign, I think it's fair to assume, judging by the space available/covered, that the pipes might be hiding the door number of the store at the northern section of Holloway Road which was closer to this Hornsey Rd shop, as in "657 & 408".

Moving fast forward to 1939, I see Henry Dell [and/or his family] is still going strong. The Hornsey Rd shop is listed as "Dell's Store's" and the shop at 657 Holloway Rd is battling for custom with two similar grocery shops next door, namely Liptons, a well-known country-wide chain, and David Greig** the provisions company founded in Hornsey. As for the shop at 408 Holloway Rd, by 1939 it's listed as a restaurant with Mullholland's shoe shop also shown at the same address so I think we can assume that Dell's restaurant was on one of the upper floors. 

Some photographic ref would be nice, but I can't find any right now. The Dells might have been trading in the area earlier than 1882 and I don't know if they continued after WWII. So I'll have to leave it there – Henry Dell, a successful family business, established in Holloway for at least 60 years. Nice. 

Thanks again to Archway Ramblings for bringing this to my attention.

*I refer to this kind of thing on my Mr Pooter's Holloway guided walk about the book 'A Diary of a Nobody' where the characters of 1888 are living at a made-up place called Brickfield Terrace – I have some very good ideas where this could have been along this busy thoroughfare.

**DG shops are a bit of a 'thing' with me. Note to self; collate and post about the company here – any additional info you might have will be gratefully received, and credited.

The blue tiled laundry shops of Sunlight, Westerns and Loud & Westerns

I've written a few times about shops that used to be laundries/dry cleaners, evident by blue tiled exteriors, often featuring and promoting Lever Bros' Sunlight Soap. Having spotted quite a few of these across London and written about some of them here I think it's time to share them as a comprehensive collection. 

There are two companies here, Westerns Laundry in North London and Loud & Western in South and West London. Both used and advertised Sunlight products.

More info about the history of these companies further down, but, first, here is an A-Z (by area/borough) of the old shops still retain some blue tiled exteriors: 

..........................................................

BRIXTON

100 Brixton Hill, SW2

Now split into two shops, the corner section still retains its blue tiles:

..........................................................

CAMDEN

62 Chetwynd Road, NW5
This is still a laundry but, for some daft reason, the blue tiles have been overpainted with blue paint!

124 Fortess Road, NW5
Much of the exterior was still intact until 2015. Pic here is from Google 2009:

The shop's exterior was then remodelled, keeping only the black and white floor tiles at the left side :

Today (2024), the laundry's blue tiles can be glimpsed under the grey paint at low level: 

Note also the loss of the little street sign that identified this as Fortess Mews.

..........................................................

CHISWICK

19 Devonshire Rd, W4

This corner shop still looking good in 2024

..........................................................

CLAPHAM

14 Blandfield Road, SW12

A column of blue tiles at the left side is all that remains:

 ..........................................................

CROUCH END

Middle Lane, N8

A superb example. It even has a hand-pained sign on the side:

..........................................................

FULHAM

594 Fulham Road, SW6

I recall seeing blue tiles either side of the door in the early 2000s but when I returned with my camera few years later they'd gone. Here's how it looks in 2004. The image here is from Google Streeview's retrospective facility showing it in 2008:

 ..........................................................

HAMMERSMITH

47A Goldhawk Road, W12

Hot Pot's column of blue tiles, shown here, was gone by 2016:

..........................................................

ISLINGTON

334-336 Grays Inn Road, Kings Cross

Click here for more

41 Essex Road, N1 

Lots of blue tiles still in place at the corner of Gaskin Street: 

84 Holloway Road, N7
The first pic shows how it looked in early 2018 when the blue tiles were briefly revealed, having been covered in black and white paint for many years:

For a short while lettering in the bottom panel was also visible:

I'm guessing it said something like 'Expert cleaning service' – but by mid-2019 the whole shopfront was again over-painted: 

276 St Paul's Road, Highbury & Islington, N1
Read more here

120 Junction Road, Archway, N19

Only the black and white tiles remain, but it used to look like this Getty image:

.........................................................

PIMLICO

22 Pimlico Road, SW1
See more here

44 Churton Street, SW1
This is how it looked in 2024:

. 

In the 1950s it looked like this:

 This still taken from old movie footage on YouTube – at 13:56 (as shown here) with an alternative view at 16:28. (Thanks to 'anonymous' for letting me know about this via the comments section here)

..........................................................

STREATHAM

111 Mitcham Lane, SW16

The tiled pilasters are gradually becoming visible, hidden for at least 15 years under layers of paint: 

..........................................................

WANDSWORTH

138 Northcote Road, Battersea, SW11
See more here

..........................................................

GENERIC INFO about Westerns Laundry / Loud & Western
This is a work in progress – I will be updating and amending as and when I source more/better info.

It's proving hard to ascertain which came first, Westerns or Loud & Western – it's a chicken and egg conundrum. 

But it's fair to assume that John Richard Western is connected to both companies. By 1910, there were laundry outlets in his name at 160A and 674 Holloway Road with sixteen other outlets across North London, as shown in this snippet from Kelly's 1910 directory: 

It's interesting to note that this does not make clear which sites were laundries vs high street shops. 

Question is, who was Mr Western? Did he start the laundry as his own idea, or was it set up by Sunlight/LeverBros in his name. If so, what was their relationship? See more about him in the The Laundries section below. As regards Mr Loud of Loud & Western, he might have been a director on the board of Lever Bros, or perhaps Loud is an acronym or similar. 

It's worth noting that there is nothing listed in the name of Western within in Kelly's 1899 directory which also shows that there were no laundry outlets along the whole length of Holloway Rd at in that year. This is very strange seeing as ten years earlier there had been a choice of independent laundry services along the two mile street including The Caledonian Laundry, a local company (see black and white Getty Images pic in the Islington section above). Therefore, it's fair to assume that Westerns and Loud&Western began trading in 1900/1901 when they also swallowed up the Caledonian Laundry shops et al.

............................................................................

THE LAUNDRIES

North London – Westerns, Drayton Park, N7

In the 1900s, certainly by 1910, John Western is living at No.12 Drayton Park, here at the corner of Horsell Rd, with The New River Laundry at the rear of his house and No.14. I can find no info about this business – it doesn't appear to be an official branch of the New River Company. 
Incidentally, further along the street there was also another laundry company, The Clissold Laundry, situated at the corner of Arvon Road here which in previous years been called The Drayton Park Laundry.  There are many natural springs and water courses in this area so, historically, this would have been the ideal location for this kind of business. 

By the early 1930s, Western's Laundry has moved to a large purpose-built facility, further along the street, at 34 Drayton Park. 

Here's a short video of me in Drayton Park back in 2020.

South and West London – Loud & Western, various locations:

63 Broughton Rd, Fulham

Peterborough Rd, Fulham

125 Acre Lane, Brixton

Grace's Guide tells us the Broughton Road site was secured in 1901, as confirmed by that year's Kelly's directory which lists the premises as 'Sunlight Laundry'.  

However, it's strange that this Broughton Road is excluded from the 1910 directory (snippet below) which shows Loud & Western at 490A, 91 and 327 Kings Road as well as twelve other outlets across South and West London:

 

As the businesses boomed, more outlets opened...

Westerns Laundries Ltd. London 1939:

Note that the first inclusion here is for 18 Drayton Park, indicating that this was the HQ/Head Office – Mr Western has evidently moved house again, to a larger property a few doors along from his previous house at No.12, and I suggest it would have looked like this house at No.30.  

The 1939 listings shows all their sites at that time, although they are not identified as outlets/shops vs laundries. Having checked out these addresses, I've noticed that a couple of them are residential properties, specifically Green Street and Balls Pond Road – these might have been area manager's offices. Some of the other locations are not shopping streets (for instance, Barnsbury Rd, Ivor Place, Ferdinand St, Old Hill, Provost St and Weedington Rd) and these I think were probably laundries in addition to the Drayton Park site.

The image below shows a Westerns Laundry in Turnpike Lane. It is not listed in the 1939 London directory shown above, because this area was still classed as The Suburbs at that time. The image is from a marvellous book called A Nation of Shopkeepers by Bill Evans and Andrew Lawson, published 1981. 

Loud & Western Ltd. London 1939:

It's interesting to see the order that the address are listed here – I suspect it's chronological, reflecting the order that the sites were added, Broughton Rd being the first in 1901. Note also that the Acre Lane (laundry) site is shown near the end, reflecting its recent construction. Then the Peterborough Road facility is next in the list (another Art Deco era building) – it is here specified as 'Float iron dept' and I wonder if this might be the 1934 (patent?) application for a laundry wringing machine – as advertised in the window of the Churton Street shop shown in the film still above.  

There are some lovely memories and images of Fulham's Loud & Western laundry sites here on Facebook 

1960s onwards

Sunlight Laundries (Loud & Western) Ltd was incorporated in 1963. By 1995, it was part of Sunlight Service Group Properties Ltd.

Further information is proving hard to source, hindered because online searches for Westerns Laundries, or similar, take me to the restaurant that now occupies less than half of the building in Drayton Park, which was founded here in May 2017. I'll keep searching. 

In the meantime, here's the front of a postcard showing one of the Holloway Road shops – it which looks to be from the 1930s:

And, from the same address, a 1958 price list. 

Interesting to note that there is no mention of Sunlight on these leaflets, even though the colours used on the one below are on-brand with the soap.

Sunlight Soap

I can find no listings in the Kelly's directories for outlets called 'Sunlight Laundry' or similar, except in the very early days at Broughton Road (see above) suggesting the laundry side of Lever Bros' company was franchised from the beginning. 

Ghostsigns – there are some faded hand-painted signs to be found...

Sunlight Soap
– Conewood Road, Highbury Grove, N5 – see also my short YouTube video

– Millfields Rd / Chippendale St, Lower Clapton, E5

– 83 Upper Clapton Road

– Park Lane / Denmark Street, Tottenham E17.

– Chalford Rd / Clive Rd, SE21

Westerns

– Crouch End, as shown above in the Haringey section

– Finsbury Park – this sign 'SAME DAY CLEANERS' is at the rear of the bank building at the corner of St Thomas's Rd, opposite the station.  

............................................................................

The following ideas need further investigation – any help welcome:

– Sunlight Square, Bethnal Green – I wonder if there was a factory/laundry here?

– ditto Sunlight Close in South Wimbledon

x

Holloway Odeon update (part2) – new renovation revealed in all its slap-dash glory

Earlier this year I wrote a post about how I was far from happy with the new logo and its placement on Holloway Odeon, my local cinema, a building which has been undergoing renovations this past year or so.
On Thursday I was walking up Holloway Road and, as I turned into Tufnell Park Road, I looked up and and exclaimed "Wow" out loud as I saw the gleaming façade finally revealed.

Holloway Odeon, 2020 renovation, main tower and entrance on the Tufnell Park Road side

A man heard me and stopped and stared at me, grinning. I thought that he thought the 'wow' was directed at him, but no. I spoke to him and he introduced himself as David Latter, the architect of the building. I wondered if Howard Crane the actual architect of the building back in 1938 would have been pleased to hear someone taking the credit, but nevertheless engaged David in conversation and we chatted about the renovation which he was clearly very pleased about. I commended him on the removal of the blue paint on the metal windows which have been stripped and painted black and the reinstatement of the restaurant area there. I made mention of my knowledge of the history of the building and I also made comment about those nasty logo panels, but it was clear from his expression he didn't really get my point. He told me his company works on lots of revamped cinemas round the country and he gave me his business card. I also briefly met his assistant who was unchaining his bike from a nearby lamp post. David urged me to go inside to view the interior.
I crossed the road to take a closer look. I couldn't get inside as it's not yet open to the public, but the interior does indeed look better designed. That can wait for another day. Instead I wandered around the outside at studied the renovation at street level.
Oh dear, what a disappointment.
From a distance it looks marvellous, but get up close and it's slapdash, shoddy workmanship. I cannnot believe with all the products and processes available today that better results cannot have been achieved. Most of the lovely original faience tiles have been painted. I think on the upper sections shown above that a layer of varnish has been added as no way way was it ever that shiny before. However, other areas at ground level have been overpainted in a strange yellow tone that is not the same as the pale terracotta originals that have stood the test of time for over 80 years. That might have been Ok had the paintwork not been so messy – wires have been painted over without any idea of realigning them, edges are not straight, there are patches of overpainting, holes and defects have not been repaired. Yet the original tiles are still filthy, hinting that this new paint has been applied over years of dirt. New additions such as the canopy are mis-aligned and far from curved with cut and breaks and gaps where they bend and abut other areas.
Basically, if they could achieve an impressive, or even just adequate, standard of workmanship in the 1930s, why is it not possible today? Quality control or pride in one's work does not seem to be important these days.
See the evidence below.

The new window frames look marvellous but the black-edged canopy above street level has frilled edges

More views of the canopy along the Tufnell park Road side – juddery curves and wobbly straights

Silky reflective paintwork over the tiles along the TufPkRd side already has has patches of repair. And under the canopy by the main door at the corner a strip has been cut to go round old wires that feed through an air brick. These wires are probably not even functional any longer. Note also how the thin strip veers away from the wall and has been snipped to make it bend back again. Was this really the most effective way to do this?!

Canopy at the corner over the main entrance. The two curved sections have a gap between them and where the white ceiling panels meet the wall they are not cut at the correct angle, leaving thin triangular holes. Also note other bits of wire that could have been tidied up, plus dodgy curved [black] edges and filthy original tiles etc.

Canopy at main door. The curve on the underneath is not a curve – surely there are products available that can achieve a soft arc? Are there no artisans who can produce better quality results with the materials at hand? And, on the front on the right hand side of the main canopy, there is vertical gap, though strangely not parallel, where the panels do not meet. And again, more of those snips in the curves. Is this a literal/visual example of "cutting corners"?

Along the Holloway Road side it appears the renovation proper ends as all that is is in evidence is a bit of shoddily applied paint at ground level and some new panels that I had assumed were temporary but now fear are permanent seeing as the cinema opens up next week. Couldn't they at least have cleaned the original tiles and sympathetically repaired all the damage caused by previous panels and fixings? 

The northern section of the building on Holloway Road. Some bits painted, some bits not, more painted wires, more dirty tiles and unrepaired defects, ends of bits of newly-applied wood, and at the very end, a horrible patchwork corner. This side of the building was originally designed as shops interspersed with doors that provided access to cinema waiting areas below. This negated people having to queue in the rain and reduced congestion on the busy pavement. The area above the green line was a terrace that provided alfreco seating for the restaurant. It really seems like this part of the building has been deemed by Odeon to be of little imporatnce, yet it is a long swathe facing an important A-road – now the messiest part of the building is seen by the most people.

Holloway Road Then and Now (3)

Today's post concerns two major junctions in central Holloway.

The pair of images above shows the change at the southern corner of Parkhurst Road at the Nags Head junction. The black and white image of the old market arcade is from the mid-1970s. When I moved to Holloway in the late 80s the market building was mostly boarded up and it continued to sit empty and semi-derelict for years until it was demolished in the 1990s to make way for a [carpet] shop with student accommodation above. This replacement building with its bright machined bricks has a half-hearted attempt at architectural detailing including a raised band above the 4th floor and semi-circular shapes at the very top, perhaps a vague attempt to echo the high window arches that were a feature of the old Holloway Arcade.

Look at the difference almost a century has made to the southern corner of Tufnell Park Road (opposite the Odeon). In Edwardian times Holloway Road, specifically the Nags Head area, was in its heyday with shops all along the eastern side and houses along the western side running all the way down to Holloway Road station. Now most of this stretch has also been replaced by shops and cafes as shown on the right.

See all the posts in this series here

Holloway Road, The Oxford Street of The North*

I moved to Holloway over three decades ago. Back then there was a good selection of shops – well-known high street names mixed in with a healthy range of independent local businesses, a market that was a different each day of the week, another outdoor/carboot market in the school playground at the weekend, and a couple of department stores.

Within two years, in July 1990, Jones Bros department store closed, later to be replaced by a Waitrose. Then, a few years later, Next shut up shop here, as did Mark One, River Island, Ravel, Shelly's shoes and other well-known names. And since that, for whatever reason, there has been a drip, drip effect. It's sad, but it's not all bad.

Marks and Spencer, a fixture of the area since the later Victorian heyday* closed a few years ago (behind the tree in this pic), even though it was understandable seeing as it was rarely busy in there. Yet the company has opened up other stores in nearby Archway and Finsbury Park, and Lidl successfully filled this N7 space. See an old post about M&S here.

New Look disappeared during the pandemic and a few months ago I noticed that Barclays Bank had gone, having been at the corner of Parkhurst Road for over 140yrs (see pic further down). Just last week the Clarks factory outlet store on Seven Sisters Road closed its doors for the last time.

Of the independent traders and small businesses that have gone, I was saddened to see Rolls and Rems fabric shop and Michael’s greengrocer, both well-known traders on Seven Sisters Rd for +20yrs of trading, close their doors, adding their names to the long list of bygone businesses that I recall from the 1990s. 

Despite these losses, I am often to be heard saying that Holloway has everything you need – we still have Selbys department store which is marvellous, yet I am sure that only a tiny percentage of people who live near here have never been inside to see what's on offer (it might be due to the often poor advertising in the windows along Holloway Road which often makes it look like a sale outlet) – I was in there last week chatting to a member of staff discussing how sad it was to see so devoid of shoppers despite the excellent range of products available.  

On the ground floor, for instance, there are lots of well-known fashion names such as Whistles, White Stuff, Seasalt, Benetton and Barbour, plus a major cosmetic brands, quality accessories, lingerie and menswear inc Levis etc. Oh, and lots of shoes, such that I'd say it's the best shoe shop in Holloway, yet hardly anyone seems to know it's all in there. The next floor is a one stop shop for home and haberdashery. I have given up looking anywhere else for bed linen, furnishings and kitchenware because other stores miles away in Oxford St or in retail parks. just don't have the same choice.  Next time you are in the area heading for Morrisons, walk through Selbys and exit via the rear door in the precinct. 

We also have Argos, many supermarkets, lots of fresh food outlets, plus our fair share of pound stores, charity shops, market stalls and more – we have this past year seen a more shops leave the area, probably exacerbated by a mix of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic.  

I am now wondering which business is the oldest here after Selbys which started as a drapery store in 1895 and Drivers and Norris which can trace its history back to 1852. I am pretty sure, since the closure of some of the shops mentioned above that these two companies are unusual vis their history in N7. My guess as to the 3rd-longest trading outlet here would be Boots the Chemist or possibly NatWest. 

The Great Britain as a nation of shopkeepers era has definitely passed us by now, by which I mean, just like many shopping areas of this kind, we have a wonderful diversity offering products and services from around the world, be it German burgers, Turkish barbershops, or Chinese groceries. 

As such, I wonder if today there are any independent businesses that can claim to have been trading here for 20 years or more. The ones that spring to mind, and I need to check this, are food outlets such The Holy Chinese takeaway and Crystals kebab restaurant, both opposite the Odeon on Holloway Road, and I do know that the EyeValue opticians has been in Holloway since 2001. Perhaps some of the barbers and hairdressers can also claim a medal here, and possibly Holloway Stationers and Book Shop opposite Selbys. 

I have a plan to look further into this and go into the shops to talk to the owners and ask for more info. That would be nice thing to do, so watch this space.

More posts about Holloway here.

Please do check in again for an update, or add you own thoughts, suggestions and memories below. Alternatively, send me an email: jane@janeslondon.com

Pics are all screen grabs from Google Streetview here – to see previous years, as shown above, use the retrospective facility via the small inset window (tab at top left when viewing on a large screen). 

* The area was often referred to as "The Oxford Street of The North"* – if you want to find out more about that late Victorian shopping heyday, or the Art Deco era, please join me for a guided walk via janeslondonwalks.com.