Ghostsigns walks and talks

What is a ghostsign?

Ghostsigns are the faded advertisements of yesteryear still visible above today's streets, mostly in the form of hand-painted letters on brick walls. These were commissioned either by well-known companies to sell their branded products or by local businesses keen to attract passing trade. 

The signs would have been hand-painted by specialist, skilled craftsmen, often using the lines in the brickwork as guides for the size of the letters, as shown in the crude example I have created here. This labour-intensive form of hand-applied advertising might seem to be a strange waste of time and money today with our fast large-format printing, lightboxes and interactive bus shelter ads, but over 100 years ago signs similar to this one were commonplace. In fact, high street buildings were barely discernible beneath the paint and posters.

If you like puzzles and riddles, mixed with history and research then these old painted signs should be right up your street as in many cases there only scraps of letters that remain, making it difficult to ascertain what a sign might have been advertising. For instance, can you help me to decipher this one in Islington?

Join me on for a walking tour, or an online presentation from the comfort of your sofa, to hear the often fascinating stories behind the ads, from bogus potions to big brands, via builders and breweries.

Ghostsigns aren't all hand-painted. I believe that the term can also apply to other types of defunct signage for brands or businesses which no longer exist at that site. These might be visible as names embedded into the fabric of a building, carved into wood or forged within metalwork.

My ghostsigns walks and talks are listed below by location/title.

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Bygone Barnsbury
Walk – Liverpool Road (Angel) to Caledonian Rd via some of Islington's loveliest squares

There's an evocative range of signage and advertisements for trades and brands of the past in this leafy residential area of Islington. Find out about beer retailers, chemists, instrument makers, garages, hardware, insulation and so much more.

Other ghostsigns walks in this area – see Islington (below)

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Camden – Gin, Drugs and Shopping
Walk – Mornington Crescent to The Roundhouse via Camden Lock

Potions and lotions, beds and breakfast, bacon, booze and bars. Hear about Camden's varied history – bygone businesses, huge warehouses and manufactories, breweries, bakers, artists, chemists and furnishers. Plus breakfast cereals, pain relief and chewing gum. We'll mostly be in the back streets so please don't fret about shoppers and tourists in the busy main drag – there'll only be one short section when we might have to negotiate crowds and I havent' lost anyone yet.

Also in Camden: Kentish Town / Kings Cross (see below)  – for Art Deco Camden see main list

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Chemists – see Pills and Potions / Barnsbury / Kings Cross

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Covent Garden 
Walk – Holborn to St Giles via Long Acre and Seven Dials

Today, London's centre, is mostly lined with shops, bars and retail outlets selling fashion, coffee, food and gadgets. But look above pavement level to see hints of how these streets were once home to a diverse range of tradesmen and services. We look at old signage – some hand-painted directly onto walls, others embedded within masonry or printed onto metal – to discover the bygone businesses behind the advertisements. Find out about hospitality and hardware, horses and horsepower. Learn about printers, artists, woodworkers, billiard halls and, perhaps, the only kind of businesses that still thrive in this area today; cafés, restaurants and hotels.

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Fitzrovia
Walk – Goodge Street, Charlotte Street, Gt Titchfield Street etc

This quiet zone just north f Oxford Street boasts an excellent cross-section of signs from bygone days including this marvellous mosaic. There are also hand-painted signs along the way advertising an intriguingly diverse range of trades and business that used to be be here, such as bookshops, antique dealers, wireworkers, architects and plumbers' merchants. We'll also stop to look at some interesting buildings whose exteriors give away they original function. 

One happy customer said: "I've attended about six of your ghostsigns walks and every walk was fab. This one was my absolute favourtite (so far!!)" 

Other walks in this area – see main list

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Holloway Road  
Two routes – guided walks / online talks via Zoom

Archway to Nags Head
Nags Head to Highbury Corner

This busy thoroughfare boasts a very good cross-section of old signage. As part of the A1, Holloway Road connects the City of London to Scotland and for centuries has been a perfect conduit for advertisements and promotion. We look at old signs advertising medicinal products, estate agents, musical instruments, foodstuffs and alcohol, cafés and hairdressing. A couple of hand-painted signs that made it through WWII but have been recently over-painted are still included being as the stories behind the products are so good and there's every chance the lettering will reappear as the modern water-based paint peels away over time.

You might also like Holloway Heyday, Holloway Pubs, Diary of a Nobody and Literary Holloway – see main list

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Islington – Make Walking a Pleasure
Walk – Upper Street, Camden Passage, Angel and Chapel Market 

We start this walk near Islington Town Hall by one of the sites that first got me interested in this hand-painted form of advertising. And from there we take a meandering route to end up a stone's throw from Angel tube station. Along the way I'll point out some marvellously preserved old signage and you'll hear about a diverse range of products and businesses, such as children's toys, rubber mats, bogus potions and men's hats. I will also point out other types of 'ghostsigns' along the way. The title of this walk is taken from one of the signs you'll see on the tour.

Also see Regents Canal ghostsigns walk which starts near Angel tube station

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Kentish Town – Wireworks to Waterworks
Walk/online – Camden Town station to Kentish Town station (or vice-versa)

We think of Kentish Town as being the area around the station but it actually started further south around St Pancras Old Church, just north of the main railway station of the same name. The village became a town and spread in a linear fashion northwards towards Highgate. This walk starts and finishes adjacent to two different railway lines. You'll see how transport connections via rail, and via canal, played a big part in altering the façades of previously well-to-do Georgian streets. front gardens became shops, back gardens became manufactories. Kentish Town Road and the streets around it has many hints of history hiding in plain view and the stories behind the old signs are intriguing 

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King's Cross – Scales, Weights and Weighing Machines
Walk – Circular from Kings Cross Station 

When the railways arrived and changed this area in the mid-1850s, many businesses were quick to move in and seize the opportunity, whether as a good location for manufacture and distribution or as great location to open a restaurant or a shop. By the 1880s, the brickwork on many façades was barely visible beneath a patchwork of hand-painted lettering advertising all kinds of products including breakfast foods, motor oil, newspapers and precision instruments. We'll look at some marvellous examples that still cling to the walls – innovative inventions, Italian dining rooms, alcohol, boot polish and bogus potions. You'll also hear about the signmakers themselves and we'll look at the HQ of one of the companies who managed the lucrative advertising sites. 

Other walks in the Kings Cross Area – see main list

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Made in London
Online talk about signs that advertise products and businesses that were manufactured in London

Online talks can cover a wider area and, by cherry-picking from my walking tours, I can offer talks on themes such as this one bringing together a range of businesses that manufactured in London, evidence of their companies or products, still visible on the walls of their old premises. Hear about a wide range of companies making products beer, garments, toys, tobacco, matches, machines and more.

One happy attendee wrote: "Jane, these talks are fascinating. I really wish I didn't live so far away so that I could come and see these amazing signs in the flesh, so to speak."

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Notting Hill
Walk – Notting Hill Gate to Ladbroke Grove via Portobello Road

There is a marvellous selection of ads of various kinds along this route. We'll look at hand-painted signs for tradesmen and well-known brands as well as tiled shops fronts displaying the name of companies well-known to us but no longer trading today. 
We'll travel from the once well-to-do shops adjacent to Kensington Gardens, along Portobello Road, known for it's vibrant antiques market, and into Ladbroke Grove, stopping to admire signboards and faded ads. I'm pretty sure that many local residents won't have noticed some of the signs I've found to show you.

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Pills, Potions and Pick-me-ups
Online talk about signs that show products associated with the pharmaceutical world

It's amazing how there are so many signs that advertise products that are no longer available at the local chemist's shop, such as lozenges and lotions, pills and potions. Find out about how the firms who made the products and how they promoted their products to appeal to as wide a demographic as possible. There are some fascinating and colourful stories in here – learn about cure-all creams and liquids that contained what we now consider to be dangerous chemicals, and others that were little more than fizzy water or harmless tree sap.  

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Regent's Canal, Islington – Boxes, Babies, Beans and Bras
Walk – Angel tube station to The Rosemary Branch, Southgate Road 

A wander along, above and around the Regents Canal in Islington following a trail of old painted signs that hint at the area's rich history. We'll be looking mostly at hand-painted-onto-walls signs including the one shown here. See and hear about a diverse range of companies and products from ladies' underwear and fancy boxes to metals and ceramics.

You might also like 'Waterways, Wharves and Warehouses' in the main list here

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Soho
Walk – Almost circular from Soho Square 

Georgian shops, woodworkers, well-dressed waiters, past times and pastiches. See how beautiful residential houses were transformed into shops and restaurants. Zig-zag through the cobbled backstreets to see where tradesmen worked with wood, leather and metal. And see signs that hint at the area's French history. 

Other walks in Soho – Art Deco / French / Italians – see main list

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Southwark
Walk – Blackfriars Road to Borough Market 

Hops and shops, boxing and boxes, tea and textiles, lightwells and linctus, churches and chocolate. Big signs for big names including one of the largest breweries in the country, a company that grew rapidly to become a kind of B&Q of its day, and a huge hospitality company. Find out what connects banking to cocoa and say hello to a dog that Dickens knew. We'll also consider a few enigmas along the way in the form of repurposed panels and modern pastiches.

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Willesden Green
Walk – Dollis Hill, Willesden High Road and Walm Lane

A fascinating glimpse into this area's colourful history. Hear the stories behind the signs, some of which still show prices in shillings! We’ll look at hand-painted ads, carved panels, Art Deco glass, tiled forecourts advertising a range of items including metal signs, Ceylon tea, newspapers, antiques and razors. 

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