Out of control

Yes, I think I know him. Shocking the way he runs round uncontrolled like that.

As grim as it looks

This is the sign for the men’s toilets in the Stockport Air Raid Shelters. Opened in 1939, at the start of World War Two, they were the largest purpose-built civilian air raid shelters in the country, providing cover for 6,500 people. Nearly a mile long, they were cut into red sandstone cliffs and boasted facilities including electric light, sick bays, bunk beds and, yes, toilets – 16-seater toilets.

You can see the shelters – and their toilets – at 61 Chestergate Street, Stockport. Nicknamed the Chestergate Hotel, it became a familiar haunt for families during the Blitz. It’s open to visitors, and recently refurbished. Hot and moist, you can see the toilets, their cheek-by-cheek seats, flimsy modesty curtains and open flushing system. Thankfully the council stopped short of providing authentic smells, offering instead a rather fab audio tour.

Go on – go and see them and spend a penny. More info here: http://www.stockport.gov.uk/services/leisureculture/visitstockport/museumsandgalleries/airraidshelters/

London and North Western Railway Goods Warehouse

I like Victorian industrial buildings. Victorians loved to make even the most functional structures look beautiful, and sometimes slightly whimsical – decorated temples for the worship of industry or castles to celebrate commerce.

 

 

Not far from Stockport’s fantastic viaduct is this rather grand warehouse, formerly the London and North Western Railway Goods Warehouse (and now, appropriately, a Safestore storage building).

 

Grade II listed, it was built in 1877 in an Italianate style – a style shared by even grander buildings such as Osborne House, Queen Victoria’s holiday home on the Isle of Wight.

 

Pleasingly, this sign (on the railway side of the warehouse) is one reason the building is listed. The fancy architecture and prominent display of the name did what they were designed to do - a good job of promoting the London and North Western Railway.

Despatch to all parts of the world

This sign in Portugal Street, London WC2, caught my eye. It’s on the old head office building of WH Smith. The sign was damaged by shrapnel from a World War Two air raid on 10 October 1940. The sharp holes are a small but poignant reminder of the destruction of war. 

A grave invitation

This spooky sign inviting you to enter a tomb was on a grave in St Paul’s, Shadwell, East London.

The church is close to the docks and is known as the Church of Sea Captains, with over 70 sea captains buried in the graveyard. Captain Cook was a member of its congregation, and John Wesley preached there (- of course he did. It’s a merry day for me if I discover somewhere he didn’t preach). The handsome building is a “Waterloo church”, funded by Parliament to celebrate the Battle of Waterloo victory.

I didn’t accept the invitation to enter the tomb. Nice offer, but I was dead busy, didn’t want to get out of my depth, had a bit more skull-king around to do and, anyway, I’m a lazy-bones.

Walk on the wild side

This sign made me smile – it’s the inverted commas that amuse me. What are they meant to convey, I wonder? Just how wild was this fish? Caged or house trained? Absolutely raging or just a bit irritated? Naturally, to comedy lovers of a certain age (me), a sign like this will trigger Gerald the Gorilla jokes from Not the Nine O’clock News (“Wild? I was livid!”).

The sign was outside the Easy Fish Company in Heaton Moor, Stockport (http://www.theeasyfishco.com/). It’s a rather wonderful shop, even for a vegetarian (me again, hence my ignorance of fishy adjectives). It doesn’t just sell fish - the cheese counter is great, the bread good and the Christmas goodies last year were mouth watering. Obviously I’m hoping for a whole series of signs – Cross carp? Mad monkfish? Cheesed off cheddar? Well, you get the picture.

It’s all just vandalism, or is it?

I took this a few years ago in Anglesey. It was on the door of a works lock-up at the (completely fabulous) Parys slate mine. I thought it was rather lovely, and worth bringing out again in the light of Banksy’s recent New York sales stunts. Is it art or is it vandalism? Do you know what you like? Discuss.