The middle way

When in London, have the courage to veer off the main streets and into the little alleyways and narrow lanes. You’ll be rewarded with some of the more interesting sights of the city.

Middle Temple Lane is just off the Strand, where it meets Fleet Street. It is one of London’s four inns of court. Nip down here and you feel you’re in a different century. It was the home of the Knights Templar, those medieval crusaders. Set up as hostels and schools for lawyers in the 13^th century, Middle Temple now houses barristers’ offices (or chambers). Worth a visit for its picturesque cobbled lanes, gardens and church.

No tractors on weekdays

Welcome to Reykjavik. Cool, happy and peaceful, Reykjavik will only tolerate tractors on its main road outside of rush hour, thank you. The ring road around Iceland connects all its main inhabited areas. It was completed in 1974 – before that, going by sea was the way to reach other parts of the island.

Up a back passage

Well, it made me smile. Humble sign in an unprepossessing alleyway in an otherwise charming West Didsbury, Manchester.

Ghostly plumber

This great ghost sign in Liverpool city centre is at the junction of Knight Street and Roscoe Street. It advertises a plumber, painter and general contractor. A bit of research reveals that Joseph Glover was a certified plumber at 39 Knight Street in 1897; he also appears in the 1901 census at the same address. 

Horse and motor contractor

I couldn’t resist featuring this old sign just off Great Ormond Street, London. Although much photographed and written about, not least by the excellent Caroline's Miscellany blog, there doesn’t seem to be much information to shine a light on G Bailey & Sons Horse and Motor Contractors, which was wound up in 1951. Intriguingly, a new company of the same name was registered in 2013 (classified as “Media representation services”) so the name may live again. 

In at the deep end

This sign is at the luscious Victoria Baths in Hathersage Road, Manchester. Opened in 1906, the baths are a sumptuous celebration of public bathing. With three swimming pools, a Turkish bath, slipper baths and a laundry, the facilities were described at the time as the most splendid in the country.

Victoria Baths closed in 1993, and a gutsy restoration campaign has worked hard to get the building open and to restore the glory of the stained glass, mosaic floors, terracotta and tiles that make it so gorgeous.

If you’ve not yet visited, you’ve probably seen it without realising, as the Baths have often starred as a TV location (Life on Mars,  Floggit, Antiques Roadshow and Peaky Blinders to name a few). They run an imaginative programme of arts events, open days and vintage fairs – but it’s worth a visit for the tiles alone. Find out more here.

Eagle eye view

The eagle that tops this warehouse at 88-90 French Street, Southampton, gets a great view of the old part of the city. Handy for the docks, the grade II listed building dates to 1903 and was a warehouse for May & Wade, export grocers and shipping contractors, as the sign proclaims. Since 1983 it has been used by the council as the archaeology department’s store, which may explain the good condition of the ghost sign.