Post script

We all love a secret, don't we? And the Postal Museum's secret railway is one of the best. Mail Rail runs underneath London's streets. It used to deliver mail, and now the 100 year old network delivers delights to museum visitors in its tiny trains. The museum has been nominated as Museum of the Year 2018, and it's only been open a few months - I guess the railway won't be secret much longer.

Some seem surprised that this museum has been such a success, but I'm just as surprised that they're surprised. People have an innate need to communicate, and the story of our postal service is fascinating. It's battled through attacks by highwaymen, bombs and even a lion (it's worth a visit to the museum for that story alone).

The secret railway sign is on the paving of a pretty garden area which includes a living wall studded with red post boxes. For fans of food, the cafe is worth a mention, as it's a notch better than the usual fare. So it's probably worth a visit now, while it's still (nearly) a secret. More info here.

No standing in passages

Lovely old sign in the Argyll Arcade in Glasgow. Damp pedestrians must have caused severe blocking incidents for this sign to be erected. Argyll Arcade is one of the oldest in Europe. Built in 1827, it's a beautiful place, crammed with jewellers and diamond merchants. It was designed by John Baird, whose other work seems to have been more spiritual (churches and university buildings, for instance).  It's stunning, and worth a visit.

Briggs Stores ghost sign

Briggs Stores ghost sign, on the side of a house in Heaton Norris, Stockport, on the corner of Belmont Street and Clement Street. This photo was taken a few years ago. When we lived in Heaton Norris in the late 1980s/early 1990s, Belmont Street boasted some fabulous ghost signs, including a smart green and gold Hovis sign, and a chip shop with an interior straight out of the 1950s. It's all smartened up now, of course.

Self reflection

Lloyds Bank sign in Piccadilly, London, with the reflection of Wren's St James's in the window. A calm, cool picture which seems to hark back to the days when banks and churches were trusted pillars of society. In reality, Piccadilly is brash and bustling, the contrast between the haves and have nots is painful, something which St James's admirably strives to address.

Kindly leave

You heard. Elegant no-nonsense sign at Jedburgh Abbey.

Captive audience

This cheery sign welcomes you to Dartmoor Prison Museum. Bleak and dark, even on a sunny day, Dartmoor prison is the major establishment of Princetown, high up on Dartmoor in Devon. It was built for French soldiers taken prisoner during the Napoleonic wars in the early 1800s. Bleak though it is, it must have been better than the cramped prison ships it replaced, which were anchored at nearby Plymouth and rife with disease. American prisoners started arriving in 1813 and Dartmoor soon became overcrowded. Outbreaks of typhoid, pneumonia and smallpox killed over 11,000 prisoners. Once the wars with France and America were over, Dartmoor prison was used for domestic convicts from 1850 and is still in use today. The prison museum is worth a visit - crammed full of history and detail. You get a friendly welcome, and some of the staff are prisoners helping out before they move to an open jail. The prisoners are no longer dangerous criminals working in chain gangs breaking stone on the harsh Dartmoor landscape; instead, they are low category prisoners who are encouraged to do training and learn skills to help them when they are released.

Model houses for families

An early example of social housing, with a sign proudly proclaiming its purpose. Built by the wonderfully named Society for Improving the Condition of the Labouring Classes, this handsome Bloomsbury building opened in 1850. It housed 48 families. Each dwelling had a living room, two bedrooms, a scullery and a water closet, and there were communal bathrooms and a laundry. It made a profit of about 5.5% for its investors. The Society's President was Queen Victoria's husband Albert. They had already experimented with a large development in Birkenhead, Wirral, which housed over 300 families; this had not been a success, as the buildings were too close together and the bedrooms too small. However, the London buildings were successful, and as well as homes for families, the society had lodgings elsewhere in London for single men and women. The society was taken over by the Peabody Trust in 1965.

When things were simple

Remember the simple days when you got your gas from the Gas Board, your electricity from the Electricity Board and your phone from the Post Office? Wait, what - the Post Office? It doesn't sound quite so obvious in these days of multiple providers, myriad models and a bewildering array of packages to pick from. I bet the phones supplied by the London Telephone Service were big, black and hung in the hall. I took this photo a couple of years ago and I can't remember where this handsomely lettered sign on a long blocked-up letter box is, though the geo info on my (not big, not black) phone says it's somewhere near Regents Park.

No horse traffic please

Fine old sign surviving in a narrow passage in Jedburgh, Scotland. No horse traffic please.

In my good books

This gorgeous tiled welcome is in Duke Street, Liverpool. The sign on the handsome building tells us something of its history - it housed Liverpool's first public library. It was built around 1800 and was originally the Union Newsroom, becoming a library in 1852. It's now offices and they've kept the lovely tiles and the sign. 

China sign

I've been going through my vintage collection with the aim of selling it to create some space in the house. But I'm failing in the task and this week I managed to add to the collection instead. I couldn't resist buying another of these 1950s Manhattan plates. The mark on the back shows the inspiration for the pattern - skyscraper windows. Sometimes the sign on the back of a plate is as gorgeous as the pattern on the front.

Snacks from the past

Confections, snacks or cigarettes from the past, anyone? Trendy Edinburgh coffee shop the Milkman has kept its ghost sign, to great effect.

Signs of retail past

Glasgow has a fantastic shopping centre, and for a moment I almost believed I could go shopping in the past when I saw these gorgeous ghost signs just off Sauchiehall Street. 

Wet wit

They're realistic about the weather at the Twice Brewed Inn on Hadrian's Wall. As soon as I saw the signs, I knew I'd enjoy it here. 

Quiet life

This discreet sign is tucked away in the orangery at Dunham Massey, a National Trust property in Cheshire. I like to imagine the doorway is a portal to a few magic moments without worry or stress, a haven to escape to when things get a bit too much. Just looking at it seems to slow time down.

Do not feed the Superlambanana

I love this sign on the Superlambanana in Madison Square, Liverpool. You can find Superlambananas all over the city.

Originally a tiny four-inch model made by artist Taro Chiezo in 1998, four local artists developed a full size replica, which in turn was copied in 2008 when 125 smaller replicas were made.






They pop up all over the city, in different colours and patterns. There are three in Madison Square. A comment on genetic engineering and on Liverpool's history as a port (sheep and bananas were common cargo), above all they are fun.

Garage ghost sign

Two lovely ghost signs in Kelvin Grove, Liverpool. They're in the Welsh Streets area, the subject of controversial plans for demolition and development for over 10 years. I visited on a peaceful summer day. The rows of empty terraced houses stood proudly erect in a salute to past lives, and the signs were a gentle reminder of the everyday business once conducted there. Oh, and if you're a Peaky Blinders fan, there's a treat of a street there for you.

Need a whip maker?

There's never a whip maker around when you need one. But James Smith & Sons has been around since 1830, as the sign on its handsome shop front will tell you.

Known simply as the umbrella shop, it's in New Oxford Street in London, and remains pretty much unaltered since Victorian times. Its gorgeous shop front boasts of tropical sunshades and golf umbrellas, and a rather more interesting range of life preservers.

Why not pick up a dagger or swordstick while you're there?

Sporting sign

Fantastic smart sign in Southwark, London - you don't mess with this one. The original Ring Boxing Club was housed in a former chapel. It had 12 sides, and no 90 degree angles - the architect said that meant there was no corner for the Devil to hide in. The building was sadly a victim of the blitz - the Ring today is close to the original site. There's a great history section on their website.

Wild thing

Here's a pretty tiled entrance sign in Stockport's lovely old market place. I believe Wild was a shoe shop - the building is now part of the excellent Stockport Story museum. It's in an interesting part of town: the beautiful Victorian covered market has a great vintage fair once a month. The atmospheric Staircase House museum is next door. And once you've done all that you can treat yourself to a fantastic Art Deco afternoon tea in the Plaza. All this just seven miles out of Manchester. If you're coming from that direction, why not treat yourself to a trip on the fabled 192 bus route too?