Gold Cup mystery

This wonderful ghost sign for Gold Cup Cream ices (is that what it says?) is in the Canute Road area of Southampton, UK. I can’t seem to find out anything about this wholesale depot – do you know anything?

It's a Shaw thing

I like this stylish road sign in Heaton Moor, Stockport.

Shaw Road is the place to go for food. I recommend the Heatons Tandoori for wonderful curry, Kro Bar for good food and a relaxed atmosphere, and Marmaris for friendly service and great Turkish food. Pokusevskis’ delicatessen is worth a visit for the goats cheese alone.

It’s also the site of the Heaton Moor market (the next one is on 4^th May) – crammed full of pretty and tasty things you don’t need but really, really want. 

The Fall

I don't condone all graffiti, but this arty tribute to Manchester band The Fall did make me smile.

Sign of the signs?

Pleasing sign about a sign on the Palace Hotel in Manchester. To older Mancunians, this fantastic Victorian Gothic construction will always be known as the Refuge Building, home of the Refuge Assurance Company. Built in 1895 and extended 10 years later, it is Grade II listed and was designed by Alfred Waterhouse (who also designed Manchester Town Hall and the Natural History Museum in London). The Refuge Assurance Company took flight in 1989 for more modern premises, and the building became a hotel in 1994.

Dressed to drill

I spotted this sign on a sunny spring day in Cheadle, Stockport. Somehow, dreary drill halls have always loitered unnoticed in the background. This sign, with its rusty streaks and black and white functionalism, prompted me to find out more. And, wonderfully, there is someone who cares. The Drill Halls Project at http://www.drillhalls.org/ is recording these fading little bits of our community history before they disappear.

Drill halls have been with us since the 1860s, often built by volunteers and funded by public subscription or benefactors. Although intended for military training, drill halls have been the backdrop of many a community gathering, from fetes and dancing to weight-loss clubs and birthday parties.  

These days, old drill halls are at risk of being demolished to make way for development. Happily, the Cheadle drill hall, built in 1904, is now the Village Hall.

Porter!

I spotted this fabulous blast from the past in the Portico Library, Manchester, and sat through an entire meeting transfixed, desperate to press it. Would it conjure up a wheezing old man from the 19^th century, tugging his forlock and begging to carry my books? I didn’t press it, so I never found out.

The Portico is a bit of a surprise. It opened in 1806 as a library and newsroom and is still an independent library, in its original Grade II listed building on Mosley Street in Central Manchester (though these days the building below is no longer a bank but a pub). Its famous members include Elizabeth Gaskell (did she summon the porter with that bell, I wonder?). Current patrons include Val McDermid, Jenni Murray and the wonderful Stuart Maconie. 

Cat alert!

The lovely people at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home showed me around and I got to see Larry the Downing Street cat’s old pen, with its very own sign. Founded in 1860, the home is well known for its care of dogs, yet it started taking cats as early as 1883. Larry, of course, now has a high social media profile of his own, tweeting as @Number10cat and @DowningStCat, continuing cats’ dominance of the internet.