Saturday 13 February 2010

Faded New Cross

I seem to have been avoiding New Cross on my wanderings. I think this is mostly because it's so unfriendly to cyclists. But I did notice the other day that there were a lot of faded wall adverts along New Cross Road and the Old Kent Road.

I don't recall ever having noticed this one before:Clutton(?) Swan & Co, Artistic Ticket Writers. It's behind the Amersham Arms in Amersham Road.

Just opposite the Bryant and May safety matches advert in Alpha Road, at the end of Mornington Road, there's another one peering out from under a couple of J C Decaux hoardings:From underneath the competing Telecom adverts the words ''The finest the...'' are visible and the original advert appears to continue upwards almost to the top of the Vodafone boards.

Further on towards Peckham, I noticed that wall adverts seemed to come in pairs of sites, like the Bryant and May/The finest the...'' ones, over the road from each other. Just before New Cross Road changes into the Old Kent Road, there's a fairly recent undertakers sign:
To judge by the Google street view, this is only visible in winter when the trees just in front of it are leafless. And just over the road, there's this one:
''Nestlé Milk, rich in cream.'' And underneath that, are the traces of a previous Bryant and May advert. Maybe there's also a suggestion of a third advert, starting with an ornate outline of the letter R, which starts just before the N of Nestlé and and continues - beyond my deciphering powers until it finishes with an S just after the final letter of Nestlé. ''Redfern's?'' is my best shot, whoever they might have been.

Some of them are even harder to work out. This one, just opposite New Cross Gate station may as well have been written for the Enigma code.I fancy I can make out the words ''Film Cinema'' in the second line down, and also the word ''TOWER'' in large capitals at the bottom. But there again, the word after TOWER appears to say ''scream'' and that makes absolutely no sense at all.

Using the ''now you've stopped to take a photo, look the opposite way'' theory - I can imagine the signwriters also thinking, ''now we've stopped, let's see if they might be interested over the road'' - there's this:Again there's a degree of overpainting and I can barely make anything out apart from ''orders promptly'' down by the graffiti.

Finally, here are a couple of indecipherables:

Greenwich High Road, next to the Prince of Wales Pub, latterly the St Christopher's Inn, super-latterly Belusha's, there's a chemist which was a bakery at one time. The Greenwich Phantom has a photo of an advert for Justice Pies. What I only recently noticed was that up top the word ''bakery'' is still visible. The name though is beyond me.
And down alongisde the Sainsbury's in New Cross, at the corner of Hart's Lane and Hatcham Park Road, there's this. Though the lower word is not legible from the photo, when you're up close, it seems to read ''Corn''. But what words that end in -OUS could the first word be?

11 comments:

Sam Roberts said...

Redferns is spot on for the one with Nestle and Criterion Matches. They made rubber products including shoe soles and door mats. Look out for this and other sign in the forthcoming archive: http://www.ghostsigns.co.uk

Marmoset said...

Ok, I'll give myself 2 out of 3 - I didn't know it was Criterion Matches - the blue background made me think of Bryant and May. I mismatched my matches.

I've got another sign, this time a Chemist's in Nunhead, that I'll post up tomorrow. I wonder whether you'll be able to decipher that one as well.

Sam Roberts said...

Here are some other Redferns examples:
- Grant Street, N1
- Lambourn Road, SW4
- Stanstead Road, SE23
- Munster Road, SW6

Marmoset said...

Excellent links, Sam. Thanks very much.

Otter said...

Your last one was 'DANGEROUS CORNER' - it was still legible when I grew in Nettleton Road but that was fifty years ago.

Otter said...

I think I meant to say 'grew up'. Rotten typist always.

Otter said...

I think I meant to say 'grew up'. Rotten typist always.

Marmoset said...

Otter, great stuff - I simply didn't expect it to be a road sign, I thought it was an old factory sign. You could run off the road trying to read it now, though....

CarolineLD said...

I know the 'finest' sign well: I saw the bottom half briefly uncovered and the full slogan is 'the finest the world produces'. It's almost certainly an advert for Lipton's teas: see the photo and comments here.

Marmoset said...

Cheers CarolineLD, I see that once again I'm covering territory you've already done - and you have it in a more exposed state. I do look at your site but they only really strike me when I spot them as I'm passing - it's a combination of place and site/sight that makes them stick in the mind.

I have realised recently that as I cycle around the area, I seem to spend more time scanning the walls than watching the road. It's probably just a wee bit dangerous...

CarolineLD said...

More exposed, but a shocking photo - I saw it on my way home the evening before the hoarding was replaced and just snapped it quickly. I'm still kicking myself for being away when the whole thing was uncovered.

I agree about the dangers! I'm usually on foot but have tripped over paving stones/my own feet more than once.