However I did find myself taking a trip out to Cheam village in Sutton to have look at some of their buildings - mainly the 15th century Whitehall which was very interesting and well worth the (minimal, for me anyway) effort involved. However, when I went for a quick look around at the local shops and buildings - as you can't help doing when you've got a Faded London sort of mindset - I spotted a shop mosaic that looked strangely familiar.
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| Suspiciously like the Balham shop-front? |
The mosaic was just outside a shop that was undergoing a bit of a renovation or a refit. Being a Sunday afternoon it was all shut up but the floral design was identical to one I had seen locally a few months ago and mentioned in a post called A Balham Mosaic.
At the time I thought it was an intriguing on-off and didn't think much more about it but it seems it was actually more like a trade design and what's more I would guess that it was contemporary with the David Greig mosaic and tile-work that I spotted in Brixton. It is, in fact, the corporate design for J. R Sainsbury and on this site not only has the external design survived, but pretty much the whole of the interior has as well! It was tricky to photograph it through the glass doors, especially as it covered the whole of the visible floor-space, but you can get an idea of the quality of the preservation from this threashold mosaic proudly declaring the shop name
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| Looks as though Blue and Brown were the corporate colours back then |
With only a phone camera to capture it through the doors I couldn't get much of a view inside but it was interesting to see that the floor plan was typical of the day with counters running around three walls and the customers safely in the middle. I was also really intrigued to see that the shop-front itself looked original with huge sash windows either side of the door to allow them to convert into open spaces when the weather was decent.I'm not sure what the future holds for this shop - whether it's part of a preservation scheme, going to be gutted or whether the owners are going to incorporate the original features into whatever it opens up as - but it was a real pleasure to stumble across it in such an unexpected manner.
21 comments:
Lovely discovery. There is a similar 'J. Sainsbury' mosaic in Forest Hill. As for the blue flowers, which you spotted earlier in Balham and appear outside the former Cheam shop, they can be seen in a few other places around London, including Peckham.
What a fabulous discovery. Let's hope it doesn't get destroyed.
I am old enough to remember an old fashioned Sainsburys in Kensington High Street when I was a child in the 1960s. It had counters with glass fronts/tops round three sides, with the food displayed inside and a wooden wall at the back with a hatch, I think, with more staff behind.
Fabulous post. Thanks for sharing. As a mosaicist, I enjoy seeing mosaics that survived the passage of time so well. They are so durable and elegant.
Hi, I live in Cheam and like yourselves greatly admire the fact that this shop has been preserved by the local council. It was recently renovated by a furniture company who lease the shop and they painted the original dark wooden window frame white which doesn't look as bad as it sounds in hindsight. It certainly smartens up the appearance of the shop which had looked a little shabby up until then and will obviously help protect the old wood and metal beneath. The mosaic is a bit patchy inside the shop where the old fittings were removed but the remainder would act as a template if it were ever to be totally restored. Although a lot later than the other historic buildings in Cheam, it remains one of my favourites!
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nice posting.. thanks for sharing.
Amazing mosaic. Congratulations on the discovery :)
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This is very cool, sort of vintage and old school.
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