Shopfront Mosaics

If you want to make a statement about the quality of your shop. you could do a lot worse than doing what the Romans did and putting down a mosaic. It's classy, hard-wearing, immovable, colourful and will be around a lot longer than the shopkeeper who commissioned it!

Here are some attractive examples that have turned up recently

Clapham High Street
The side entrance to a restaurant that retains what looks like the original mosaic floor inside too.
CJW seem to be the initials. Bridge Road, East Molesey
Looking a bit the worse for wear and encroached upon by new shop-fronts, this mosaic is still worth a look.
Worple Road, Raynes Park
Originally a wine merchant but now a chemist.
The Ridgeway, Wimbledon Village SW19 A very attractive entrance to a small block of flats above some shops.
The Pavement, Clapham Common WSD - obviously the initials of the original shopkeeper, but now long-since forgotton Haydons Road SW19
Neither flash, nor particularly attractive, this mosaic still brings a splash of colour to a drab stretch of road

Updated 22-04-08 National Portrait Gallery, Trafalgar Square
OK, so it's not a humble shopfront but the entrance to a national institution, but the temptation to clear away the tourists and to take a quick snap was too great. Besides, nice as it is it's not all that more spectacular than some of the examples above. Well, maybe a touch better maybe....
Updated 11-05-2008 Upper Richmond Road, Putney SW15
This particular mosaic reminds me of some Roman floor being slowly uncovered at Pompeii, except this time it is slowly shrugging off the unwanted attentions of layers of asphalt. If it was me I'd clear it all off in one go and reveal the beast beneath!