Saturday 28 March 2009

"...and the barriers are coming down all over Wimbledon"

Hamilton Road, South Wimbledon:
After the minor frisson caused by the removal of the advertising hording over the Wimbledon TrueForm sign, I couldn't believe my luck to find that another featured sign had also been exposed to general gaze. I assume that this rash of exposures must be due to the particular time of the fiscal year when rents and rates are due. It might be that the options on these particular sites are not being continued so the frames and all other hardware are being removed. I expect they'll be back again as soon as the economy picks up but for the time being it looks like being a bit of a bonanza time for humble recordist such as myself.

Well here it is, Townsend & Son in its full glory. Or rather full grubby - it looks as though it could do with a good rain-storm or two to wash away the grime. I like the Hosiers & Hatters legend though - in other words, 'from tip to tail'...!

3 comments:

Sam Roberts said...

Hey Yelfy,
Nice spot, do you think it will stay down or are they going to replace it with one of those new digital display signs?
It's be good to include this sign in my new UK Ghost Signs archive project...
Cheers,
Sam

Sebastien Ardouin said...

Thanks for letting us know! The name Townsend was easy to guess, but I always wondered what was could be writtten underneath it. I shall go and take a picture later on today or tomorrow.
Looking forward to the next post!

Yelfy said...

Sam - I couldn't really tell to be honest. I wonder though if it would be the best place to site a much larger hoarding as the buildings on the opposite corner would obscure a full view until you are almost on top of it. It is by a crossing though so I suppose they might consider it worthwhile with stationary traffic. It's quite a handsome sign though and a good late-example for the archive I'd of thought.
Sebastien - as we've had some rain since I took the picture you may be lucky and find that it's washed away some of the grime. Good luck!