Trade Signs
Probably the biggest section of this website. Traders
have always
sought
to catch the eye of pedestrians, cyclists, tramcar riders, carters and
drivers. Appropriate architecture (a blank wall or gable) and a
favourable site
for
that wall (for example, projecting into the sightline at rightangles to
the
line of the road, or on a street corner) gave ample opportunity for
this
sort of promotion. For a collage of lost trade lettering, click here. Note: The Architectural features
gallery includes other trade and commercial signs built into structures.
A.E. Blasby:
a builder's trade sign at the top of Argyle Street.
A.A. Gibbons
mills in Benezet Street
Bar
Fontaine / Prince of Orange ghost lettering
Barnes
of Ipswich in Upper Orwell Street – demolished 2017
The Big 'R': from a shopfront in Westgate Street
The
Blooming Fuchsia, now demolished, but the
sign
lives on
The
"British Flag Stores" a vanished painted trade wall-sign
from corner shop on Wellesley Road.
Brunswick
Road Post Office and the 'Chas: West' lettering revealed in
2016
Burroughes
Bros. Corn Flour & Meal reappearing sign, Felixstowe
Road
C.J. Hawes
Shoe Repairs: a ghost of a shop sign in Wherstead Road
Camden Road: a surprisingly large, obscured
trade sign in suburban Ipswich.
Carrier bags
advertising long gone businesses
Claydon
Hall Dairy in Bramford Lane
'Cobbold's Ales
& Spirits' vestige in St Nicholas Street
Confectionery
Works
Woodbridge Road, not far from the Milestone had,
until
May 2003, a
well
concealed trade sign now demolished. Also
shown
here: 'Bake Office' sign in Wherstead Road, and Mary's, the former
hairdressers
'County
Supply Stores' in Newton Road, 'R. Markham
Grocery', now covered up
Crane
Co
or what little is left of it
Cullingham
Road: 'CORN HAY CHAFF...' if you look
carefully enough. Demolished February 2017.
The
Duke Of York public house in
Woodbridge Road
has engraved window lettering
Edme Bakery Traces of
traders' lettering
are scattered throughout the town. A tea advertisment in Eagle
Street
and the large W.B. Kerridge, 'The People's Cash Tailor' lettering on
Bramford
Road are included here
Egertons: the huge painted sign on the back wall of the
building currently housing the Robert Ransome pub, plus the ghost signs
on The Assembly Rooms. Also visible from this location is the Halberd
Inn lettering on
McGinty's
pub
Elliott Street
Bakery:
a fine
example of the
trade
lettering once so common: this was the inspiration for this website
EUR and GER pubs in Croft Street and the Loco Men's Club
& Institute nearby
Felixstowe Road
Around The Royal Oak we
find several examples including J.W. How, Family Grocer, P.J. Prentice
The
Globe former public house, St
George's
Street has 'Cobbold's Ales & Spirits'
The Golf Hotel
and the 'Tolly Follies'.
Hales
Chemist notwithstanding the lettering
being
painted over.
Here also are the nearby Turners Buildings and a rare '1636' carving in
St
Helens Street
Harry
Seaman
One of the first examples noted in Ipswich
almost isn't
there. Seaman had fine relief cartouches moulded onto the gable-ends of
his
property to catch the eye of the public. This has since been
painted
over...
Hatter, Ann
Street: a poster from 1892 found in an old hat shop.
Horse &
Groom, now closed, has vestigial lettering
H.W. Parker,
the Victorian printing works once at 24 Fore Street; the shop front is
largely unchanged today
H.W.
Turner
in St Helens Street, the
'leading edge' of
the
building
which houses Robertson's shop, Hill Farm,
Henley Co., 'Emeny' Newsagent (1970s), the
R.H. Kent lettering in
Dove Street,
plus
The Grosvenor Hotel, Berners Street
Ipswich
Labour Exchange enamelled sign
J. Pooley & Co.
(Ipswich)
Ltd., Ranelagh
Road, now a block of flats
Kersey & Co.
used to boast a real carnival-style set of painted gates.
Lion's Head
(now The Old Times Guest House) on Cauldwell Hall Road has 'frosted'
glass lettering
Martin
&
Newby On
the corner of
Orwell Place and Fore Street,
stands
these famously lettered premises, the nearby
'Meremayd', as well as 'Palmer's Door
Mats
&c'
The
Mulberry Tree public house
Nestlés Milk:
a huge, hidden advertisement on Bramford Road
Norwich Road has 'Tolly
Cobbold' and
'Ferodo'
signs
Off licences provide
several painted
brickwork
advertisements; here are examples from Suffolk Road, Cemetery Road and
Bramford
Road
The Old Bell Inn in Over Stoke
Orwell Road,
vestiges of a trade sign from 2008
Palmers Bakery,
now lost on Norwich Road, also Serjeant's Wallpaper & Paint Shop
and Shelley's Barber Shop signs.
Peter's Ice Cream
still readable on the corrugated iron in Grimwade Street
Ransomes in Wykes Bishop
Street and on a warehouse in Cliff Road. Ransome
Sims & Jefferies and Ransome &
Rapier feature on other pages, including Stoke
Hall.
The Red Lion
in Bramford Road: its lost sign 'Tolly Ales'
The Rose
and Crown Brewery At the top of Bramford
Road,
the now-demolished 'TFL' in nearby
Gaye
Street, back from the corner with Benezet
Street, which features in our Introduction
St
Michael's Works and The Black Barn in Bond
Street
which no longer
exist
Scarborow
the Art Nouveau wonder of Dial Lane with its
remarkable letterings and the revelation of its historic trade sign
Serjeants
Paints & Wallpapers: a shop sign in Norwich Road
uncovered by chance in 2014, also Palmers Bakery and Shelley's barber
shop
Sherrington
Road: Home & Industry (Contractors) Ltd sign and
Broomhill Pool
Shortis
Motorist's Discount Store, formerly Motormania
S. Wilson
cutler in Upper Orwell Street, through the ages.
The Spread
Eagle: and street nameplates for Eagle Street and Fore
Street.
The Sun
Inn:
one of the gems of old Ipswich, with interior photographs
Sweets
& Tobacco, still hanging on at the junction of Surrey
Street and London Road
Symonds
for
Kodaks
Upper Brook Street, the
'Sennitt's' lettering and an Alfred Coe
sign in Carr
Street
Tavern
Street
has The Great White Horse, Croydon's
and Midland Bank
Temptation gates at Major's Corner: a much
opened and closed Chinese restaurant; also the lettered 'SB' gates in
Orwell Place
Uncle
Tom's Cabin, a public house in Over Stoke which bears
lettering and a brewery monogram
Unicorn
Inn on Orwell Place and and the Unicorn Brewery
on Foundation Street, also the story of the
brewery's use by the Talbot Mineral Water Co.
V.A
Marriott on Handford Road, in
business since 1895, now demolished
Vestigial
lettering found in Charles Street,
Buttermarket,
Old Foundry Road, Upper Orwell Street and Felixstowe Road
Wiggin
& Son chemist and pharmacy was one of the well-known
shops in St Matthews Street since 1840 – we celebrate the much-lettered
shops here
Woolworth's: the ghost of a shop
sign in a bleak car park.
Wootton's
the hairdresser a vestigial riot of
resonant
words in Tavern Street
Wootton's 'Try Woottons Cure For Corns': a
huge, hardly noticed trade sign in Camden Road
Related pages:
Old
shop signs and names
Lost
Ipswich trade signs with
sections on 'Before & after the Willis building' and Thomas
Seckford's 'Great Place' in Westgate Street.
Collage of lost
signs.
Brickyards, Potteries
, Ropewalks in
Ipswich
Also:
Named buildings list;
Named (and sometimes dated) buildings
examples
Dated buildings list; Dated buildings
examples; Dated
rainhoppers
and weather vanes
Origins of street names
in Ipswich; Streets named after slavery
abolitionists
Street index;
Street nameplates; Examples
of Street nameplates (Parliament Road
etc.);
Boundary
markers
Ipswich Tomorrow, Greyfriars 1960s
Rampart and Town gates
Historic maps of Ipswich
Timeline: historical eras, events
and monarchs
Monasteries
Blue plaques
Freehold Land Society
Ipswich coat of arms
Pubs & Off licences
Wet Dock maps
Water in Ipswich
Listed buildings in
Ipswich
Windmills
in the Borough of Ipswich
[Our background monogram 'EUR' is taken from the the
former EUR public house in Croft Street.]
Home
Please email any comments and contributions by clicking here.
Search Ipswich
Historic Lettering
©2004 Copyright
throughout the Ipswich
Historic Lettering site: Borin Van Loon
No reproduction of text or images without express written permission