Lowestoft
Lowestoft has a proud history as a fishing port, but
the decline of
this
industry in recent decades has left this large town on the mouth of the
River Waveney finding new roles apart from that of a seaside resort.
The
railway station (below) must have one of the few remaining British
Railways
signs in the country. It is in surprisingly good condition, too. If
memory
serves British Railways was rebranded as 'British Rail' with its red
and
blue arrow logo during the late sixties (not to mention the nineties
massacre
of our rail services), so this sign must predate this. One would have
imagined
that, in its day, Railtrack would have replaced this sign - but it
could
be listed ... anyone know?
-
Not far from the station on Bevan Street East stands a
humble building, once a small furnishers:
STOP HERE
GEO. ARMES
FURNISHING
(then two lines of previous faded lettering including the last word
'FURNISHING' just above the wood/tile porch).
-
Proceeding towards the Bascule Bridge over the Waveney, we find another
furnisher's sign: a near-complete, massive
wall
advertisement.
'FURNISH AT TUTTLES
UP-TO-DATE
FURNITURE GALLERIES'
on a pale coloured painted area which doesn't quite
stretch below the
word
'Galleries'. There are signs of earlier lettering below this, too. The
concept
of a furniture gallery is a novel one. The typeface is unusual and has
an
orange drop shadow.
-
Further down London Road South there is a former shoe
shop:
'STEAD & SIMPSON
FOR FOOTWEAR'
high on the wall on a paler (green?) panel.
and a little further still, an old Barclays Bank
branch, proudly signed
on each side. The white rectangle with black border is starting to wash
down on the brickwork below, but the sign is still remarkably clear
despite
the bank having long gone.
-
See Beccles, Ipswich
Cornhill, and Felixstowe for more
bank lettering examples.
127 High Street
2024 image courtesy Mark Beesley
On the side wall facing south down High Street (and close to the
junction with St Peters Street) is this enormous adverting sign – or
rather, palimpsest of a number of trading signs. Thanks to Mark Beesley
for send ing this. Checking the locayion on StreetView reveals that, in
2022, a large fabric canopy lined this part of the street, obscupring
the view of the sign. For years the upper part of this wall was covered
with black paint with, below, the partial words:
'ONS LTD.' and 'PROVIS[IONS]'
in condensed caps with a red drop-shadow. It appears
that a great deal of cleaning has followed which largely expunged these
characters, but revealed layers of partial sgns on a layer of cream
cloured paint. In 2024 much more lettering is revealed with randome
words partially readable:
'HIGHEST[?] QUALITY [G]OODS ... URNERS ... SHIPPING ... MERCHANT ... OF
LOWESTOFT ...' and, at the top right, what appears to be the Lombardic
capital 'T' (similar to the first letter of 'Telegraph' at the top of
the newspaper). This riot of signs requires more work and research to
untangle; we can't find it on the other specialist ghost sign websites.
On Kendal Road which runs from the Pakefield end
of
London Road South
towards the Fisheries Research Establishment stands this remarkable
example of trade lettering:
'METAL COATING MOTORS LTD.
Diesel & Motor Engineers.'
The firm is still in operation, and someone has done
a fine paint
job on the green background (despite the down pipes), even though the
frontage has seen better days. It seems - however unlikely - that the
signwriter has returned to earlier lettering and painted round existing
characters. The drop-shadow small and large caps have that weathered
look to the face of the font which gives a suitably distressed metallic
look to
the sign. Ten out of ten.
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