Derelict London - Photography, Social History and Guided Walking Tours
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  • Homepage
  • 19 Years of Derelict London
  • Author's Guided Tours of London
    • Minories to Poplar
    • Woolwich Alldayer
    • Roman Road
    • Whitechapel & Bethnal Green
    • Derelict Limehouse & Poplar
    • Lost Docks of Wapping
    • Isle of Dogs
    • Grand Surrey Canal
    • London's Lost Rivers Tours
    • Shadwell & Stepney
    • Silvertown
    • Bow Creek: River Lea from Bromley by Bow to Leamouth via Canning Town
    • Croydon Canal
    • Dartford guided walk
    • Hammersmith
    • East Finchley to Gospel Oak
    • London's Lost Music Venues
    • Tower Hamlets Special
  • Coming soon: 2023 New Pics
  • 2022 New Pics
  • 2021 New Pics
  • Winter 2020/21 New Pics
  • Contact
  • Derelict London - The Book
  • Dereliction and Beyond...Then and Now Photos
    • Derelict London 2008 Book Then and Now Pics
    • Then and Now Pics South of the River
    • Then and Now Pics North of the River
  • London's Lost Rivers - The Book & Website
  • London Transport
    • Derelict London Tube Trains and Stations
    • Derelict London Railway Stations,Lines and Rolling Stock
    • Derelict London Trams
  • Factories and Warehouses
    • North of the Thames Factories and Warehouses
    • South of the Thames Factories and Warehouses
  • Derelict London Homes
    • Homes North of the Thames
    • Homes South of The Thames
    • Derelict homes now Demolished
  • Derelict London Cinemas
  • Derelict London Hospitals
    • Hospitals North of the River
    • Hospitals South of the River
    • Hospitals: Then & Now pics
  • Derelict London Pools and Baths
  • Music History
    • London's Lost Music venues 2
  • Various Derelict London Buildings
  • Derelict London Pubs
    • North London
    • Derelict East London Pubs >
      • East London Pubs from Dereliction to Demolition
      • East London Pubs - Dead Pubs to Conversion
      • East London Pubs Back from the Brink
    • Central London
    • West & South West London
    • South & South East London Pubs
  • Derelict London Cemetery & Churches
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  • Graffiti & Streetart
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  • Derelict London Cafes
  • People
  • Porticos and Pillars
  • Shopping Trolleys
  • Derelict London Shops
  • Signs and Murals
  • Derelict London Sportsgrounds
  • Post Offices
  • Derelict London Toilets
  • Toys
  • Derelict London Telephone Boxes
  • War - Bunkers and Pillboxes
  • Waterways and Wharves
  • Wildlife
  • Vehicles
  • Long Lost Burial Grounds
  • London Riots 2011: The Aftermath
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  • London's Long Lost Sports Grounds
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    • Derelict Kent DA postcodes
    • Derelict Kent ME postcodes
    • Derelict Kent TN postcodes
  • Derelict Essex
    • Derelict Essex RM postcodes
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Derelict London - Photography, Social History and Guided Walking Tours
Picture
​Derelict London Shops
Derelict London Shops: Donald Clarke writing for the Irish Times sums up the situation:

"In the 1980s you could still visit a city in Britain or Ireland and expect to see unfamiliar shops.

Depressingly few of your purchases will have been made in the sort of shop you see in Dickens adaptations. You know the type. They’ve got names like Mr Pundlechook’s Novelty Emporium and Sudbury and Sudbury’s Victuallers. Each right angle in the multi-paned window glistens with picturesque snow. A cheery, rubicund man wraps the purchases in brown paper and (without triggering any calls to social services) pinches every available baby on his or her plump cheek.

The few places that do still meet this description tend to be vanity projects run by the idle mistresses of dissolute millionaires. How has that vulgar shop selling dog soap stayed in business? Don’t ask, darling.

Anyway, too much actual shopping – as opposed to the virtual online sort – takes place in one class of chain store or another. A Bucket o’ Sox from Marks and Spencer, a vat of sherry from Tesco, one of the late Mr Jobs’s tablets from PC World – the retail empires’ grip is becoming ever tighter and ever more unyielding. All this happened relatively recently.

In the 1980s you could still visit a city in Britain or Ireland and reasonably expect to see a variety of unfamiliar shops - the sorts of places where shiny-headed men, tape measures draped ceremonially over shoulders, were permanently on hand to estimate inside legs or assess hat sizes. Actual waitresses served grey, astringent coffee in moderately elegant cafes.

Such is the dulling of the high street that whole towns now seem cloned from a dreary specimen kept in an evil genius’s hidden lair. In 2004, the New Economics Foundation, a British think tank, published a report entitled Clone Town Britain. According to this terrifying document, nearly half the towns in the UK can be classed as clones. Travel to such a place and, likely as not, you can buy your razor from Boots, your coffee from Starbucks and your newspaper from WH Smith. Starbucks’ faux hippie coffee store – music by generic bores such as the supernaturally soporific Jack Johnson – now allows Spanish students to drink the same consistently average product in every city they invade.

A degree of drab, tolerable uniformity is available to every citizen of the western world.  Even Karl Marx didn’t see that coming."
Collage Picture of derelict London shopfronts

​Well Walk Pottery - Hampstead, NW3

The empty Well Walk Pottery in Hampstead, NW3
Well Walk Pottery - Hampstead, NW3
​In the 1940s and early 1950s this distinctive corner shop was a general grocery store called Sidney Spall & Sons. In 1957 David Magarshack, a successful translator of the Russian classics for Penguin, who had emigrated from Russia in 1920  bought the shop and his wife turned the ground floor into a pottery to nurture their son's love of ceramics. The son, Chris Magarshack continued to live above the pottery until he passed away in early 2018. He taught pottery to many locals and he was considered one of Hampstead's influential post war creatives.

The pottery has been sold to become a children’s bookshop and cafe with a 50 seater performance space in the basement hosting visiting puppetry and children’s productions.
Picture
Well Walk Pottery - Hampstead, NW3
Abandoned interior of Well Walk Pottery - Hampstead, NW3 in North London
Well Walk Pottery - Hampstead, NW3

Richmond, TW10 - ​J. Clarke & Sons' Dairies

Hill Rise, Richmond, TW10  ​J. Clarke & Sons' Dairies vacant shop with decorative tiles
Richmond Hill empty dairy shop with decorative tiles  ​
​Thankfully not derelict, just vacant. This Grade 2 listed shop on Hill Rise was constructed in the early 18th century and was originally the Sudbrook Farm Dairy dating back to 1852 and taken over by Josiah Clarke  whose family business gradually expanded into a local chain of shops. Their decorative tiles can still be seen inside the shop. In 1917 they merged with rivals F & H E Hornby to became Hornby Clarke Ltd who traded until 1960 when they were taken over by Express Dairies. 

The shop has been a succession of businesses over the recent years including a hairdressers, a fabric retailer, Italian coffee shop and a desert shop specialising in tiramisu. Hopefully the next business will be a long running as the old dairy.
Grade 2 listed 18th century shop in Richmond was originally the Sudbrook Farm Dairy
decorative tiles at former dairy, 84 Hill Rise, Richmond, London. TW10 6UB
 Dairy tiling. Hornby Clarke traded on Richmond Hill Rise before taken over by Express Dairies.
 Hornby Clarke Ltd traded until 1960 when they were taken over by Express Dairies.

Stepney E1/Limehouse E14 Border - Commercial Road/Whitehorse Road Derelict Shops

Limehouse, E14 derelict shops on  Commercial Road in the East End of London
Closed down fruit and veg shop in Stepney, East London
Squatted shops in East London  on Commercial Rd. A13
Derelict London shops along the Commercial near Limehouse Station
Many of these shops on this parade along the Commercial Road (Limehouse) and round the corner to Whitehorse Rd (Whitehorse) have been derelict for years. Only a minicab office (Commercial Cars - the black and White building) continues to trade but that is due to move out any day now. The deteriorating buildings have been squatted for many years and some internal walls demolished to connect up the buildings but in March 2018 the squatters were  finally evicted as preparation begins to demolish the buildings to build new flats.  
Fresh Fish Daily at derelict fishmongers in Limehouse on Commercial Rd
JJ Brothers Fishmongers, Limehouse
boundary between Stepney and Limehouse  crosses the Commercial Road (A13) to the left of the cab office
Decaying parade of shops along the Commercial Road in Limehouse, E14
Jamie writes to Paul at Derelict London: "Oh dear! it is so strange to see what was once such a vibrant little shop, all closed up and in bad state of disrepair, mum and me would get off the routemaster no 15 or 23 bus at the stop right outside Les's fishshop/stall on our way home from school and work, and have a chat and the opportunity to buy just about every fish you could possibly imagine.You would stand shoulder to shoulder with other customers along the front of the shop at the bottom of the fish display, we moved into the area 1976, and Les was running the show then, he was a hilariously quick witted and cheerful bloke, I can picture him standing there in his white coat and apron (not always wearing a white hat)people not only bought fish from Les,but also went for a 10min comedy stand-up routine from him over that side side, while everyone was this side,seperated by the cold staring eyes of his latest livlihood,My mother was his greatest fan, and once to top all the belly laughs we had from him and his fishy tales of fish, his brother in law Dave who was equally as funny as Les was standing behind the display, looking big powerful and assertive and ready to go, he took our order down on his little notebook(paper-one) and semi-disappeared from our view, my mother already laughing at that, laughed extremely hard when he showed us his upturned milk crate, he stood on, he was only half visible and then stood up on the crate and wow instant leadership and pillar of the community mixed with a tall and confident body language ,but quickly and suddenly vanished alltogher,1 sec later a dishevelled bloke,wearing a now wonky straw hat and soaking wet uniform appeared nose first from the top of the display, slowly and then a yell of NO OH NO NO, his fall from crate had also tipped the full to the brim with live eels tank over, and before everyone's eyes they disappeared one by one in single file right down the drainage hole in the floor inside the shop, with him desperately trying to catch em by their tail end, every body outside was not sure whether to lol or not ,so had it away on their feet ,to a bit further down the road where they could not be heard laughing at the poor mans plight, funny and lovely memories of days past, I think he shut down about 1990-or 1992,we never saw him again, such a funny good natured bloke he was..!"
Collapsed roof. Interior of abandoned long derelict fishmongers in Limehouse
Inside of derelict shops in Limehouse, East London
Left behind in Limehouse squatted shops
Festina hat in East London squat
Abandoned, rundown buildings in East London used as a squat
Abandoned bike workshop in derelict shop on Commercial Road, E14
4.5 million years of evolution. 250 years of destruction. Stand up for what you believe in.
bra hanging in abandoned squat in East London
abandoned turntable in squat on Commercial Rd, Limehouse
East End Squat on Whitehorse Road, Stepney, E1
Kitchen in rundown squat in Stepney, East London. E1
Dangerous staircase in abandoned building in East London
Hidden London in East End squat in derelict building
Dumped widescreen TV in abandoned derelict building in East London
kitchen in abandoned closed down shop in Limehouse on the A13
Urban exploration and discarded musical equipment in East London
Halloween pumpkin in derelict building in Limehouse, East London
abandoned cuddly toys in East London
Inside derelict run down buildings on Commercial Rd, Limehouse
Squatters Own Junkyard in East London, E14
Urbex photography in London
Urban exploration photography in abandoned and derelict London
Abandoned mannequin doll and trainers in East End Squat in disused shop on Commercial Rd, Limehouse
Needles for drugs. Coffee table in East End squat with syringes

Picture derelict Cliff's Corner shop, R M Walsh. Merton High Street, Wimbledon. SW19
Merton SW19
Picture of smashed shop frontage of defunct Millers Financial and Property Services Whitehorse Road Croydon
Croydon CR0
Derelict MAXX Video shop in Forest Hill, SE23
Forest Hill SE23
derelict closed down fruit and veg shop in Golborne Rd in London  W10
Golborne Rd, W10
Closed W. Hicks shop in Golborne Rd, W10
Golborne Rd, W10
Derelict corner shop in Bethnal Green, London, E2
Bethnal Green E2
Bethnal Green E2 derelict shop
Bethnal Green E2
Clapton, London, N5 Derelict stationary and tobacco shop
Clapton E5
Wealdstone Off License in north west London
Wealdstone
Blood Brothers derelict tattoo studio on Holloway Rd
Holloway
New Southgate, N11 derelict butcher shop of M Terry on Bowes Road
New Southgate
Closed down shop in Manor Park, East London. The fading sign reveals clues of travel, mortgages and hairdressers.
Manor Park E12. The old signage reveals clues of previous businesses here : - travel, mortgages and hairdressers
Historic London closed down tourist souvenir shop in Paddington
Historic London Shop in Paddington

Picture of closed down and boarded up shops in Knightsbridge
Picture of Knightsbridge regeneration project where a  new scheme will provide retail at street level with office space and 15 luxury apartments at levels 1-5.
Picture of West London boarded up buildings.  The complete internals structure will be rebuilt with the basement deepened by one additional level - lets hope any rivulets of the buried River Westbourne pose any problems here
Picture of derelict Knightsbridge. The listed façade of the building in red brick and stone dressing and the roof overlap with chimneys is to be retained
Picture of closed down Knightsbridge shops between Wilton Place and William St, SW1

​Knightsbridge SW1 - Wilton Place to William Street

Picture  In 1975 the attempted armed robbery of the Spaghetti House restaurant at Nos 77-79 led to a six-day siege of the building.
Spaghetti House, Knightsbridge
Picture of farewell poster on boarded up Spaghetti House in Knightsbridge
The whole of this stretch of the road is occupied by a range of shops and flats  built in the early 1900s to replace old houses owned by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners (successors to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey). 

In 1975 the attempted armed robbery of the Spaghetti House restaurant at Nos 77–79 led to a six-day siege of the building. This was an attempted armed robbery where managers of the chain had assembled to pay in the week's takings of approximately £13,000. When the armed robbery did not go to plan, nine Italian staff members were taken hostage, and moved into the basement.The gunmen, claiming to represent the Black Liberation Army, a Black Panther splinter group, demanded safe passage and an aircraft out of the country to Jamaica. The police refused and  the demoralised robbers and their captives emerged unharmed after 6 days.During the sieze there was a bizarre moment when Who drummer turned up outside in an open top Rolls Royce to promote his new solo album in front of the assembled press. 

Spaghetti House has now closed this branch after 46 years' trading here. Along with the other shops and flats in the building, the business has been obliged to relinquish its lease after landlord Cheval Property Holding announced that it would redevelop the whole block.

The listed façade of the building in red brick and stone dressing and the roof overlap with chimneys is to be retained and the complete internal structure will be rebuilt with the basement deepened by one additional level - lets hope any rivulets of the buried River Westbourne pose any problems here....The new scheme will provide retail at street level with office space and 15 luxury apartments at levels 1-5. 

​Forest Gate, E7 - JG Harding Ltd Gold Crest Handmade Lampshades 

​Forest Gate, E7 - JG Harding Ltd Gold Crest Handmade Lampshades
Derelict shops and yard in Forest Gate East London
Closed down Gold Crest Lampshades in Newham
Derelict yard in Forest Gate, E7

Zodiac Records - Wandsworth, SW18

The derelict Zodiac Record shop on the south circular in  Wandsworth, SW18 was only ever open on Saturdays
Old  sign about  audio cassette refunds  outside the abandoned Zodiac Record Shop in Wandsworth on the one way system
This independant record shop situated on the one way system of the South Circular Road in Wandsworth has fascinated people for years. It has run by a guy who previously owned a record shop in Putney who moved here (I believe, in the early 1970s) though he only ever opened on a Saturday selling both vinly and cassette tapes though latterly moving with the times by selling CDs. He sold via mail order too.

I never remember the shop having any window display and always seemed to be boarded up even when open on a Saturday. Just an open doorway proved that it was trading that day. The sign states open 11am - 6pm but whenever I walked by in the early 2000s on a Saturday it was not always open and seemed to be open for a short periods during the day. I went in to have a look out of sheer curiosity in 2005 or 2006 and the inside of the shop was quite dimly lit with photocopied CD sleeves filling the racks. Having a short attention span as we were on our way to the pub (The Royal Oak r.i.p.) my mate prised me away and we were gone within a minute or two. The doors closed for good a couple of years later and is becoming in an increasingly derelict condition. Nothing is known about the current owner of the property. The garage to the left of the shop is in a derelict condition too and I climbed up to look through a gap in the gable only to find piles of discarded wood. As I was getting down, a lady who resides in the modern flats behind asked if I was from the council as she wanted to complain about the rat infestation in the area due to this garage - apparently passers by discard their takeaways through the gap.
According to Charlie who emailed this website,  Zodiac Records Wandsworth was bought in 2009 for £245k and planning permission was granted in 2013 to demolish and create a new building with glass front - offices.

The closed down Arber & Co Printers - Roman Road, Bow, E3 that once printed pamphlets for the suffragettes

Arber & Co Printers - Roman Road, Bow, E3

This printers run by the same family on this site since 1897 closed in May 2014 as 82 year old Gary Arber decided to retire after it became increasingly difficult to afford the local business rates as trade had decreased as he claimed that local parking enforcement put off customers.

From printing pamphlets for Emmeline Pankhurst, leader of the Suffragettes, at the turn of the century and continuing to print through both wars despite suffering bomb damage to printing boxing posters for the Krays,one of the last print jobs was a poster stuck inside the front window blaming Tower Hamlets Council parking policy. The vintage printing presses were sold to a collector in Norfolk.The shop was sold to a property developer and is going to be converted into flats.
Closure sign for Arber & Co printers survived enemy bombs but blaming Tower Hamlet's parking policy as reason

George Moore Menswear - Bowes Park, N22


Here is an update on one of the first shops ever featured on this website when I noticed it ten years ago and I have watched it slowly deteriorate over the years. This menswear shop has a fully stocked window display but it looks like the shop simply closed one day several years ago and unexpectedly didn't open the next day.

Gary Cook writes to Derelict London:"the gentleman concerned is George D Moore, he is still alive and kicking but only opens once or twice a month, this is due to some kind of council tax rebate; if he keeps stock in the window he gets some sort of discount as he still lives upstairs. I remember as a child going to the local chippy about 10 doors down and on my way back eating my 6d (2 1/2 pence) worth of chips, I  would stand and stare at his motorised revolving cufflink stand that was always in the front window with the cheap stones reflecting in the shop lights,its not there any more, it must have given up the ghost, however he has not, he must be about 75- 80 now , a mad nostalgic friend of mine always trys to buy a shirt or a pair of underpants to give him some trade but is always turned away, so much for supporting your local store eh!. Any way great site and keep up the great work, this is one of the nets great and very interesting nostalgic sites."

Interesting comments from Gary but actually, George Moore was the original propreitor from 1942 and his son,Brian took over in the late 1960s when his dad passed away. Trade slowed down and Brian retired around 1999 and he simply just left all the stock in the window.A gesture of defiance or just sentimentality? He lived in the property until recently and the the mould is really setting in on the fading window display along with a few spider webs and the roof is in poor condition. The window above the shop was boarded up after the original window and its frame fell out onto the street. The style of the goods in the window suggest that they are much older than from 1999.

The shop raises quite a few emotions in the area. Some love that its a museum piece and others who I came across when working in the area in 2006 said the shop looked awful and the owner has no regard for his once impressive building and its bringing the tone of the neighbourhood down.

The shop has recently been taken over by ex-Killing Joke keyboard player Nick Holywell-Walker who is planning restoration and deciding what to do with the building (and it's window display). The main sign now looks like its been cleaned up and shows the original pre George Moore sign for a shop called Richards.  
abandoned mouldy shirts in North London
fading window menswear display in Myddleton Rd, Bowes Park now owned by ex Killing Joke member
Rotten underpants at the derelict George Moore Menswear - Bowes Park, N22
The locally infamous rotting underpants display
The abandoned looking mens clothese shop of George Moore Menswear - Bowes Park, N22
George Moore shopfront at 99 Myddleton Road Bowes Park in North London. By the way, this road is named after Hugh Myddelton, the driving force behind the construction of the New River which runs thought the area.

VICTORIA, SW1 - PAGES OF FUN BOOKSHOP

As covered elsewhere on this website there is extensive demolition and reconstruction work at Victoria is in relation to the tube station rebuild and redevelopment in the vicinity. In this arcade on Terminue Place is this recently closed down bookshop. A few books remain in the 1970s style window display. Apparently within the shop was an area separated by cowboy style saloon doors into an adult magazine area.
Pages of Fun Books & Magazines Victoria Arcade
Pages of Fun Books & Magazines Victoria Terminus Place
Abandoned & derelict bookshop - Pages of Fun Books & Magazines Victoria

THE DECAYING PREMISES OF THE MITCHAM WATCH AND CLOCK SERVICE - STREATHAM VALE SW16

THE MITCHAM WATCH AND CLOCK SERVICE - STREATHAM VALE SW16

Old school watch and clock shop been closed down for a few years.  Now sold with permission to convert to residential use.


CLONE TOWNS

The New Economics Foundation  coined the term 'clone town' to describe a phenomenon which is transforming British high streets. Real local shops have been replaced by swathes of identikit chain stores that seem to spread like economic weeds, making high streets up and down the country virtually indistinguishable from one another. Retail spaces once filled with a thriving mix of independent butchers, newsagents, tobacconists, pubs, bookshops, greengrocers and family-owned general stores are becoming filled with faceless supermarket retailers, fast-food chains, and global fashion outlets. Many town centres that have undergone substantial regeneration have lost their sense of place and the distinctive facades of their high streets under the march of the glass, steel, and concrete blandness of chain stores built for the demands of inflexible business models that provide the ideal degree of sterility to house a string of big, clone town retailers. 

WEST KENSINGTON - The Decline of the Launderette


According to NALI, the National Association of the Launderette Industry, numbers  of launderettes in the UK peaked at 12,500 in the early 80s but have since have dwindled to just 3,000.

The rise of the domestic machine coincided with the washers in launderettes becoming too expensive to repair, marking the start of their decline in British towns. A few still remain as not everyone has access to a domestic washing machine  and those that do still make the occasional trip to the launderette to wash their duvet which wont fit into a domestic machine.

By the way, another West London launderette - Central Wash in Queensway is Britain's first self-service coin-operated launderette, which opened in 1949 and still survives today.

WALWORTH - Manor Place Shops

These Victorian buildings buildings are a rare example of pre-war architecture in the immediate vicinity though the buildings are not protected and not in a conservation area and could be demolished without permission. The council are still deciding whether to allow demolition or to retain the terrace and convert it into residential use. Some of the units have been empty for years and have been previously squatted although the council have now removed bathrooms and staircases to avoid a reoccurence of this. A fire also caused damage to some of the interiors. A neighbour told me that some Eastern European squatters offered the Council rent money to remain there but this was turned down.

KILBURN HIGH ROAD - But could be anywhere in the UK. The familiar face of the High Street....

Picture
Picture
Picture

The same goes for this shopping mall in ARCHWAY:


WOOLWICH SE18 -  PUBLIC MARKET

Picture
Opened in 1932 as an open-air 70 stall market market. In 1936 a steel framed roof using "Lamella Patent construction" was added - popularly used for German aircraft hangars it is only supported at the four sides resulting in no supporting pillars to cause obstruction & the first of its type to be built in the London area. Passageways underneath the market served as air raid shelters during WW2.
p.


PUTNEY - Disused Shop

 Basements of these buildings leads down to the little known  "Putney Vaults" which tunnel under the main road and lead to the Thames waterfront. 

Matt Barr writes: "I read your fantastic site tonight and found it through searching the vaults Putney. Just to clarify the cast iron shop front in the photographs is actually 4-6 Putney high st and very handsome and rare indeed.There are 2 vaults leading under the road to the river accessed via the basement of this unit ,soon to be occupied by a restaurant.

Number 2 is the smaller shop next door which was an Indian restaurant appr 25 years ago and vacant/derelict until 18 months ago when we refurbished the ground floor and basement as Putney Pies and then 1 year ago after lying unused for 150 years we opened the vault under neath as a bar restaurant all going very well and just thought I would supply an update."


NEW CROSS - Tobacco Roll


This is VERY rare and probably the only one left in London (apart from one in the Museum of London).  When many people were illiterate the way to let them know what your shop was selling the answer was a shop-sign the striped barber's pole, the pawnbroker's three balls and many tobacconists would display the tobacco roll. 

"The Social History of Smoking" (1869) by George Apperson says: 

The "Tobacco Roll," was one of the commonest of early tobacconists' signs, and was in constant use for a couple of centuries.

One would have thought that a representation of the tobacco plant itself would have been a more natural and comprehensive sign than one particular preparation of the herb, yet representations of the plant were rare, while those of the compressed tobacco known as pudding or roll in the form of a "Tobacco Roll," were very frequently used as signs. 

Before the end of the seventeenth century, however, the signs were ceasing to have any necessary association with the trade carried on under them, and tobacconists are found with shop-signs which had no reference in any way to tobacco.


Cheers to the guy that I met after my talk at Lewisham Literary Festival who gave me the heads up on this rare find. This building has since been demolished but the tobacco roll has been stored away for safe keeping.

Decaying Shops on the Commercial Road in Limehouse - but for how much longer?


EAST DULWICH SE22 - DULWICH GARDEN CENTRE


This family business closed just after Christmas 2012 after 30 years of trading. Most of the site has been demolished and  will be replaced by a library (double the size of the current one over the road), a shop unit & 20 flats.

Derelict London Shops - South Thames Gallery


KENNEDYS SAUSAGES of South London

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The much loved South East  London sausage shops.

The company, had been run by the same family for 130 years, had nine stores across SE London closed at the end of 2007.As well as sausages, the company was known for its Christmas puddings, sausage rolls, meat pies, puff pastry etc. It will be sadly missed. Despite having a fantastic reputation and loyal customers the company could not afford the overheads and competition from the corporates.

"Judging by the queue just before it closed shoppers took their money from Northern Rock walked round the corner and invested in sausages!" (Quote from the local paper)


HIGH HOLBORN - Shervingtons

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The history of this tobacconists goes back to 1864 in a shop in St Swithins Lane in the City. It moved to the present location in High Holborn in 1920, and the shop in those days was called Brumfits. It remained that name until 1992 when it was bought by Merton and Falcon who changed it to  Shervingtons."  The building was used as an illustration on pouches and tins of Old Holborn Tobacco



Shervingtons was one stop shop for the discerning tobacco connoiseur with a charming old-school feel.


CLAPHAM OLD TOWN - Traditional Family Butchers


HOLBORN - Oddbins Off License


With the big supermarkets greatly increasing their range and quality of wines - at the same time as opening smaller convenience outlets - Oddbins started to be dwindle.

Bought in 2008 by Simon Baile, the son of a previous owner, Oddbins limped on with its number of outlets falling to 85 from 250 at its historic peak.

Oddbins avoided going bust like rivals Threshers and Wine Rack, but without sufficient investment to turn around the business, its losses mounted and in April 2011 it was forced to go into administration, owing HM Revenue & Customs £8.6m.

Recently Oddbins and 37 of its stores were bought for an undisclosed sum by  by multi-millionaire investor Raj Chatha who plans to turn Oddbins into a niche wine seller that is completely different to the supermarkets. This store in Holborn was not one of the lucky ones to be resurrected....

NEW CROSS - Danse Macabre (aka Vintage) Clothing Shop

This shop sold mainly vintage clothing plus some pieces by up and coming jewelry designers. There was also space for exhibitions. The shop is now gone and the whole row of shops now looks pretty much derelict with maybe a bit of squatting going on. The block is owned by Goldsmiths College and the we await its fate.

The streetart to the side of the building is by the well known Begium artist Roa who made a rare trip south of the river as much of his London work is based around the Brick Lane area.

ALL OVER LONDON  & the UK - Woolworths

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The whole of the UK mourned the loss of Woolworths which went out of business just before its 100 year anniversary in this country. It sold a bit of everything from pick n mix sweets & cds to children's clothes & gardening tools. It became a dependable jack of all trades but master of none and while a lot of people browsed the stores in latter years nobody actually spent much money in there. Business only bucked up again when the much talked about closing down countdown sale took place.Saddles with debts of over £300m the 800 stores across the country closed down a week or two either side of Xmas 2008 leaving 30,000 loyal workers without jobs.
  
This isn't just the end of a chain store. It is the final chapter in a shopping way of life, because nothing will quite take the place of Woolies on our high streets.


BROMLEY  -  Leicester Building Society 


A reminder of the long gone Leicester Building Society who merged with the Alliance in 1985 to form the Alliance & Leicester Building Society. Alliance & Leicester was acquired in May 2010 by Santander UK and all branches now carry the Santander name although this branch in Bromley is long gone.
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Derelict London Shops - North Thames Gallery

WOOLWICH - The Old Coop Department Store

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The 1930s Co-Op building in Powis Street has been earmarked for demolition by the Council, who want to redevelop the whole "Woolwich Triangle" are with a hotel, shops &  housing.  

Rev. Sue Scottley ( www.welovewoolwich.co.uk ) writes: "Most of the site is empty Victorian shops which have been left to rot for some years, and have taken the opportunity with glee, but the Co-Op building is a striking art deco style department store with a tower and is a one of three large 1930s buildings at that end of town. The other two are safe, being occupied by a church and a bingo hall, indeed the bingo hall was open during the London Open House weekends because it's so beautiful and well-preserved. So even though that end of town could well be described as our "Art Deco quarter" the Council insists on wanting to demolish the Co-Op. I've started petitions online and in town, and I'm getting quite a lot of support. . I live across the road from the rotting Victoriana, and am disgusted and aghast with the Council that seems determined to write off my end of town a hopeless dump, even though my side of the street is thriving and has no vacant shops! I really don't see why they can't refurbish and redevelop rather than demolish the whole "Triangle"."


and here are some of the other nearby derelict shops in the Woolwich triangle:

HOUNSLOW - Safeway Supermarket


Safeway were one of the UK's largest supermarket chains but were taken over by Morrisons a few years ago. Morrisons simply renamed most of the old shops although they decided not to convert this one in Hounslow (some leasehold issues apparently). The interior of this old Safeway store was used as a film set for the interior of Somerfields in Hot Fuzz starring Simon Pegg.

PADDINGTON GREEN - Deans Audio


This electrical shop appears to be abandoned - there is "brand new" stock in the window but it appears to have been there for years untouched and the price tags have faded and the pollution of the Edgware Rd has added an extra grime to the window. The owner obviously hasn't bothered opening up since his Sainsbury windfall......

I found this article in the Observer: "Businessman Michael Dean has received £3m and is in line for up to £7m more. He may be Britain's luckiest small businessman for he was in the right place when Sainsbury's property development team came knocking. The supermarket decided it had to speculate to accumulate, and Dean's property was the gamble it took. It was prepared to bet almost £10m on a run-down, four-storey corner shop with flats above in the belief that it would unlock access to central London's last superstore development. As a public planning inquiry showed, it may prove to have been an expensive flutter. "

BERMONDSEY - Grange Road Shops


HAYMARKET - Burberrys

Thomas Burberry opened the first Burberry store on Haymarket, Piccadilly, in 1891. The premises only a few years ago were converted (at a cost of millions) from a shop into its head offices and a showroom but recently the fashion label relocated  into a new development in Westminster. This building now remains empty.

Best-sellers of the brand include Burberry's £750 Manor Handbag, which was carried by model Kate Moss in a high-profile advertising campaign.

BROMLEY - Travel Agents


Holidaymakers are turning their backs on the traditional high-street travel agent in favour of booking trips online.


WIMBLEDON - MFI 


MFI was the UK's largest furniture retailer that went bust at the end of 2008 citing falling demand ,cash-flow problems and the withdrawal of credit. At the start of 2008 they had 192 stores and a workforce of more than 2500 people. MFI was founded in the 1960s and became synonymous with the growing trend for buying flatpack furniture.

SOHO 


This little triangle of shops has been been home to sex shops,brothels, etc for decades and the buildings fell into neglect and now Westminster Council wish to have this prime location beside the Charing Cross Road cleaned up. Back in the early 90's I remember coming out of a West End nightclub at 4am and for some reason we got to talking to a vagrant who ended up taking us to a late night drinking den which was situated above a dodgy minicab office in one of these buildings. The steep stairs creaked and the walls smelt of damp until you walked into a barage of smoke in what seemed similar to someone's living room.The "bar" was a tiny hatch in the wall and the seats were occupied by an assortment of clocked off streetgirls, pimps, dealers & seedy old businessmen playing cards.Of course we didnt care, we just wanted a drink and were quite happy but with hindsight the place was dodgy and felt compelled never to return. A little while later the Evening Standard reported on a major armed drug raid on the premises as it was apparently a gangland stronghold.
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GREENWICH - Ladieswear Shop


  Gallery of many more Derelict London Shops 


HIGHGATE,  N6 - LONDON COOPERATIVE

This building had various uses until recently undergoing conversion resulting in the old tilework being exposed and the name London Co-operative Society visible 

The London Co-operative Society was a consumer co-operative formed in 1920 by the amalgamation of other London societies.The LCS played a large part in the national co-operative movement. By 1952, the LCS and its associated co-op organisations had over 550 establishments of sales and services, varying from large department stores to small grocery shops. These establishments consisted of grocers, butchers, fruit, vegetable and flower sellers, coal depots, furniture sellers, drapers, tailors, footwear sellers, chemists, laundries, estate agencies, funeral services and even guesthouses.

The Society was amalgamated with Co-operative Retail Services in 1981 which in 2000 merged with the larger Co-operative Wholesale Society, to form the Co-operative Group (CWS) Ltd which still has more than 4000 stores & branches across the UK.
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