I have a fascination for ghost signs.
These are those long lost adverts for businesses which have long since vanished but the names of the company, the proprietor and what they sold have survived.
Some were painted on the sides of walls and are slowly fading or peeling away and others have been hidden under new shop fronts.
So I was pleased when Ted facebooked me with this sign for Kays the newsagents which has come out into the daylight.
I am not sure when it was covered by that creamy off white sign announcing KAYS NEWS, but I know there is someone who does, and in the fullness of time will tell me.
I hope also that something of their history will come to light. I know the shop has been there a long time but like so many things familiarity leads to complacency added to the fact that it is at the other end of the Chorlton I live. So while I went in to buy the odd packet of sweets for the children when we were at the library I can’t say it registered with me.
All of which is a shame because there has been a newsagents on this spot for over a hundred years.
Back in 1911 it was run by the Dunks family.
James and Annie had been married for 19 years and did the serious business of selling papers, tobacco and sweets from the shop, assisted at times by their two children and their house servant.
The block was known as Hastings Avenue and also contained a boot and shoe dealer, a fish and chip shop, a green grocer and the Sam Wong Laundry.
But here the mystery deepens a little because just eight years earlier Mrs Kay had operated a confectioner’s shop on the corner of Oswald Lane.
All of which requires more research and I reckon a lot more stories.
Picture; from the collection of Ted Harris
These are those long lost adverts for businesses which have long since vanished but the names of the company, the proprietor and what they sold have survived.
Some were painted on the sides of walls and are slowly fading or peeling away and others have been hidden under new shop fronts.
 |
| The hidden sign |
I am not sure when it was covered by that creamy off white sign announcing KAYS NEWS, but I know there is someone who does, and in the fullness of time will tell me.
I hope also that something of their history will come to light. I know the shop has been there a long time but like so many things familiarity leads to complacency added to the fact that it is at the other end of the Chorlton I live. So while I went in to buy the odd packet of sweets for the children when we were at the library I can’t say it registered with me.
All of which is a shame because there has been a newsagents on this spot for over a hundred years.
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| The businesses in Hastings Buildings in 1911 |
James and Annie had been married for 19 years and did the serious business of selling papers, tobacco and sweets from the shop, assisted at times by their two children and their house servant.
The block was known as Hastings Avenue and also contained a boot and shoe dealer, a fish and chip shop, a green grocer and the Sam Wong Laundry.
But here the mystery deepens a little because just eight years earlier Mrs Kay had operated a confectioner’s shop on the corner of Oswald Lane.
All of which requires more research and I reckon a lot more stories.
Picture; from the collection of Ted Harris
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