BUS STOP SIGN ......... another story from Tony Goulding

 This story is somewhat of a departure from my usual fare; in fact, it is more of a puzzle than a story. I first spotted this sign a few weeks ago as I was sitting on a bus, which had stopped at a stop a few yards from it. 

This stop on Wilbraham Road is used as a location for driver changeovers. As the bus stood at the stop for a couple of minutes, I became fascinated  by this odd sign. My initial thought was that it was possibly related to the function of the stop for the relief of bus crews.

At this point the bus moved off, and I continued my journey back to Chorlton. 

The stop is on the Withington High School side of Alexandra Road South so is a little out of my way to visit. Fortuitously, however, there is a handy connection to be made at the nearby stop with the buses coming down Alexandra Road. 

After a further visit to assuage my growing curiosity, I took the above picture. Now armed with some definite and a few speculative letters I started an investigation. I realised that any link to the bus stop was unlikely given the position of the letters. 

The best idea I could think of was that the sign was for a REST HOME. However, this did not seem satisfactory given that the wall it is attached to belongs to a fairly modern terrace of small private houses.

Today on my way home from an appointment in Levenshulme, I was able to break my journey and carry out a closer inspection of the lettering. I now believe that the last letter on the bottom row is a “T” possibly immediately preceded by an “N” which strongly suggests the word “RESTAURANT”. 

Allied to this the number, nature and position of the other letters lead me to conjecture that the sign is of the name of an Indian Restaurant. 

As to how it came to be affixed to a random wall on Wilbraham Road remains a mystery which I suspect will be impossible to solve.

Picture; from the collection of Tony Goulding, 2022