Signs that shine
The Worcestershire town of Upton-on-Severn has quite a few old shop fronts, and a point has been made recently of preserving a number of these – and even revealing the signs of old businesses, long gone but still essential and picturesque bits of the place’s history. So although this former brach of the Worcester New Co-operative Society is a Co-op no more, its sign still shines above its frontage. These gilded letters on a black background are typical of the kind of thing shopkeepers were using in the late-19th and early-20th century to advertise their businesses, and the way the lettering has been managed to get everything into the available space is typical in its ingenuity too. The letterform is quite narrow (that was probably the standard style for this company) but extra economy of space has been achieved with the diagonal words, which are visually effective and give the sign a feeling of dynamism and verve. Even the abbreviation of Society to ‘Socy’, with its superscript Y and little dot, has been handled with some flair.
Beneath the sign the rest of the frontage is quite plain, with big windows and central lobby. Even this has been designed and made with care – look at the fluted pilaster on the left, and the little turned capitals atop the slender shafts. The main job of the shop front, though, is to show off the goods – whether the hams and cheeses of yore or the lampshades and vases of today – and to draw us in through that set-back central doorway. And whether we enter or pass by, both the goods and that glittering sign are bound to make an impression on the retina.
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There’s another post on a shop sign in this town here.
10 comments:
Curious that the window above the shop front seems to be only just above the level of the shop ceiling. Does this show that a house was converted into a shop? Bricks a bit pale for the Midlands methinks - what could be their origin?
Lovely post Phillip. That writing looks very similar to that found on the early Singer sewing machines, gold writing on a black background. Its very elegant and lovely.
It is good to she shop fronts preserved. I like the fact that the Co-operative Society would put the branch number on the shop sign.
Joseph: Very likely a conversion of some sort. Next time I'm there during opening hours I'll go in and have another look. The pale bricks: I think there are other examples round there – I wonder if they're form a small local source.
Spabbygirl: Yes! The lettering does look similar to some sewing machines – mainly because of the effect of the gilding on a black background I think. The actual letterforms used by Singer on the machines I've seen tend to be fatter than these Co-op ones. But they are very much form the same school of design.
Stephen: I like the branch umber too. It would have helped give that branch a sense of its identity. And the low number maybe means that it was an early one (or perhaps this particular Co-op never had many branches).
The Co-op movement despite the fact that it at one time dominated the Grocery trade ws organised locally. I think Market Harborough in Leicestershire had eight branches including nearby villages. Some of the branches were built to service new housing estates. I used to live near a former branch No. 5 which was demolished and replaced by rather plain housing but the store name and branch number which was in stone was incorporated into the side of the new building.
What a great idea to reveal original fascias. Many must still be there behind bland identikit plastic frontages. More gilt and glass!
Very nice post, Phil. I'm reminded tangentially of the days of co-op membership. Also of a particular day in primary school when I was sick and the head teacher asked me for my phone number, which I was able to recite. He tried a few times but couldn't get through. I realised later that I'd given him my mother's co-op number by mistake.
Joe: I'm not sure why my own mother wasn't a Co-op member: she fitted the mould in most ways, I'd have thought. I am a member, because for some time the one grocery store in our small town was a Co-op, and it seemed a good idea. Now, however, we have such fleshpots as a Budgen's and a nice deli and people talk about fresh pasta, Kalamata olives, and consumer choice...
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