Ghost Signs « Out With The In Crowd

Posted By Joel • 25th March 2010

Once upon a time, in the gold old days, when everything was much better than it is now, advertisements and shop signs were painted directly onto brick walls by hand, with skill, beauty and craftsmanship. Then, along came the modern world (don’t you just hate it?) with its printed carbon-copy billboards, and hand-painted works such as the one above fell into decline and, ultimately, became redundant. The good news, however, is that a few of these ghostly, faded images still remain, clinging to their walls with great tenacity and providing a small glimpse into the past. I’m sure we’ve all spotted a few such faded images with great delight on our travels around the city, and now, thanks to the History of Advertising Trust, you can view an online archive of over 600 images from all around the UK. There’s a few more gems after the jump, but the archive and the Ghost Signs project blog really are worth checking out.