Ghost Signs

I think it's gone now, but at the end of 2009, whilst they went about ripping down the buildings around Tottenham Court Road (one being a rather smashing chip shop), they revealed an old sign for Veglio & co's cafe.

The world is peppered with 'ghost signs'from a time when painting on a prominently displayed wall was the way to solicit business. Now washed out and faded these old advertisements, still tenaciously clinging to the brick they were painted on, are a nod towards the skill of the sign writers who created them. Generally working on a freelance basis,the sign writers mixed their own paints to exacting colours, executing the designs onto walls from scaled drawings whilst making sure the lettering was level - even if the wall wasn't. Not easy.