Eight Weeks with Ghost Signs

by Grace McWeeney

As part of a Museum Studies 8-week work placement program, I worked with the Ghost Signs Collection at the University of Leicester. These are a few things I learned along the way. 

Ghost signs are not a new phenomenon. As defined by our collection parameters, a ghost sign is a ‘hand-painted advertisement that has been preserved on a building’, typically on houses or buildings at busy intersections. Leicester is privileged with a variety of ghost signs that advertise everything from foodstuffs and pubs to clothing and shoes, funeral directors and car repair to engineering and manufacturing. Scattered throughout the city, they are hard to miss but only once you know to look for them. They are pieces of heritage that blend into the urban landscape; however, their mutual coexistence with the urban turns ghost signs into cultural and economic markers. They become inextricably linked to the identity of a place.  

_{Ghost sign for Kays Foodstores, Leicester. Colin Hyde, 2003 (left) and 2024 (right).} 

Through ghost signs, we glimpse the popular products, businesses in operation and industry locations throughout a place’s history, preserving a sense of a place’s identity. Not only is there nostalgia associated with signs for products or businesses no longer in existence, but ghost signs also bring heritage into the present. Although not as popular as in the past, painted advertising has experienced a resurgence with companies, especially pubs, hand-painting signs to advertise. Repainting older signs to highlight the heritage of a place has also gained traction in recent years. 

There are two distinct types of signs: the practical, indicating business names and locations, and the artistic, drawing the customer to purchase a product or enter a location based on design. The colours, fonts and designs contribute to the artistry of a ghost sign, but the practical signs also contribute to a place’s identity. Finding these signs makes one wonder about the people involved. Who painted them? Who worked for the companies involved? Who owned the building?

These signs also represent mystery. As they fade from view and the companies they are associated with dissolve, knowledge about the location, company name or industry all fade from public memory. Websites like Grace’s Guide, the Pub History Project – Leicester and Brewerypedia preserve this history for the public just like our online collection of ghost signs, but mysteries still abound. Part of my time working here was spent solving some of these mysteries like deciphering the lettering of a sign or searching for the name of the company referenced in a sign.  

Some mysteries involved scouring the local directories in the library for locations of businesses referenced or for completing names partially washed away by natural exposure. 

Each time you solve one of these mysteries, it is a victory whether it is as small as finding J. Humphreys listed in the directory or as big as discovering a Picture Post advertisement layer on top of one for Wills’s Cigarettes. These victories reestablish a connection with the past because these companies, and the people involved, are remembered and the past Leicester is brought into the present. The urban landscape becomes less foreign and transforms with familiarity as these ghost signs become landmarks of place.  

It is only fitting to finish this blog by discussing my favourite ghost sign(s) in the collection. Most of my placement involved editing and uploading entries from 1996 onwards. However, I had the rare opportunity to upload a few images taken in 1972 from the Leicester City Council. These were particularly exciting as they showed several locations of ghost signs already in our collection, including an off-licence sign on Tudor Road and, my personal favourite, Mattock Pharmacy on the corner of Beatrice Road and Fosse Road North. The 1972 entry for this sign reads: 

‘Along the top of the building are the words ‘The… For British Smoker’s…’. Along the left side of the building is an advertisement for Selo Film, but the only visible elements of the ad are a box of Selo Film and the words ‘Use Selo Rou…’. The reveal of a United Chemists’ Association Ltd. (UCAL) advertisement below the poster sign shows the remainder of this advertisement as ‘(C)hrome Films’. … The last visible sign is along the bottom left-hand side, reading: ‘Mattock for Expert Developing Printing & Enlarging’.’ 

The 2020 entry for this sign reads: 

‘Ghost sign for The United Chemists’ Association Ltd. (UCAL)’s Iodised Throat Lozenges. The left side of this sign is difficult to read but is separate from the UCAL’s sign. It reads: ‘…hrome Films’. On the right side, the sign reads: ‘Throat / UCAL / Iodised Throat Lozenges / Safety First / 8 1/2 d per tin Obtainable Within / Also good for Coughs, Colds, and all Sore Throats’. Along the very bottom of the sign is very small text for ‘Tickets & Co.’, potentially the sign painter’s signature.’ 

This sign highlights the resilience of ghost signs and how they persist despite natural weathering, painting and covering with other signs. The 1972 photo shows how Mattock advertised Selo Film and its developing and printing services. The images from 2014 and onwards show a UCAL sign beneath the poster featured in the 1972 photo and complete the Selo Film advertisement. This ghost sign, without both images, is incomplete. It would be a mystery, but the combined value of both photos allows us to glimpse what people travelling along Fosse Road North or Beatrice Road would have seen and experienced. Because of the combined knowledge of these photos, we know how Selo Film was advertised to the people of Leicester and that UCAL advertised throat lozenges at the same location. While the ghost sign may not exist in its entirety anymore, the heritage legacy remains for us to view and compare.

Through these eight weeks, I have spent a lot of time looking at ghost signs, uploading, editing, photographing and deciphering them, and over eight weeks, I’ve fallen in love with their artistry and history. I’ve discovered how interconnected they are with the history of Leicester, how national brands advertised versus local brands, how companies moved across the city, how family members joined or left companies and how the artistry of sign painting enticed potential buyers or indicated locations to those around the city. Ghost signs have much to offer our understanding of place. 

Lastly, here are some of my other favourites, the honourable mentions:  

_{Ghost sign for John Newby & Son, Leicester. Colin Hyde, 2005.} 

All these images, plus contextual information, can be seen at Ghost Signs of Leicestershire & Rutland.