typography – Page 5 – Modern Mooch

Higson’s Offices – Liverpool

Posted on November 24, 2015June 2, 2018 by modernmoocher

127 Dale Street, corner of North Street, just by the Ship and Mitre, across from the Queensway Tunnel entrance?

Yes that’s the one, Liverpool’s most remarkable, least remarked upon building.

So clean, so modern, so new, a delightful grid of materials, glass, steel, polished marble, brick and patinated beaten metal.

Stand back and wonder, move in and sigh with delight.

As I went about my snappy business, I was approached by a local – Mark.

Surprised by my curiously, up close, slow scrutiny of the building, he went on to explain that he was familiar with the architect Derek Jones who had worked on the design for Ormrod and Partners in 1964.

Formerly home to Higson’s Brewery offices, now housing the Merseyside Museums administration and design teams, the exterior is largely intact.

So am I.

Go take a look.

Castle House – Sheffield

Posted on November 23, 2015November 23, 2015 by modernmoocher

I want it.

Historic England want it.

Hopefully you and the people of Sheffield want it,

– anyway it’s listed.

http://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1393220

“1964 by George S Hay, Chief Architect for CWS, with interior design by Stanley Layland, interior designer for CWS. Reinforced concrete with Blue Pearl granite tiles and veneers, grey granite tiles and veneers, buff granite blocks, glass, and brick.”

The Liberal Democrat Council objected, saying

“It could be a major barrier to regenerating Castlegate.”

http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/what-s-on/saving-castle-house-controversial-listing-call-defended-1-453913#ixzz3sL3p5RAP

There is now the possibility of redevelopment as a creative hub.

It was a Co-op on the grandest of scales.

It has it all, public art, monolithic proportions and finish, bags of detail and scale in abundance. A fascinating building to explore and certainly one that fills my little heart with joy in superabundance

A building of period distinction, it deserves its preservation.

We do not require another patch of steel and wilfully wayward clad nowheresville non- architecture, replete with aspirational retail agogo.

Go see it soon!

The Tudor Café – Stockport

Posted on November 11, 2015August 19, 2017 by modernmoocher

On Lower Hillgate, almost next door to where it used to be, there stands The Tudor Café.

Almost where it has almost always stood.

Other businesses have come and gone, happily it prevails.

The cheapest tastiest grub in town.

An interior festooned with tea towels.

Tables polka dotted, teas hot.

Signs inside and out, some of them inside out.

Greetings from Gdansk.

Post Office Tower

Posted on November 4, 2015November 16, 2019 by modernmoocher

The man from BT he says “No!”

I only asked.

Everyone’s life is towered over by one obsessive dream or other.

So why not have an overpowering, towering dream of a Tower?

I asked to come in, he said no.

What was once ours, opened in 1965 by PM Harold Wilson at the behest of Tony Benn, was sold by PM Margaret Thatcher.

– “It’s good to talk.”

It’s bad to gift ownership of other peoples’ towers to other people, in the name of “popular capitalism.”

So I dry my eyes, pick myself up and engage in an immersive therapy, absorbing the visual culture of the seemingly unobtainable Tower – like an eternally embittered Rapunzel in reverse.

Washeteria – Hastings

Posted on October 6, 2015June 27, 2018 by modernmoocher

Don’t forget to forget.

Big is not large, not small.

This is a dirty blue, washed-out pale yellow, Alice in Wonderland un-wonderful land.

Time will not stand still – you’re in a spin, oh what a spin that you’re in.

Walk in, wash and wish.

Hastings – Arthur Green’s

Posted on September 15, 2015May 31, 2018 by modernmoocher

Facing happily out to sea, hard by Hastings promenade, sits Arthur Green’s, former menswear shop of some considerable distinction. Currently operating as an antiques centre, the whole of the perfectly preserved, period interior is now listed by English Heritage.

A mosaic porch and glass lined vestibule, invite you into a palace of dark hardwood fittings, capacious drawers, glass fronted cabinets, and an ornately carved cashiers booth, all topped off and lit by crystal chandeliers.

Few such example still exist intact, their contents usually ripped out, ripped off and reinstalled in chi-chi overpriced, cosmopolitan boutiques – suits you sir?

I think not!

My thanks to the helpful and patient staff who informed and facilitated my mooching.

Take a walk along the front – pop in.

Launderette – London Road St Leonards

Posted on September 5, 2015June 27, 2018 by modernmoocher

Mid blue linoleum tiles, patched here there.

And everywhere.

Signs

Everywhere.

In an uncertain universe, you can almost always rely on the launderette, to guide you on life’s soapy journey, through a complex series of immutable do’s and don’ts, arrows, slots, buttons and bows.

Giant is the new big is the new large.

I feel so small.

The Wash Inn – Hastings

Posted on September 4, 2015 by modernmoocher

Standing alone in an unattended laundrette can be a chilling experience, a heightened state of awareness abounds, accentuating that all pervasive absence of presence.

The unseen hand, that write the notes, that speak to you in emphatic hurried caps, pinned or taped precisely on the walls.

The ghosts of clothes, still warm, now gone.

A Proust defying amalgam of aromas, that almost fills the air.

Just you and a series of slots, demotic instructions, care worn utilitarian surfaces and time.

Wash Inn get out.

Llanidloes – Shopfronts

Posted on July 2, 2015April 9, 2017 by modernmoocher

In the heart of Wales, former centre of the flannel industry, stands Llanidloes.

Through civic pride, love and local doggedness, the decorative shopfront prevails unabashed.

The finest selection of carved and moulded wooden filigree, hand painted signs, large open panes, tile work and the odd suspended folk-art sheep, adorn substantial Victorian properties, rich in the market town tradition of controlled opulence. A varied typology, the majority continuing to trade, the odd domestic conversion retaining its retail characteristics, whilst maintaining its modesty, behind tightly drawn net curtains.

Go take a look.

Kent – Ghost Signs

Posted on June 21, 2015May 7, 2016 by modernmoocher

Revealed as fascia is removed and replaced.

Weather washed brick, faded.

Scratched painted glass surface.

Cut, cast and moulded in native stone.

Ghostly.

Signs.

Pottons – Cliftonville Margate

Posted on June 12, 2015May 27, 2016 by modernmoocher

Should you, as I did wander down Northdown Road, Cliftonville, you will chance upon Pottons at 262.

By now however, ingress is more than somewhat inhibited.

It’s closed.

The most exciting and extant period fascia, once gave way to oak fittings and fixtures festooned with all manner of menswear, exotic and plain accoutrements, now inaccessible.

It’s gone.

A few sad remnants were on sale, administered in their final days by Lorraine, employed for 35 years in a family business, whose trade had once included made to measure, fine millinery and quality accessories for the discerning gent around town.

No more.

Laundrette – Rhayader

Posted on June 5, 2015June 27, 2018 by modernmoocher

There is a sign.

An Illuminated sign.

There are signs.

Handwritten signs – notices, instructions, scribbled hurriedly, underlined, highlighted, boxed for emphasis.

Taped up.

There are machines, top loaders, best left half empty.

Terrazzo floor, leatherette banquette.

Out of disorder comes out of order.

Close the door when you leave

St Leonards Bulverhythe – Valley of the Lost Ice Cream Vans

Posted on April 29, 2015August 29, 2017 by modernmoocher

Somewhere at the edge of the World ice cream vans go to die, I know I saw them from the train back from Brighton, I just had to go and have a look. I was received warmly by the busy proprietors going busily about their business, readying the working vans for their working day on the coast. It seems they break the invalids up for spares keeping the ageing vehicles on the road for another season – dispensing joy to jolly girls and boys in cornet, tub and lolly form. There is however something inevitably heartbreakingly poignant, seeing the signage fade, in the southern sun, as brambles weave in and out of open window, steering wheel, wheel arch and fridge. Ask not for whom the chimes chime. They chime for you. Nevermore.

Ashton under Lyne – Laundrette

Posted on April 28, 2015June 27, 2018 by modernmoocher

Cycling along Curzon Road one sunny Sunday afternoon, I found to my surprise, facing me across the Whiteacre Road junction.

– An empty yet extant launderette.

One lone drier tumbling, lonely – an absence of presence, save myself.

The usual spartan interior almost unkempt, enlivened by four legged, almost alien, ovalish plastic laundry baskets. A sunlit shimmer of brushed steel surfaces, low lit and deeply shadowed linoleum tiles.

Under the illuminating hum of bare fluorescent tubes.

I snapped and exited, unwashed.

Great!

Leeds – The Garden Gate

Posted on April 25, 2015January 26, 2021 by modernmoocher

Friday afternoon, clouds gather along a long walk from the Leeds city centre, following an unforgivingly long dual carriageway, not without its hard won charm, we reached the Garden Gate.

A Tetley Heritage pub the most beautiful in Yorkshire, clad in warm glazed ceramics of the highest decorative order, a terrazzo porch and open door welcomes the weary walker.

Ready for a pint?

Leeds Pale Ale £2.60 a pop and a fine drop it is too, why not stay and have another!

The interior arrangement of rooms cluster around a fine tiled bar, linked by corridors, clad in curved wood and large etched windows, lit with the original fittings – all in an intoxicating Nouveau style.

The cellar is lined in heavy glazed white brick and retains its rugby league history with extant showers and physio room, former home of the Garden Gate ARLFC – it says so on the first aid kit.

A thinned bar of green soap rests on the side of the long-dry bath.

The staff and customers were warm, chatty and informative – my thanks for their generous hospitality.

Its worth the walk.

My thanks to Ms. Natalie Ainscough for her cheery company, innate sense of direction and can do attitude.

http://www.gardengateleeds.co.uk

Blackburn – Launderette

Posted on April 7, 2015April 9, 2015 by modernmoocher

Wandering amiably down Whalley Old Road towards Blackburn one warm sunny day today, I came upon yet another launderette.

Somehow, somewhat frozen in time.

Front window cracked, but just about holding together, signage almost intact, machines formerly fully functioning – flagging, fluorescent tubes softly flickering, unguarded against the wood chip.

Patterned formica surfaces care worn and faded from use and abuse.

Washing done at home takes longer to dry (and costs you more).

You have been warned.

Huddersfield – Queensgate Market

Posted on March 25, 2015September 12, 2016 by modernmoocher

One can only marvel at the ingenuity and vision that brings together modern architecture, technology and municipal functionality. It has produced an indoor market place of lasting and everlasting beauty and wonder.

Vaulted concrete roof columns and high side lighting from the pierced window strips between the split level roofing lead the eye up towards eternity.

The exterior and interior walls are both adorned by some of the finest mid-century public art.

A lasting provincial splendour that offers more with each visit – it’s irresistible.

Inside and outside.

Get y’self along there pronto!

http://www.c20society.org.uk/botm/queensgate-market-huddersfield/

Stockport – Post Box

Posted on March 20, 2015July 15, 2016 by modernmoocher

I fall in love too easily
I fall in love too fast
I fall in love too terribly hard
For love to ever last

My heart should be well-schooled
‘Cause I’ve been fooled in the past
But still I fall in love so easily
I fall in love too fast

I fell for you the very first time I saw you – imbedded in the wall of the Postal Sorting Office.

Though now each time I pass by and try my best to look the other way, I’m helpless and hopelessly can’t resist.

But you’re closed – all I can do his stare at your stopped clock.

And wonder what might have been.

It’s twenty three minutes to seven – forever in my heart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zrSoHgAAWo

Huddersfield – Merrie England

Posted on March 19, 2015August 12, 2016 by modernmoocher

Did you know,

That there’s some corner of Huddersfield.

That is for ever Merrie England?

A local café group, that has the market cornered in West Riding mock-baronial dining.

Walking into a half-timbered, overwhelmingly cream and red, world of tea, toast and hot beef sandwiches, there is a dislocation in time and location. No longer March 2015 in the centre of a Yorkshire Town, but in a lukewarm Westworld totally lacking in animatronic psychopathic killers.

The furniture is brown.

Moves are afoot to refurbish and refresh the brand, one branch doing its best to emulate an Argos furniture showroom, with an incongruous suit of armour thrown in for good luck.

Clank!

Pop in make your own mind up – old new old, or new new old.

http://www.merrie-england.com

Manchester – Openshaw Market Signs

Posted on March 10, 2015November 12, 2021 by modernmoocher

There have been covered markets to the east of Manchester for many years, those on Grey Mare Lane have now gone, in fact Grey Mare Lane has almost gone, absorbed into a very different and very privatised urban redevelopment. That area of the city is now largely owned by Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan bin Zayed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, commonly known as Sheikh Mansour.

He also owns City.

Openshaw Market survives, home to a rag bag of honest hard working and friendly traders, getting by.

They have their own unique brand of branding and signage – the downright, down home, home made.

I’d like to share it with you – come and look.