Some more photographs from my walk around Derby on Saturday 29th June 2013 – this time focusing on redundant signs.
Starting where yesterday’s post left off at Laurie House, this is what little remains of the animated Rank Bowling sign which can be seen in the “This is Derby” film at around the 13 minute mark.
What’s left of the animated Rank Bowling sign under Laurie House
Just around the corner is the former Pennine Hotel, now the Metro Inn. What looks like a particularly unsuccessful attempt to remove the word “Pennine” from the hotel sign can be seen in the photograph below.
The former Pennine Hotel, now the Metro Inn, on Colyear Street, Derby
T.Gorman Shoes, formerly of 8 Cheapside. The sign (as can be seen from the photograph) faces onto St. Werburgh’s Churchyard, rather than onto Cheapside itself.
Sign of T. Gorman, Shoemaker, 8 Cheapside, Derby
Moving onto The Strand and we find the old Liberal Club sign, carved into stone. I’m unsure when the Liberal Club left the building, but there is a record of it being on the Strand in 1894-95.
Liberal Club Sign from The Strand, Derby
It somehow seems appropriate to include the first of two banking related signs now – this was Alliance House on Cornmarket, formerly home to a branch of the defunct Alliance Building Society and after 1985, the merged Alliance and Leicester Building Society, becoming part of Santander in 2008. Santander’s Derby branch is today further up towards the Guildhall, in the old Abbey National premises.
Alliance House, Cornmarket, Derby
Almost opposite Alliance House are the rather grander premises of the old Derby and Derbyshire Banking Company Limited. This sign must date from sometime in the 1880s / 1890s, as the bank was formed as a limited liability company in 1880 (having been founded in the early 1800s) and was subsequently acquired by Parr’s Bank in 1898. Today, the assets of this organisation are dispersed within RBS Group, whose modern-day premises in Derby are, like Santander, much closer to the Guildhall. I remember it as being the home of the Woolwich Building Society in my younger years. These days the building houses the scrumptious Bookcafe and is also an excellent live music venue on Friday and Saturday evenings.
Derby and Derbyshire Banking Co. Ltd., Cornmarket, Derby