Urban Wandering: Maida Vale and Kilburn, London W9

Earlier this week I managed an interesting lunchtime wander around London W9, aka the Maida Vale area. In between dodging the rain, I found a whole raft of ghost signs and old signs that I have walked past many times before but really only noticed for the first time on this walk. The first few pictures come from a building on the corner of Elgin Avenue. The building has a series of impressive, old signs adorning the facade, the most obvious one being for Warwick Farm Dairies on the corner section of the building itself, and J.Welford and Sons on either side of the corner.

Warwick Farm Dairies, London W9
 

Warwick Farm Dairies, London W9

J.Welford & Sons, London W9

J.Welford & Sons, London W9

The first real ghost sign of this urban wander was on the corner of Kilburn Park Road. The words I can decipher read …

CHA ...

CATERER

FOR DANCES WHIST DRIVES

???????????

???????????

???????????

H&V'S 

Initially I thought the last line said HOVIS but am not so sure now.

Ghost sign on Kilburn Park Road, London NW6

The next one was on Saltram Crescent, and this one is even harder to read. Hopefully there's some super-sleuth out there who can help?

Ghost sign, London W9

Finally on this urban wander, a plaque on a canal bridge over the Grand Union Canal. Definitely not a ghost sign, but am impressive, well restored sign that I thought was worthy of sharing.

Plaque for Borough of Paddington