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Advertising Signs — Description

Captured at Beamish, the Living Museum of the North in County Durham, this photograph shows a weathered timber fence covered in vintage enamel advertising signs. The bold lettering and bright colours recall the golden age of British high-street and railway-station advertising. Tizer, Bovril, Suchard cocoa, Wills's Capstan Navy Cut and Batey's ginger beer sit alongside a Duckhams oil sign celebrating the lifeboats of the RNLI, Thorley's cattle cake and the Sun Insurance Office plate.
Scattered between the household names are the sterner signs of working life, including a colliery shaft signals notice, a "Brockwell Seam 5 Raps" plate, a "No Admittance" sign and a bold red "Danger". Chipped edges, rusted rims and faded artwork, like the shaggy Highland bull on the Bovril sign, give each piece its own history.
Together, they make a colourful and nostalgic snapshot of everyday life in the industrial north, and of the graphic design that once lined its streets, shops and pits.