New Ghost Shop signage on Grand Parade

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on March 21, 2022 at 20:29

Thanks for capturing and sharing. I wonder if Quality Equipment Designe.. is the second line of the sign, with the name of the business above it, obscured by the later sign. Is it still uncovered?

Going back a bit, the first business I can find at 75 Grand Parade was in 1904-05 - a Joseph Hill, Stationer. Then it was empty for a few years, In 1909 75 was taken on by Samuel Dible. Samuel had spent a decade or so in Bengal and Assam, India and returned to England in about 1885. He then ran coffee houses, first on the Fulham Road, then in East Ham High Street. When he took on 75 Grand Parade, he ran it as a florists. After Samuel died in 1912, aged 72, the business was taken on by his eldest daughter, thirty-year-old Daisy. It became Miss Daisy Dible, Florists. Assam-born Daisy, ran the shop until 1938. For at least some of that period her sister Edith and her niece Marjorie were working with her. Aged 59, she retired to live at 139 Lothair Road, apparently sharing the property with two others. I'd guess she lived on one floor, the other two on the other floor. Daisy died in Essex, in 1960, aged 79. Younger brother Thomas ran another florists on Station Approach, by Harringay Station. Sadly, he died in the army in 1918.

Past that I don't have records listing by address, only by name. 

I'd guess that the leaded fanlights showing in Dermot's photo date from Samuel and Daisy's time.

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on March 22, 2022 at 15:40

I had a look today. There’s no other part of the sign. Perhaps it used to spread across 74 & 75 and the name but was above 74. That’s all gone. 

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Permalink Reply by Geraldine B on March 21, 2022 at 21:19

and what about those old numbers above too  - 24 ??

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on March 21, 2022 at 21:31

Part of a phone number?

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on March 22, 2022 at 8:27

Apparently not, though. Prior to the switch to all-figure-numbers (AFNS), Grand Parade telephone dialing codes were coded for the Stamford Hill exchange. The 'STA' of Stamford Hill numbers was replaced by 782 and 800. So, there goes that possibility!

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on March 22, 2022 at 9:29

How about 24 hours or 24/7?

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Permalink Reply by Gordon T on March 22, 2022 at 7:58

By 1958 it was The Tape Recorder Centre - advertisement on page 40 of the Tape Recording and High Quality Reproduction Magazine, April 1958. I have (somewhere!) a catalogue of theirs which I think is dated a few years later, still at 75 Grand Parade. This one [image from Ebay]. Their telephone number was STAmford Hill 1146.

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on March 22, 2022 at 9:06

Extract from The Tape Recording and High Fidelity Reprodiuction Magazine, April 1958

Thanks, Gordon. That fills a gap. The first appearance of the Tape Recording Centre in the telephone directory was 1959. Given the record you found, that suggests that 1958 was their first year of operation at number 75. In that year, Grand Parade was the only branch listed for the business. Ads they placed in 1960, suggest that a High Holborn branch was opened in the second half of that year. The last year that the Tape Recording Centre was listed in the directory at number 75 was 1961, in which year they also had a second branch at 447 Green Lanes* as well as the one in High Holborn. I don't have access to the 1962 directory, but by 1963, the only branch still in  operation was the High Holborn one. That seemed to last up until 1968. In another ad, they listed themslves as Sypha Sound Sales as well as The Tape Recorder Centre.

Brochure,Tape Recordrt Centre, 1960

Extract from 1961 London phone book

*447 Green Lanes is on the southern corner of Duckett Road opposite Antepliler

A Google search result comes up with a reference to a wireless shop there in 1954, but the snipper misses out tyeh name. I suspect that this is the business for which the sign was designed. 

"Wireless World - Volume 60, Part 2 - Page 137 1954

"PAGE 137... 75 GRAND PARADE , HARRINGAY LONDON , N.4 . CONSTRUCT YOUR OWN AMPLIFIER This High Fidelity 8-10 watt amplifier has been specifically designed for use with Gram . , Microphone and Radio . Valve line up : -68L7 , 68N7 phase splitter..."

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Permalink Reply by David Todd on March 26, 2022 at 13:37

Excellent research thanks, these three words seem very little compared  to the work you have researched!

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