Tuesday 13 March 2012

What are you crying about?

If you look up next time you're outside 471 Hornsey Road you'll see this man above the carpet shop:


Look closer. He's wearing a red frock coat and black hat, has a bell in one hand and scroll in the other. 


He looks kind of like this lady: 

Shirley Ballard, the Isle of Wight's official town crier
Thanks to jonno259 on flickr
The carpet shop has been there seventeen years. The Town Crier picture was there when they arrived, and must have been there a long time before that because it was a mystery to them too.


It's signed MS. The shape of the building and its being on a corner near what was once a railway station made me wonder if it had been a pub, but there's no sign of it on deadpubs.co.uk

I'm stumped. Any ideas?

3 comments:

  1. I've always wondered about that building, too. It definitely does look like an old pub - but I have no idea about the background!

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  2. I think I've worked out what the building was until 1937, but it doesn't explain the mural. Oh well.

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  3. Yes, I have looked at this before and wondered... I think it was either a pub or a shop called (possibly) The Town Crier's, as in T.C.s.

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