It's the best piece of High Street conservation I've seen in a long time.
I've blogged before about the wonderful shop signage which came to light during renovation on Kentish Town High Street recently. I feared and expected that the last trace of 'E. Mono - For Value' would quickly be obliterated.
I was wrong. The kebab shop which has now opened at 287 Kentish Town Road has not only kept the signage. It's adopted the name.
'E. Mono' lives again!
I've blogged before about the wonderful shop signage which came to light during renovation on Kentish Town High Street recently. I feared and expected that the last trace of 'E. Mono - For Value' would quickly be obliterated.
I was wrong. The kebab shop which has now opened at 287 Kentish Town Road has not only kept the signage. It's adopted the name.
'E. Mono' lives again!
I put my head in the door this morning as I was taking these photographs. And the man gently prising a shish kebab into a piece of pitta confirmed that the name was taken from the old signage - there was no one by the name of Mono involved in the new business.
But they have certainly adopted the old name with enthusiasm. There's a pub style signboard with the name - it's on the engraved glass in the shop front, and in the tiling of the counter.
But they have certainly adopted the old name with enthusiasm. There's a pub style signboard with the name - it's on the engraved glass in the shop front, and in the tiling of the counter.
What an admirable piece of historical continuity amid the ephemeral businesses of a fairly anonymous high street. I for one will be buying a few 'freshly prepared kebab wraps' from the place simply to support this initiative.
It still begs the question: in what sort of business did E. Mono provide such value? My earlier blog prompted a response from Angela, who is keen to find out more because one of her forbears ran an adjoining shop. She's found the accompanying entry in a phone book from the late 1920s, which I post here with her permission.
Now, over to you. Commercial directories and other sources should provide an answer. My guess - given that among the other "Mono" entries in the phone book was a tailor and a costumier - is that this was either a tailoring business or a garment shop. But it is simply a guess. I am hoping that a reader of this blog will be able to tell us more.
Now, over to you. Commercial directories and other sources should provide an answer. My guess - given that among the other "Mono" entries in the phone book was a tailor and a costumier - is that this was either a tailoring business or a garment shop. But it is simply a guess. I am hoping that a reader of this blog will be able to tell us more.
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