I haven’t checked, but I reckon that the above old shop doorway is the nearest Hoylake can offer as a ghost sign.
A ghost sign is old hand-painted advertising signage that has been preserved on a building for an extended period of time and has typically faded. So strictly speaking, the sign in the tiles in the doorway of the now-closed Spotty Blue Teapot cafe don’t count. You’ll see much better examples in this site dedicated to ghost signs. I’ve forgotten what ‘Brewer & Co’ used to be …was it a large grocers?
But am I right? Are they are any other ghost signs in Hoylake and if so where are they? Hope there are more!
Oh, I’m not so sure that this one qualifies either …but there are double bonus points if you have a photo of the (in)famous Finniland. Surely someone has a photo of Hoylake’s one and only theme park?
My grandmother used to use Brewers the grocers all the time in the 40’s I think the co-op took them
over.
There were three shops next to the bank on the corner of Alderley Road South, going towards Meols, which were demolished for the creation of the new Co-op in the 1960s (I believe this has since become Wetherspoons). One of the three shops had originally been Brewers though in my time it was either the previous Co-op (one of the three Co-ops in Hoylake) or possibly Ridgeways, a clothing shop.
This Brewers sign in the doorway of the Late Spotty Blue Teapot. was indeed a Grocers and run by Pop Dyson, as I knew him, Father of Nora Mercer who was Joe Mercer, the footballers, wife. They lived in St Margaret’s Road and Pop used to pick up my Dad on a Saturday ,if he was off duty as a policeman, and Everton were playing, to go to the match.
The shop was really old fashioned with the cash racing across the ceiling, in boxes on wires, and a lady in a high box sending back the change. Sugar in Blue bags and Butter patted off the big block. I think it later had a very chequered career of different trades until it has been empty now for nearly 12 months.
just type Finnigans Restaurant Hoylake Wirral into Google images for loads of photos