Peterkin Crowned London’s Best Ghost Sign

The people have spoken, and the ‘ghost’ sign for Peterkin Custard on St John’s Hill, Battersea, has been officially declared London’s best. It claimed the title after six gruelling rounds of knockout competition on Twitter, narrowly beating Bloom’s Pianos on Kingsland Road, Shoreditch, in the final. Third place went to Meggezones on Noyna Road, Tooting, and over 5,000 votes were cast across the online event.

The tournament was hosted by Sam Roberts, aka Mr Ghostsigns and co-author of Ghost Signs: A London Story, published by Isola Press in November. 64 entrants were shortlisted for the competition from the 250 fading painted wall signs whose stories are told in the 320-page book.

Said Sam Roberts,

The Peterkin Custard sign will appear in Sam Roberts and Roy Reed’s new book Ghost Signs: A London Story. Published by Isola Press, it will be the most comprehensive and beautiful account of ghost signs ever produced, focusing on the hand-painted relics of London’s advertising past.

Ghost Signs: A London Story was fully funded on Kickstarter in less than three days, and continued backing has seen designer Wayne Hemingway brought on board to pen an introduction, as well as more pages added to the book.

Isola Press makes award-winning combining image and text, including the most recent Rio Tape/Slide Archive: Radical Community Photography in Hackney in the 80s, about community reportage and resistance in 1980s Dalston.

The book will be published before Christmas this year.