Look at this monstrosity shortly to open in Camberwell

[se5]

If you live/work/pass through Camberwell you will probably have been familiar with the restaurant Mozarella e Pomodores on the corner of Camberwell Green/ Denmark Hill.

It sadly closed at Christmas time which was a loss to Camberwell (it was a good 'standard' Italian with quality pasta, risotto, steak, pizza etc - two courses around £15 a head) but look what's set to replace it:

Horribel horrible horrible. Noodels? what are they? And what a garish sign


It makes me angry that apparently Southwark Borough Council just do not care about Camberwell allowing the streetscape to decline in this way.

I know there are arguments about supply and demand and private enterprise etc but why cant the council take an overview and impose standards on the signage

There are separate arguments about controlling the type of businesses - there are already at least three Chinese restaurants nearby - but surely the council has a duty to regulate the visual environment.

rant over!

 

[El Jefe]

there's a counter-argument that it's likely to be a lot cheaper than Cheese & Tomato and therefore more useful to the community.

Just putting it out there, like...

eta: unless you're JUST talking about the signage, in which case yes - fair point

 

[perplexis]

"Noodels" is that some kind of pun I'm too stupid to get?

 

[Pip]

Who cares when you've got Golden Grill next door?

 

[tarannau]

What I want to know is why any Tom, Dick or 'Arry thinks they can run a signwriting company. Especially when they can't countenance decent design and can't spell. Or use a dictionary.

 

[El Jefe]

"Noodels" is that some kind of pun I'm too stupid to get?

only if that makes Garf the funniest man on urban

 

[editor]

Hideous, garish, cheap plastic signage is, unfortunately, the future for most High Streets.

 

[ethel]

the amount of illiterate signwriters around never fails to amaze me.

 

[fogbat]

I saw this on the way to work earlier this week.

Badly spelled signage fills me with joy. Especially when it looks like they've spent a lot of money on it, too.

Are signmakers staffed by the illiterate? Or are they just merry pranksters? Or do they rigidly stick to the brief, regardless of the dictionary?

 

[untethered]

Hideous, garish, cheap plastic signage is, unfortunately, the future for most High Streets.

There's nothing to stop local authorities regulating it in their urban design SPDs. You could agitate for such a thing if it offends you greatly.

 

[dodgepot]

at least they have displayed their telephone number in the correct format.

 

[tarannau]

Surely at some point in the production process there must have been a vaguely literate person who went 'what the fuck are noodels?'

I'll admit, to my shame, that I come over a bit prissily Lynn Truss when I go past Ten Thank's chinese takeaway on the Streatham borders too.

 

[Biddlybee]

"Noodels" is that some kind of pun I'm too stupid to get?

I think it's just a typo, underneath it's got "Noodle Bar"

Didn't notice the sign had gone up yesterday.

 

[ethel]

there's a sign near my house which has a capital letter randomly inserted at the end of a word. why? argh.

 

[editor]

We used to live opposite 'LAMBET MINI MART'.

When the adjacent African restaurant opened, the sign read, MAGESTIC RESTAURANT before it was sheepishly covered over and repainted.

 

[Biddlybee]

at least they have displayed their telephone number in the correct format.

True

I'll admit, to my shame, that I come over a bit prissily Lynn Truss when I go past Ten Thank's chinese takeaway on the Streatham borders too.

Becasue of the apostrophe?

 

[El Jefe]

True

Becasue of the apostrophe?

No - "because" of the apostrophe.

 

[editor]

There's nothing to stop local authorities regulating it in their urban design SPDs. You could agitate for such a thing if it offends you greatly.

It doesn't offend me greatly, but it is unpleasant to look at.

 

[tarannau]

True

Becasue of the apostrophe?

Yes. It's a bloody big misplaced apostrophe mind.

 

[fogbat]

A newsagent on Charing Cross Rd managed to spell both "celebrity" and "cigarettes" wrong on their sign.

It gave me a happy shiver everytime I went past

 

[Biddlybee]

No - "because" of the apostrophe.

I was typing too fast

 

[untethered]

It doesn't offend me greatly, but it is unpleasant to look at.

Unpleasant enough to write to your council about rather than just lament on here?

No-one gets away with this kind of thing where I live.

 

[Biddlybee]

Where do you live?

 

[fogbat]

Unpleasant enough to write to your council about rather than just lament on here?

No-one gets away with this kind of thing where I live.

I bet the local stationery shop is regularly out of green ink pens

 

[tarannau]

Unpleasant enough to write to your council about rather than just lament on here?

No-one gets away with this kind of thing where I live.

Hark at him. He'll hit the councillors in the shins with his walking stick and pester the authorities with green ink letters until they positively groan.

 

[editor]

What I want to know is why any Tom, Dick or 'Arry thinks they can run a signwriting company.

Most are just knocked out on a cheapo design package and sent off to the nearest lurid plastic printing firm, with very little design and no 'signwriting' skill involved.

 

[tarannau]

I bet the local stationery shop is regularly out of green ink pens

Great minds think alike. But everyone mocks untethered.

 

[lang rabbie]

I think the premises are in the Camberwell Green Conservation Area. If the new sign is a backlit fluorescent box then I don't think it would normally get planning consent in a conservation area. Was the previous sign neon?

Meanwhile, the spelling atrocity calls for direct action by the Militant Grammarians of SE5.

 

[editor]

Unpleasant enough to write to your council about rather than just lament on here?

No-one gets away with this kind of thing where I live.

Really? Where do you live then?

 

[Biddlybee]

Was the previous sign neon?

I think it was, but not back lit - was neon tubes in the shapes of the letters.