Southwold
-
'ADNAMS
& COY.
LTD.'
What can we say about
Adnams Brewery which hasn't already been said? That
they're rather Coy? A fine, well painted cast iron sign with
fleur-de-lis
flourishes bears that curious superior 'oy' after the capital 'C'.
Interesting
character style, too: the crossbar of the 'A' almost disappears.
Beneath
it the coloured and gilded Southwold Jack waits to strike his bell. We
think this one is silent, unlike the Jack in the nearby church of St
Edmund which still rings out when the cord below it is pulled.
Brewing in Southwold goes back as far as 1345, but the two brothers
George and Ernest Adnams bought what was to become the Sole Bay Brewery
in 1872.
-
Strolling from the wonderfully refurbished Southwold
Pier up the cliff and North Parade towards the Sole Bay Inn and the
lightouse, we find the above wall, a deep return behind a large
building on Chester Road. Once
a trader's advertisement, this long (now grey) cartouche contains two
generations of lettering [the earlier in square brackets]; the picture
on the right
shows an enhanced version:
'--------
&
SON [STORES]
FAMILY GROCER
PROVISION
MERCHANTS
--------'
Stradbroke Road
is visible in the left background of the photograph. It would be
interesting to find out who ran this
grocery emporium in decades past, in order to
decode the company name. Any ideas?
-
'TOWN
HALL'
in large and small caps, picked out in black against a
white panel set
into the Suffolk white brickwork of the Town Hall's frontage in the
Market Place. The sign sits over the Town Council's information cabinet
which is topped by clocks indicating high and low tides; a small board
advertises lighthouse tours indicating Southwold's role as a major
tourist attraction and seaside resort in the area. The asymmetrical
frontage of this attractive building (shown above left) includes a
flagpole to right of centre of the roof, red pillar box, rooms
extending over the coaching entrance and the town's crest*** in the
centre of the balcony (from which the town's Christmas lights are
switched on each year). The balcony is clearly a later addition and the
four supporting brackets below it are necessary to support its weight,
plus any people standing thereon. One can imagine the quandry faced by
the 'mayor and corporation' when the builder told them that there was
no room for the third bracket, unless it obscured the 'A' of Hall. The
fenestration gives no wiggle-room, so the proud sign had to be
obstructed.
(***lettered: "Defend They Right" The motto of the ancient
Borough of the Town of Southwold.)
And here's another subtly hidden piece of Southwold
lettering incised high up in a, now, residential building wall:
'CORN
STORE'
Electric Picture Palace,
Blackmill Road, Southwold
Once a cart shed and hayloft, the Electric Picture Palace was
converted to a 68 seat, 1912 theatrical style cinema in 2002. It
follows the style (and name) of Southwold's original cinema, first
opened in 1912 in York Street. It has
traditional cinema seats, a box office, kiosk, circle,
mini-organ and air-conditioning ( I am sure there was no such
thing in 1912!) It real fits in with the character and feel of
Southwold.It is owned and run by Southwold Film Society; being
Southwold, Saturday film nights are conducted in the correct fashion
with the dinner-jacketed Manager introducing the main picture and
ushers and usherettes selling ice creams during the interval. (More
pictures will follow soon.)
For other vintage cinemas see Harwich and Beccles.
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