Wootton's The Hairdresser

In Tavern Street, opposite the entrance to The Walk you can find several panels which someone has done their best to expunge. They still (just!) advertise the wares of a previous shop - probably Woottons the hairdresser [thanks for the information to Trevor an ex-Ipswichian exiled in Norfolk (left the town in 1957) from the Guestbook].
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Woottons long-shot2012 image

[Update January 2010: Dave Riseborough sent in some much better images of Wootton's advertising, to whom our thanks.]

Here are the five panels on the first floor of 7 Tavern Street, once the home of a great emporium run by the Wootton family, selling fancy products to the gentry. Now it's the Carphone Warehouse. At the time of these photographs an estate agent's board obscured part of the lettering.

What an odd litany of services and goods Wootton's must have provided...
Wootton's 3-Wootton's 4
PANEL 1 (above left):
'LEATHER(?)
GOODS
-
STATIONERY
-
FOUNTAIN
PENS'
-
FANCY
GOODS'

PANEL 2 (above right):
TOYS &
GAMES
-
FANCY
CHINA
-
EBONY
GOODS
-
CUTLERY'



Wootton's 5-Wootton's 6
PANEL 3 (above left):
'HOT
BATHS
(in larger, white, sans serif font)
---
LADIES &
GENTS
TOILET
SALOONS'

PANEL 4 (above right):
'HAIR
BRUSHES
-
FANCY
COMBS
-
TOILET
GOODS
-
(word illegible behind burglar alarm)'
Wootton's 7[All five images courtesy Dave Riseborough]
PANEL 5 (above):
'PERMANENT
WAVING
-
FACE MASSAGE
-
(words illegible even before estate agent sign affixed)'
Deciphering these panels has probably damaged our eyesight for good (and we're quite open to correction about the interpretation). The panels all display a pale or white background with maroon chequer border and decorative maroon coloured lettering which has been expanded or condensed to fit available spaces. The interlinking double-'O's (as in 'GOODS' are characteristic. Suffolk Record Office have an original advertisement for "Wootton's Shilling hollow-ground razor" [Wootton, George, fl 1890, razor seller, of Ipswich, Suffolk] and the same proprietor is listed as at 7 Tavern Street, Ipswich and 2 Bent Hill, Felixstowe. So who fancies a face massage after your hot bath - and perhaps you'd like to browse our catalogue of cutlery and fountain pens?
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