The Beckenham branch of kennedy's closed in March 2007 as the lease was up & I guess we all knew then that the buisness was on its way out. This shop also had competition from another independant sausage shop just up the road in Beckenham although it didnt seem to affect trade at the time.

The once thriving factory of Lesneys, (Matchbox) on the the river Lea in London.
Thousands of toy cars were produced on this site from the mid 1960s to its closure in 1982.
This factory is in the process of being bulldozed - Dec 2009

Before the advent of advertising hoardings & plastics, adverts were painted onto the sides of prominent buildings in every town & village up & down the country.
If you look around you you will find that a number of these survive today.
This collection features these ads that I have come across on my travels.

In the good old days shopkeepers & companies took a pride in their buisness & went to extra lengths to promote themselves.
This collection features floor mosaics which welcomed you to the shop as you entered over the threshold.

The Grand Pier in Weston Super Mare is considered to be the last of the great pleasure piers to have been built in the UK.
Originally built between 1903 - 1906 & designed by P Munroe was built by Mayoh & Haley.
Mr A Brenner purchased Weston-Super-Mare Grand Pier in 1946. In 1970 the entrance area was redeveloped to provide shops and amusements on the incline leading to the entrance turnstiles and, in 1974, Weston-Super-Mare Grand Pier was granted a Grade II listed status. Along the centre of the deck are glass partitioned shelters with seating on either side and a tractor pulled 'train' offers transport to the pier-head where there is a go-karting track. In 1993 a new bowling alley was added at a cost of £250,000 and in the following winter a further £350,000 was spent on a two-storey funhouse and Ferris wheel, along with essential replacement of worn decking.

The pier was sold by the Brenner family early in 2008 to a local brother and sister partnership, Michael and Kerry Mitchell. They have since spent considerable time and money refurbishing the pier making it one of the towns premier entertainment venues.
On July 28th 2008 the pier suffered a serious fire resulting in the pavillion being completely destroyed.
Source: The Heritage Trail.co.uk

Ayr United were formed in 1910 with the amalgamation of Scottish League sides Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr FC, who in turn had been formed by previous club mergers, and began playing their home matches at Somerset Park, Ayr from the 1910/11 season.

Until 1994, when the Scottish League admitted an Inverness side to the league, Ayr United were the only Scottish League side to be formed as the result of a merger. However, as the Inverness sides were an amalgamation of two non-league sides, Ayr United still remains as the only side to be the product of a merger of two former league sides.

Ayr United have the nickname 'The Honest Men' taken from the poetry of Scotland's National Bard, Robert Burns, who came from Alloway, near Ayr.
Source: Ayr United Archieve Site

Cane Hill has now being flattened with the exception of the chapel & admin Block.
(More images to come in March 2010)
Cane Hill was the Third Surrey County Pauper Lunatic Asylum & completed in 1882.
The hospital was divided into female and male halves, the vertical symmetry being cut along its centre by the administration block, a Chapel, a large recreation and dining hall, kitchens, stores and laundry.
A large water tower provided the necessary pressure for a building of its immensity, around which were clustered stores, maintenance and ancillary buildings.
The grounds were landscaped and formed into ‘airing courts’ – enclosures where patients could sit outside, bask in the sunshine and enjoy the views across to London. Each airing court was shared by several wards, and octagonal pavilions provided shelter and shade. Other parts of the site were devoted to agriculture and farming as the hospital had to be as self sufficient as possible – and several large cast-iron framed greenhouses were also erected.
Cane Hill started to close down in the late 1980s with all the staff and patients leaving in 1991.
It is now a Mecca for urban explorers, many of whom spend many hours & even days on the site.
Recently a redevopment plan has been agreed so the sites future is uncertain but hopefully some of it will be preserved.

Built 1904 originally a factory for Frame Foods, who manufactured baby food, hence the 'nourish and flourish' bit and the 'FF' on the hopper head.
Some of the original buildings at the back, including a big chimney, have been demolished so the building now comprises the converted original part at the front joined on to new build at the back.
Originally there was a great big 'Frame Foods' along the top of the building, above 'nourish and flourish', presumably also in tiles but this has been lost somehow over the years.

The Hoover Building was designed for the Hoover Company by Wallis, Gilbert & Partners. Completed in 1932, it was originally commissioned as a factory complex with production, storage and repairs at ground floor level and offices above. Listed in 1980, the Grade II building was in use until the late 1980’s. The original production area is now converted into a Tesco superstore and the Hoover Building to the front is effectively self-contained. The extensive art-deco features on the exterior and in the common parts have been carefully restored.