© Rod Burkey (view gallery)
This old tiled sign can still be seen on the side wall of a block of shops on Allerton Road. For many years Irwin’s ran a chain of grocery shops all over Merseyside and I have distant memories of being sat up on the counter by my mother on our frequent trips “to the shops”. Irwin’s shops always had a most distinctive look and there are still many buildings here with that look that fewer people every year would be able to identify. I doubt if many chains now would ever dream of putting tiled signs up like Irwin’s such is the lack of permanence, as indeed the lady who owned the chain found when selling out, I think in the 1960s. I thought I’d better capture this before something finally happened and it was lost forever." >