One of the enamelled signs fixed to the wall of W.E. Pearkes furnisher’s shop in King Street, Watford, in the 1920s has come to light.

A photograph of a sales queue outside the shop nearly 60 years ago was provided by Mr John Ausden and appeared in the Watford Observer last Friday [January 29, 1982].

Within a short time of getting his copy of the paper, Mr Bob Wells telephoned to say he has the sign depicting Pearkes’s steam removal van.

Mr Wells found the sign in an Anderson shelter in the garden of a house he bought in Sheepcot Drive, Garston.

He also found an enamelled News of the World sign five years ago.

Mr Wells, contract manager for a cleaning company, said he would be prepared to sell the sign to a collector.

The heavy sign is enamel on steel and measures about 5ft by 3ft 6in.

Mr Wells, who now lives in High Road, Bushey, points out that the sign dates from the days when Watford’s telephone subscribers were so few that numbers were composed of only two figures. Pearkes’s number was Watford 19.

[From the Watford Observer of February 5, 1982]

This picture story formed part of the Nostalgia column first published in the Watford Observer on January 31, 2014. The next Nostalgia column can be found in this week’s Watford Observer (dated February 7, 2014 and available in newsagents now, priced 90p) or read online here from 4pm on Thursday.

If you have anything to add – or would like to tell us anything you think our readers may enjoy about Watford’s history – we are always pleased to hear from you. Contact Nostalgia, by clicking here watfordnostalgia@london.newsquest.co.uk

ONLINE TOMORROW: The final crop of stories from Januaries past includes a visit from a famous film star, excitement over the arrival of post-war oranges and the dead man who lived to read of his own demise.