Mr Blog

Goodbuy Mr Chips
77 High Street
Derby DE65 6GF

Goodbye Mr Bit Goodbye Mr Window Goodbye Mr Man Goodbye Mr Computer Goodbye Mr Digital Goodbye Mr Homes Goodbye Mr Beds Goodbye Mr Bathrooms Goodbye Mr Welshegg Goodbye Mr Cry Baby Goodbye Mr Cod Goodbye Mr Rams Goodbye Mrs Cod Goodbye Mr Rice Goodbye Mr Chips Goodbye Mr Unique Goodbye Mr Unique Goodbye Mrs Baker Goodbye Mr Baker Goodbye Mrs Crusty Goodbye Mr Crusty Goodbye Mr Sports Goodbye Mr Tree Goodbye Mr All Sorts Goodbye Mr Fruity Goodbye Mr Santa Goodbye Mr Munchies Goodbye Mr Music Goodbye Mr Burbujas Goodbye Mr Furniture Goodbye Mr Toolbag Goodbye Mr Greek Goodbye Mr Logo Goodbye Mr Bubbles Goodbye Mr Kebabies Goodbye Mr Kebab 2 Goodbye Mr Kebab Goodbye Mr Snob Goodbye Mr Creemy Goodbye Mr Stainless Goodbye Mr Shoes Goodbye Miss Fitness Goodbye Mr Chickens Goodbye Mr Claims Goodbye Herr Kutz Goodbye Mr Dry Clean Goodbye Mr Sam Widges Goodbye Mr Personality Goodbye Mr Poo Goodbye Mr Nudge Goodbye Princess News Goodbye Mr Central Heating Goodbye Mr Sweep Goodbye Mr Wok Goodbye Sir Chef Goodbye Mr Sausage Goodbye Mr Lucky Bags Goodbye Mr Overalls Goodbye Mr Pine Goodbye Mr Loaf Goodbye Miss Afro Goodbye Mr Marble Goodbye Mr Chips Goodbye Mr Mattress Goodbye Mr Head Goodbye Mr Cheap Goodbye Mr Pizza Goodbye Mr Chow Goodbye Miss Fish Goodbye Mr Boy Goodbye Mr MOT Goodbye Mr Car Goodbye Mr Tyre Goodbye Mr Exhaust Goodbye Mr Gearbox Goodbye Mr Clutch Goodbye Mr Light Goodbye Mr Resistor Goodbye Mr Toolman Goodbye Mr Big Stuff Goodbye Papaya King Goodbye Mrs Bouquet Goodbye Signor Chef Goodbye Mr Vacuum Cleaner Goodbye Mr T Carpets Goodbye Mr Moped Goodbye Mr Plastics Goodbye Mr Floor Goodbye Mr Eats Goodbye Mr Mobile Goodbye Mr Snips Goodbye Mr India Goodbye Mr Stationery Goodbye Mr Minit Goodbye Mr Luggage Goodbye Monsieur Biscuit Goodbye Mr Coffee  Mr Booze Goodbye Mr Books Goodbye Mr Meats Goodbye Mr Humbug Goodbye Mr Jerk Goodbye Mr Kleen Goodbye Mr Loo Goodbye Dr Loo Goodbye Mr Maggot Man Goodbye Mr Snappy Goodbye Mr Mister Goodbye Mr £andwich Goodbye Mr Bagels Goodbye Mr Egg Goodbye Mr Hot Potato Goodbye Mr Cobbler Goodbye Mr Bun the Baker Goodbye Mr Worktops Goodbye Mr News Goodbye Mr Dentist Goodbye Mr Chips and Pizza Man

Goodbye Mr Background Goodbye Mr Map Goodbye Mr Credits

Goodbye Mr Tweets!

And goodbye everybody!*

 

* And a goodbye footnote too.

Mr Blog
August 2010 – January 2011

Forgive the self-indulgence, but my penultimate post on this blog is about myself, as I have now become one of the Misters that this blog originally set out to document.

As my work is winding to a close, I would like to point you towards the Mr Blog Valedictory Awards Show, which has taken place on the Asbury & Asbury blog (to whom I ultimately report) and also been featured on the Creative Review blog (to whom I am very grateful).

Congratulations to Herr Kutz and apologies again for Mr Stainless.

Mr Bit unfortunately arrived too late to make it into the awards.

I have really enjoyed doing my blogging job and am grateful to everyone who took the time to read, comment and contribute. I’ll post a final post shortly and then leave the stage to all the Misters on this blog. They will remain here for you to peruse and revisit at your leisure.

By the way, I forgot to mention there is a coffee shop called Mr Bean.

Mr Bit
21 Walshaw Road
Worrall S35 0AS 

If we think of this blog as taking place over the course of a single day, then Mr Bit is the glorious sunset that brings it to a close.

Of course, the inevitable question arises: Is Mr Bit better than Herr Kutz?

No, he isn’t.

But only because Herr Kutz has a shopfront, whereas Mr Bit only has a van, albeit a very nice one.

Still, the very fact that it comes down to such fine considerations shows we are in special territory.

I can imagine a humourless brand consultant warning that ‘Mr Bit’ highlights a potential negative, implying that Mr Bit’s service falls short of the highest professional standards. Couldn't we call him Mr TotalClean instead?

No, we couldn’t. I'm sorry I even imagined you now as you're annoying me!

Mr Bit is touched with genius and I urge anyone who lives within a reasonable distance of Worrall to call upon his services.

But now I come to a confession about this blog and its imminent closure.

Reader, I too have missed a bit.

In fact, I’ve probably missed quite a few.

There are countless international and online Misters that I have overlooked, because my core aim has been to document the high street Misters with a real-world presence here in the UK.

But I have fallen short even in this task. Here are eight high-street Misters who will henceforth be known as The Great Unblogged.

Mr Pound 
Mr Shirts 
Mr Bow Wows
Mr Models
Mr Clean Calls 
Mr Fast Fry 
Mr Butch
Mr Keys

There will be more. I apologise to all of them and to all my readers.* 

See you tomorrow, for a postscript to today’s post. A sort of epiblogue, if you will.**

* I am apologising out of politeness, but I have blogged most of them, so give me a break.

** And I don’t see why you wouldn’t.

This is a picture of a world without Mister brands.

It's not very interesting, is it?

Now this is what happens when you bring the Mister brand back:

Mr Window
20 Benfleet Road
Essex SS7 1QB

That’s better.

These two pictures (cleverly) sum up why I love Mister brands so much and why I have dedicated my blogging life to their documentation.

Brands like Mr Window brighten up our shared urban landscape and inject much-needed personality and charm into our otherwise anonymous high streets. They speak to the local and the personal and remind us that business is, in the end, a transaction between human beings.

Tomorrow I will post my penultimate Mister – one of the very best. On Friday morning, I will host a brief awards ceremony, looking back over some of the best posts I have posted. Friday afternoon will then see a final farewell post.

Of course, people will be welcome to visit this blog after that and send in sightings if they wish.

Better still, whenever you see a Mister shop, spare a thought for these under-appreciated denizens of the high street and pop in and boost their trade.* That would be a nice legacy to leave.

* Don't worry if it's Mr Maggot Man.

Mr Man
168 Dalkeith Road
Edinburgh EH16 5DX

Tonight is Burns night, so it seems appropriate to feature a Scottish Mister.

Mr Man is a gentlemen’s hairdresser and his name makes a direct reference to a key aspect of his business, so I am pleased to welcome him aboard.

Mr Man has an interesting barber’s pole outside his shop – probably the thinnest barber’s pole I have seen.

I have heard a story that the barber pole tradition originates in medieval times when people used to wrap bloody bandages around a pole. This was because barbers also used to perform minor surgery on customers, including tooth extractions, or even cutting the umbilical cord at the birth of a child. I’m not sure if this is true, but it’s nice to imagine the familiar small-talk taking place while the procedure is in full swing:

– The usual, sir?

– Yes, number two at the back & sides and a trim on top. Oh, and the wife’s given birth and I need to get the cord snipped.

– Very good, sir. I had wondered why sir had brought along his lady wife.

[Wife: Jesus Christ, can you hurry up!]

– Sir’s wife got out the wrong side of bed this morning, sir?

– Yes, one of those days. So how’s business? Keeping busy?

– Oh, the usual, you know. Any holidays planned this year?

[Wife: Dave, can you ask him to get a F****NG move on.]

– All right, love, keep your hair on.

– Not often you hear that in this place, sir!

– That’s a good one.

– Do you like my pole, by the way? I wrapped some bloody bandages round it.

– Oh, you mean the pole outside. Yes, I noticed. Looks great.

And so on. (Apologies for the blue language, but I was in character.)

Of course, Mr Man also brings to mind the most famous song that Robert Burns ever wrote: A Mr Man’s a Mr Man For A’ That.

An update concerning Blogmageddon

For any readers who have not yet heard, I will publish my final post on Friday 28 January. This blog will then officially cease trading, but will remain online in perpetuity as a gift to future generations. (You’re welcome.)

But things aren’t all bad. On Thursday, I will post one of the best Misters I have come across: a true rival to Herr Kutz. Chin up!

Mr Digital
199 Old Oak Road
London W3 7HH 

Mr Digital is the most technologically advanced of all the Misters I have featured on this blog. In the world of ‘Mr’ branding, this is the equivalent of the Apple store on London’s Regent Street.

There is something reassuring about the ‘Mr’ branding device being extended into the digital age. It is normally associated with resolutely analogue trades – Mr Toolman, Mr Cobbler, Mr Meats and so on.

There are other digital Misters, including Mr Site, Mr Linky, Mr Spam and Mr Memory, as well as Mr Tweets and myself.*

But the charm of Mr Digital is that he has a presence in the offline world.

There is also a Mr Computer in St. Albans, about whom I am about to make a very good joke:

Mr Computer
145 Victoria Street
St Albans AL1 3TA

As the gentleman outside has noticed, Mr Computer uses Windows.

* Thanks to Nick Parker and David Thompson respectively for bringing Mr Linky and Mr Site to my attention.

Mr Homes
36 Caerau Lane
Cardiff CF5 5HQ

I found this picture of Mr Homes where I usually do: on Google Street View.

As the end of this blog is approaching, I would like to acknowledge once again what an extraordinary achievement Google Street View is. I must have wandered along several miles of virtual streets in my research for this blog. But no matter how often I do it, I cannot get over my surprise that this is even possible.*

There is something magical about the way streets are immortalised at a very particular moment in time, just as the Google van happened to be passing.

In this scene, a smart business woman is pictured looking intently at the houses on display. Are we not drawn to wonder what her story is?

Is this the moment she sees the house of her dreams: that big place with a garden that she had pictured as a little girl? A little shabby around the edges, but with lots of potential? Is she furtively calculating whether it is affordable – would she have to extend her working hours, maybe see less of the children… should she talk to her husband tonight?

Or maybe there is no husband, no children, no dream home, but a city centre apartment that looks smart and could work and she needs to focus on her career right now and it’s better than the bedsit she leaves at 7am every morning and will be glad to leave for the last time. Maybe she should go in and make an offer right now – just do it!

Or perhaps she is just browsing, idling away a few moments in her lunch hour. She could even be an estate agent employed by Mr Homes and waiting for a customer to arrive to go for some viewings.

Who knows? Maybe it doesn’t matter, but I enjoy the speculation. I hope she’s living somewhere nice now anyway.

* The only drawback with Google Street View is that it is prone to the odd distortion, which can have unfortunate effects. In this picture, 'Mr Homes' almost reads as 'Mr Homies', but it's definitely Mr Homes.

Mr Beds
21 Cornfield Terrace
Eastbourne BN21 4NS

I feel a weight of expectation to do the best blogging I can in the time that remains before Blogmageddon. (A reminder that I will be permanently closing for business on Friday 28 January.) So I am pulling out one of the heavyweights in Mr Beds.

I think you’ll agree that Mr Beds has one of the smartest shopfronts of any that I have featured on this blog. Mr Snips was good too, and I always liked Mr Bun the Baker. But Mr Beds is up there with the best.

I like the way the natural symmetry of the premises has been carried through to the signage. The main framing device is the drawing of a man in a nightgown and nightcap, looking bleary-eyed and ready for bed. He is carrying a candle, which is how it was in old times.

But now I’m going to take the unusual step of ‘zooming out’ from Mr Beds and showing you his neighbour:

Isn’t this fascinating? A museum of shops. I found it by chance while looking for Mr Beds, but I was intrigued. After some online detective work, I found a blog post from 2008 by seasoned blogsmith Russell Davies. He describes it like this:

It's a massive 100,000 bit collection of, well, stuff, from the last hundred and fifty years of shops and consumption. Packaging, advertising, products, signage, clothes, ephemera, everything. The collection is crammed into themed displays with emotive mannequins acting out the part of shopkeepers.

That sounds really good. He goes on to give a bit of background:

The museum was created by Jan and Graham Upton over a period of 50 years. They've done it really nicely. There's none of the compulsory interactivity that seems mandatory in museums nowadays. And no real attempt to create some historical context. You just gawp at the stuff and soak up the atmosphere.

You can read the whole post here, and also look at Mr Davies’s impressive Flickr set from inside the museum.

When this blog is finished, I hope it will act as a kind of Museum of Mr Shops for future generations to enjoy. If you are reading this from the future, hello to you. Are there travelators on every pavement yet?

Mister Maker

An extra post today, as there are no longer any rules.*

Valued supporter of this blog Neil Ayres has brought to my attention the reason for the continuing proliferation of Mr shops, by tracing the phenomenon to its source.

Thank you Mister Maker for all your hard work. In the world of this blog, you are a sort of god.

I look forward to meeting you soon.

* This is an exaggeration.

Mister Bathrooms
2a Hutchison Terrace
Edinburgh EH14 1QB

Can you believe it’s been all this time and we haven’t yet visited Mister Bathrooms?

I know. I’m surprised as well.

Mister Bathrooms looks like a nice place. Good, straightforward signage and a blue colour scheme that feels right for bathrooms.

The text to the left of the main ‘MISTER BATHROOMS’ text reads: ‘BATHROOMS / KITCHENS / BEDROOMS ON 2 FLOORS’. This is a strange form of words, as it makes it sound as though he actually sells two-floored bedrooms. (Bunk bedrooms, I suppose you would call them.) Maybe he does, but I suspect he doesn’t.

The blue awning affirms and reaffirms Mister Bathrooms' status as an Interior Design Studio, not just a supplier of bathroom-related materials.

More intriguingly, the centred text on the awning reads ‘Mr Bathrooms’ and ‘Number 1’. But the way it’s laid out makes it read like ‘Mr Number 1’. I’m not sure whether this is a deliberate play on words, given Mister Bathrooms' line of business. Of course, we have already met Mr Number 2, so to speak.

Blogmageddon is a week on Friday.