Ghost signs (5): Guingamp

On my way out of the town of Guingamp, I passed through a single street with a whole assortment of ghost signs. Here are a few I managed to photograph through the car window.

Yes, it's Dubonnet again, but unlike the sign in Broons this one is spelled correctly and has the full 'Dubo, Dubon, Dubonnet' slogan:



This sign is a palimpsest: a single wall with several images laid over each other. Here we have Suze's vivid colours overlaying Byrrh's more restrained tones. Like Suze, Byrrh is an aperitif. It is wine-based, and was originally sold as a tonic in pharmacies since it contains extract of cinchona bark (from which quinine is derived). It has never been popular in Britain, perhaps because its name sounds so like 'beer', but is still sold in France.


Finally, this faded sign directs motorists to E Leclerc, the Brittany-based supermarket chain. The first branch was opened by Edouard Leclerc in his Breton home in 1949; within 10 years there were 60 stores.