Please no...

This terrible picture (sorry) shows the window of Arbers printshop in Roman Road. Arbers closed for the last time in May this year after 117 years of business. As well as providing the local community with all their stationery needs and even toys, Arbers also printed the leaflets for Sylvia Pankhurst and the East London Suffragettes, who were based in and around Roman Road.

While Gary the third generation and last Arber has retired to enjoy his garden and his passion for wildlife photography, the giant printing presses have been hoisted out of the cellar and relocated to Norfolk to be restored. The wobbling piles of boxes that used to fill the shop from floor to ceiling have all gone and the building is currently being revamped after being sold.

It is clearly a building steeped in history and watching it being stripped of its identity and its contents over recent months has been hard. The final straw was seeing this sign in the window as I walked past this evening. I'm hoping against hope it's a builder's joke, but I fear for the future of this important local building.