Roberts for Ekcovision sign

This was a derelict neon shop sign on a set of terraced buildings in a Balham high street owned from 1928 by the electrical business A. Roberts & Co. The business supplied and repaired radios and charging accumulators & later rented televisions. The large neon sign was erected around 1953 on the proposition of EKCO (Eric Kirkham Cole Limited) - a British electronics company producing radio and television sets from the 1920s until c.1970. It was blue and red neon. The sign went out of repair around 1989 when the Roberts business was sold. The buildings are now owned by two freeholders and let as two shops and two flats.

In 2022, HOLT funded the restoration of the sign with additional support from a local campaign, run by the Roberts family’s granddaughter, Alison Sinclair. Newman Signs in King’s Cross manufactured all new metal letters 500mm high using the original as tracing for the design. They surface mounted tube LED lighting to match the original.

The restoration project has ensured this landmark sign now lights up Balham for the first time in 30 years.