Following on from the previous post about John Payne Estate Agents, and various musings about what it will become, I’m pleased to say that Adam has sent me a link to a couple of their mock-ups. From his comment:
We (John Payne Estate Agents) are in the process of opening a new office in that location, but it has taken us longer than we expected, mostly due to the extensive internal redecorating that was required and the planning procedures for our external changes.
We are very proud to be based in Blackheath and to be one of the longest established agents in the area. As such we are very keen to ensure our presence is thoroughly in keeping with the local area and respecting tradition
We are planning on restoring the fascia to a style far more similar to how it would have originally been in the earlier part of the 20th century.
To give you a better idea, see the photos below showing a mockup of what we have planned, along with a photo from an earlier era.
Original photo used with permission from Ed Richardson.
I have to say, it looks like a big improvement. I’m not all in favour of maintaining Victorian styles purely for the sake of them (there’s an interesting article on this by the god-like Meades here), but in the case of Blackheath Village, a sense of conservatism (with an extremely small “c”) seems appropriate.
Licensed under a 
Looks good! Nice to see in this economic climate, shops opening instead of closing. I think the new look seems very classy!
From looking at the historical shop front, its good to see that a new business is keeping with the classic nature of the village. Looks similar to the existing office up near the heath.
What was there before, I can’t remember now! Looks good though. I wonder how close to the mockup the final result will be though?
You can see what was there before if you go on my (slightly flakey) Virtual Tour.
There is also a previous photo at
http://johnpayne.com/jp_mockup_previous.jpg
That must have been a while back – I’m sure it was cream coloured more recently..
I’m really have trouble finding enthusiasm here. Blackheath has just too many estate agents imho. I would have preferred to see a bike shop, a camera shop or anything else except for a mobile phone shop.
This is how it ended up looking in the end
http://www.johnpayne.com/?p=46