The Escapement, an escape room in Margate, Kent, was undergoing a refurbishment when it came across an “exciting discovery”.
“While peeling back five layers of old shop signs from businesses that have called this building home over the years, we uncovered a 120-year-old original sign from J Baily & Co,” the escape room said in a Facebook post.
“J Baily & Co was a chemist with shops across Margate, and the branding, gold lettering on a black background, looks remarkably similar to ours,” it added.
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Another Facebook page,‘Ghost Signs from bygone times’ also shared images of the historical pharmacy signage. It said John Baily was a London chemist with premises in Clapham and Hampstead between the 18060s-80s.
He later moved to Kent and purchased a property in the Cliftonville area of Margate in 1885 to continue his chemist business and bought another branch in 1888.
Baily then sold both pharmacies to a pharmacist named James Hewlett a couple of years later, and Hewlett kept the business name J Baily & Co. He bought the premises where The Escapement is now in 1920 and traded there until his death in 1928.
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The escape room said it is “considering keeping this signage” to “preserve this incredible piece of Margate’s history”.
Locals have also called for the signage to be kept, with some also asking for the escape room to create a game based on the historic chemist.
