Surely there are two types of commercial establishment: those you'd expect to sell gravy and those you wouldn't.
Now obviously those who don't sell gravy - your local newsagent or a haberdashers, say - aren't about to start doing so and won't be needing a sign like this.
But who does need a sign like this? How do you end up running the kind of business where the selling of gravy might be expected but where the selling of gravy has been overlooked?
This is in the window of a pie and mash shop. What on earth were they doing not selling gravy? Surely they've always sold gravy... and surely people walk through the door expecting them to do so.
It's like putting a sign up in a pub window saying, "We now sell whiskey". Or like Jonathan Cainer advertising his new column on the basis that he now includes all twelve star signs... including, at last, Scorpio.
There's much more information at DaveGorman.com
DON'T DROP LITTER. DO SAY PLEASE AND THANK YOU. SIMPLE, REALLY.
Ha ha! I wonder if you can go in there and just buy gravy? At least if you did that then the shop owners would know that the sign works
ReplyDeletehmmmm
ReplyDeletePerhaps the gravy was previously free. Therebe, the sign now warns customers to expect to be charged, what with the credit crunch an' all
They used to advertise tomatoes in Tesco with the the sticker "As seen on TV". The only TV appearance of tomatoes I remember is 'Attack of the Killer Tomatoes'. Bizarre.
ReplyDeleteDave: I'd normally agree with you: what self respecting pies shop would not sell gravy? However, when I moved to London I discovered that the traditional London pie and mash shop would shun gravy in favour of a liquor (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie_and_mash and http://www.manze.co.uk/aboutOurFood.html), or a weird thin white sauce full of parsley.
ReplyDeleteObviously, with the economy how it is, this pie shop is branching out to include gravy.
Pie & mash with gravy?
ReplyDeleteBlimey, things are getting tough for the piewranglers of olde London towne.
(And the word verification today is 'glyper'. Call My Bluff would have a field day).
Shop windows can be fantastically random places, our local cake shop has a picture of George Formby's Mother. I don't know why, I don't think she's from Tarporley.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/28571312@N04/2862937531/
You want signs, here are some signs!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.facebook.com/groups.php?id=649285690#/group.php?gid=2423853472
Enjoy! PJ
As an exiled Northerner, my instinctive reaction to this (presumably London-based) sign was, where is this?
ReplyDeleteIt's nigh-on impossible to get gravy with your chips down here, and I remember being astonished by the blank faces that greeted me when I first moved down here and asked for gravy. Curry sauce was the alternative, for which my local chippy charge 90p. 90p to have an inferior sauce? I ask you. No wonder this country's on its arse.
This, however, gives me hope. The brown shoots of recovery.
Great blog- though a bugger to read on my iPod Touch - for such a great Apple fan I am surprised that you chose that font!
ReplyDeleteI have been living in Malaysia for the last three years and met an Australian Dave Gorman working in one of the International Schools in Kuala Lumpur (he taught my daughter) shame you didn't get to meet him as he is a character!
Now in Hong Kong - I don't know what you have done to upset the Chinese but your website is blocked.
At least I can console myself with access to your blog.
@Mark: I'm viewing this on an apple computer and it reads just fine. I've never used an iPod Touch so wouldn't have the faintest idea what it looks like on one... and couldn't begin to guess.
ReplyDeleteIs the website blocked or is it just the forum. If it's the forum you can't get to it's probably a block from my end. I've blocked some Chinese IPs because they were being used to create 20 accounts overnight that would then bombard the forum with spam.
As Ne says, it'll be because of the liquor (the sign that is - not the Chinese blockage).
ReplyDeleteLiquor truly is rank. If done properly it's made with the water they boil the eels in; if parsley wasn't grim enough (which it is) that's a real deal breaker for me.
Oh, and Mr Lamb - hope this is of use:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.liquidice.co.uk/food/chipsngravy.html
Hi Dave - it's the whole website I am afraid.
ReplyDelete@Mark... in which case there's little I can do. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, if a shop near me started selling gravy I'd want to know about it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they sell gravy
ReplyDeleteTo people in the navy
Or people with wavy
Hair
Or maybe what's on sale
Is something much more pale
Than the usual dark brown hue
Of your average Bisto goo.
Maybe they are white slave traders
Who specialise in undertakers
And they are selling one
Whose nickname
Is Gravy.
Must confess most people on the right side of the river were shocked when Manze's started seling gravy on the pie and mash. What next, chips instead of mash? Sad times for London!
ReplyDeletethis 'ere pie and mash shop should be named and shamed
ReplyDeleteYes it is true, not everywhere does sell gravy. Especially in our traditional pie and mash shops. For those who don't know the tradition, at Arments we cover our pie and mash in green liquor(which is not got any alcohol) it is a great dressing for this traditional English meal. Why not try us out or check the website for our delivery options.
ReplyDelete