Description:The painted F & E Butterworth Ltd sign was uncovered during the demolition of the neighbouring Zanzibar (Ritzy) nightclub building in March 2021.
The business was established in the 1840s by John Butterworth of Audley. They were wholesale grocers and had a warehouse on Brunswick Street. John’s sons, Frederick and Ernest (hence F & E), took over the business in about 1890 and by 1912 they were also trading from Etruria Road, Hanley. Frederick started a fruit preserving business sometime in the 1880s or 1890s, trading under the Butterworth name. By 1928 he was selling under the ‘Beehive Preserves’ name. Butterworth’s were still trading from this site in 1955 under Ernest’s son, Reginald Ernest Butterworth. The sign, painted by Cooper Signs of Queens Road, Hanley, is thought to date from the late 1950s.