When Neon Signs Crashed The Wireless

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Britain’s Pre-War Glow Problem

Strange but true: in June 1939, just months before Britain plunged into war, the House of Commons was debating glowing shopfronts.

Mr. Gallacher, an MP with a sharp tongue, demanded answers from the Postmaster-General. How many complaints had rolled in about wireless sets being ruined by neon signage?

The reply turned heads: the Department had received nearly one thousand reports from frustrated licence-payers.

Imagine it: listeners straining to catch news bulletins, drowned out by the hum of glowing adverts on the high street.

Postmaster-General Major Tryon admitted the scale of the headache. The difficulty?: the government had no legal power to force neon owners to fix it.

He said legislation was being explored, neon sign shop London but admitted consultations would take "some time".

In plain English: no fix any time soon.

The MP wasn’t satisfied. He said listeners were getting a raw deal.

From the backbenches came another jab. Wasn’t the state itself one of the worst offenders?

The Postmaster-General ducked the blow, admitting it made the matter "difficult" but offering no real solution.

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Looking back now, this debate is almost poetic. Neon was once painted as the noisy disruptor.

Fast forward to today and it’s the opposite story: neon is the endangered craft fighting for survival, while plastic LED fakes flood the market.

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What does it tell us?

First: personalised neon signs London has always rattled cages. From crashing radios to clashing with LED, it’s always been about authenticity vs convenience.

Now it’s dismissed as retro fluff.

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Our take at Smithers. We see proof that neon was powerful enough to shake Britain.

Call it quaint, call it heritage, but it’s a reminder. And it still does.

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Forget the fake LED strips. Real neon has been debated in Parliament for nearly a century.

If neon got MPs shouting in 1939, it deserves a place in your space today.

Choose craft.

Smithers has it.

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