Disclaimer This blog is about the graphic design of burglar alarms and has no connection with the companies featured. Most photos show vintage sounders and are not the latest products of the firms under discussion. For up-to-date info on any company, please visit their official website.
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- DR Security & Electrical Ltd, Islington: blobby
- Access Security, Milton Keynes: arrow-house
- Home Care, Bath: basic
- Home Protection Systems, Bristol: verbal
- Premia Security, Southwark: Dickensian
- DS Securities, Bath: monogramatic
- Pritchard Security Systems, Cardiff: mountainous
- IHD Security Limited, Ealing: sonic dot























“TecServ UK” burglar alarm, Nottingham • Dull though it may appear to the untrained eye, to the expert burglar alarm analyst this small device is a Daily Mail-esque Freudian epic. Clad in royal blue and English mustard with a modern yet understated font, it mixes trendy with traditional in a riot of symbolism: a padlock within a passionately flaming eye, a name suggesting service, technical prowess and patriotic values, and a sub-offer of fieriness and security. Surely the very model of a Femail reader’s fantasy burglar alarm engineer – a Heathcliff of the sounder, a Mr Darcy of the bell box. Or perhaps I’m reading too much into it. • Spotted: Friar Lane, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, NG1, England, 2011 • Politics: In the Labour constituency of Nottingham South
“Southern Safeguards” burglar alarm, Brighton • Another spread eagle, and even more bonkers than 
“Kestrel Alarms” burglar alarm, Brighton • Another Kestrel that’s made a hostile takeover, this time of a firm called Keyhole Security, whose name resides in a giant keyhole shape – I need to find one of these unstickered for my “locksmithery” set. Despite sporting Lib-Dem orange, 
“Locktec Security Group” burglar alarm, Camden • A while back I posted an ultra-boring 
“MR Security” burglar alarm, Islington • Finally, the ultimate nightmare – when pigeon spikes stop working. This row of shops was encrusted with spikes, but also with bird poo. Time to call in the 

“Essex Security Services” burglar alarm, Tower Hamlets • This is my last locksmithery post for now, and I can’t pretend it’s been an rivetting theme. Some of the imagery has been quite nice, but I’ve certainly run out of things to say about chains. I found this in White Post Lane near Hackney Wick, one of the entry points to the Olympic Park. At the moment it’s an area of picturesque ruins, colonised by artists’ studios, and very photogenic; catch it while you can, because apparently it’s soon to be as blandified as the rest of the new-build area. Although I haven’t photographed many alarms actually in Essex (as I never seem to go there), I’ve got loads of from Essex Security Services, because East London is positively bristling with them. The firm’s still going strong, with a very different design, but this is an early example – I’ll be posting another, more violent, variation in a few days. Coming tomorrow: pigeon problems, principally poo. • Spotted: White Post Lane, Tower Hamlets, London E9, England, 2011 • Politics: In the Labour constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow





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