DAFYDD Manton was a man with a mission, to boldly go round pubs in Sheffield and photograph their signs before they disappeared.
He had another mission, to sink a pint in each one, but his wife put a stop to that.
The result, now in the shops, is a glossy little book called Ale & Arty, recording some of the best in the area - and volume two is on its way.
But some are already ancient history as he feared.
Either the pubs have been closed, knocked down or the sign replaced by what Dafydd calls a "corporate horrible, with just the name underneath."
So the White Bear at Ecclesfield, the Travellers Rest on City Road, and the Old Harrow at Base Green have all gone since he snapped the signs with his camera.
But there are plenty left and, put together, they make up a colourful collection.
His personal favourite is the Wyvern at Gleadless, a green painted mythological creature taken from the crest of the old Midland Railway.
"It looks so nervous," says Dafydd, aged 53, from Woodseats, who also reckons the South Sea at Broomhill with its British Man-o-War in full sail and the Silver Fox at Stocksbridge are both "gorgeous."
His job takes him out and about on the roads and he sees the signs as a splash of colour and a little bit of public art.
Pubs are being swallowed up by conglomerates and their signs replaced by bland, boring signs, he says.
"I don't want to go for a pint at the Faceless Businessman any more than I fancy a game of darts at the European Bureaucrat," he thunders.
"And if I'm going to spend an evening in the Fat Cat, please let there be a sign of an overweight moggy rather than some smug individual in a sharp suit, red braces, flashy cufflinks and an income that would pay off the national debt of most eastern European states."
Some of the signs are really lovely. He shows two Noah's Arks, each done different ways. At Four Lane Ends the ark is being tossed on the waters while at Crookes the animals are going in two by two.
He's snapped two Rising Suns. At Little Common the sun peeps from behind the hills while at Nether Green a big red orb is being saluted by a knight on horseback.
The most effort went into the Queens Ground at Hillsborough which shows a cricket match on one side and a running race on the other.
But Dafydd is waiting to vent his spleen.
"Shall I tell you which is the biggest crime of the lot? On page 38, the Nursery Tavern, on Ecclesall Road, which had a three dimensional sign, a trug, of hammered copper.
"Now it's been replaced by a corporate horrible."
Published by ARC at 4.99.
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FeaturesMore business newsLatest sport.More Rotherham newsMore Doncaster newsMore Barnsley newsThe full article contains 514 words and appears in Sheffield Star newspaper.
