A HIDDEN sign above Bournemouth’s original J Sainsbury’s has been uncovered for the first time in more than 50 years.

The discovery was made as renovation work was being undertaken on the Old Christchurch Road building this week.

Most recently trading as the Indian Lounge, the site at Horseshoe Common was the 100th J Sainsbury’s in the country after opening in 1907.

And this is believed to have been the first time the distinctive maroon branding has been seen at this store since closing in 1965.

Alex and Vito Capozza, who took up the lease on the building last month to open an Italian restaurant, found the sign as they prepared to install their own new display.

“We were surprised when we first saw it, and a lot of people have been stopping and taking pictures,” said Vito, who previously owned a restaurant in Brockenhurst for 27 years.

And Alex said he has contacted the supermarket’s central office to ask if they want to recover the historic signage.

Archive Sainsbury’s documents said as well as being Bournemouth’s first store, it was also the furthest away from its Blackfriars headquarters.

“Although John James Sainsbury, the company’s founder, had not set out with the intention of spreading his chain of provision shops nationwide, he had more than doubled the number of his branches in the previous seven years,” the archives said.

“The range of products offered consisted almost entirely of fresh foods: dairy produce, poultry and game and ‘table delicacies’ - the cooked meats, sausages and pies which were specially made in Sainsbury’s kitchens and were some of the earliest Sainsbury brand products.”

The Old Christchurch Road outlet’s opening was followed with a branch in Westbourne, which opened in 1912 and another in Boscombe, which opened in 1913, and remains open to this day.

A Sainsbury’s spokesman said that Alex and Vito had been in touch but could not confirm whether the supermarket would take steps to recover the old sign.