We paint commercial frontages in Boughton, NN2, about 3.4 miles north of Northampton town centre. OpenStreetMap shows no shops in the village, so frontage work here centres on the Whyte Melville pub on Church Street and the small businesses at Kimbell Mews on Humfrey Lane.
A village with no shop parade
Most shopfront work means fascia boards, stallrisers and shop doors along a parade. Boughton has none of that. Its non-residential buildings are the parish church, Boughton Primary School, T J Daycare on Moulton Lane, the Village Hall, the Whyte Melville pub and Kimbell Mews, which the conservation area appraisal describes as a commercial development in former agricultural buildings. The nearest shop parades, at White Hills Crescent and Obelisk Rise, are outside the parish. So this page is about the two commercial frontages the village does have, and what painting them involves.
The Whyte Melville’s painted ashlar
The Whyte Melville on Church Street is the only pub in Boughton and is locally listed. Its front is ashlar, finely cut stone, painted white, with bay windows. In a village where almost every other historic front is bare Pendle stone or ironstone, that white face stands out.
Keeping it that way calls for:
- a breathable masonry finish suited to ashlar, not a sealing acrylic that traps damp in the stone
- washing off traffic grime and any algae before coating, then letting the stone dry
- careful work around the bay window joinery, which takes a separate timber paint
- keeping to white, as the building is locally listed and inside the conservation area
Church Street is narrow with a continuous building line, doors near the road and heavy traffic at peak times. Access equipment on the pub front stands close to the carriageway, so we sign it, keep the footing tight to the wall and work at quieter times of day. We also agree working hours with the landlord so customers are not walking under wet paint or past a closed door at opening time.
Kimbell Mews and its conservation area setting
Kimbell Mews on Humfrey Lane sits inside Boughton Conservation Area in converted farm buildings. Business frontages there are likely to be timber doors, windows and boarding rather than glazed shopfronts with signage fascias. The appraisal’s colour guidance for the village leans to white, pale yellow and pale green joinery and the darker Boughton estate green, and a business wanting brand colours on a front elevation in the conservation area should raise it with West Northamptonshire Council before we order paint. Humfrey Lane also suffers parking pressure at peak times, partly from the village’s small businesses, so we keep our van and materials off the lane where we can. Former agricultural buildings also tend to have wide openings, boarded doors and timber that has been patched over the years, so preparation can include filling, spot priming and checking for soft wood before any colour goes on.
Working around trading and neighbours
For the other non-residential buildings, the school, the daycare and the Village Hall, the work is closer to commercial interior and exterior decorating than to shopfronts, and is timed around term dates and bookings. Work on either frontage can be split into sections, so the pub or business stays open. Because both sit inside Boughton Conservation Area, the 2018 appraisal and the 2017 Boughton Village Design Statement, both adopted planning documents, are the reference points if either business wants to change how its front looks. We use low-odour products indoors and out where people are close by, and keep the pavement-less stretches clear and signed. If you run a business elsewhere in the area, our main shopfront painting service covers parades and high streets, and the Boughton area page covers the village’s homes.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
