We repaint shopfronts and business frontages in Bozeat, out on the A509 roughly 9.4 miles east of Northampton. With no shopping parade, the work is usually a single frontage: a fascia, sign board, window frames and door, planned around when the business is open.
One frontage at a time
In the early 20th century Bozeat had at least 20 shops and five pubs. Today the parish council lists a village shop and a pub, and other sources add a takeaway and the doctors’ surgery. No parade or business park is documented. That shapes what shopfront painting means here. Rather than coordinated work across a row of units, it is usually one owner wanting the front of one building looking cared for again.
On a small village frontage, the parts that wear first are usually the same:
- The fascia or sign board, which takes rain on its top edge and sun on its face.
- Window frames and sills, where water sits and paint lifts at the joints.
- The entrance door and its frame, which take the most handling.
- Any stallriser or lower panel that is splashed from the pavement.
Fitting the work around opening hours
Each type of business in the village has a different busy time, so we agree the working pattern with the owner before booking. A shop may want messy preparation done before opening, while a takeaway that trades mainly in the evenings may prefer us there in the morning and early afternoon. A pub may want the entrance finished before the doors open, and a surgery needs patients to get in safely throughout the day. We do the entrance first or last so it is never blocked for long, and put up wet paint signs wherever someone might brush against new paint.
Because Bozeat is a fair drive from Northampton, we try to plan a shopfront into one or two consecutive dry days rather than coming back for a single coat. Sign boards that are easy to lift down can sometimes be painted off site to cut the time spent working at the front.
With so few premises in a village of around 2,000 people at the 2011 census, a small entrance can see steady footfall. We keep ladders and dust sheets inside a tight footprint, take everything off the pavement when we stop for the day and leave nothing standing outside a door that people need to use. The surgery in particular serves patients who may have limited mobility, so any work near its entrance is kept clear of the doorway and finished in short stages.
Lettering and the building behind the business
Before we paint over a sign board, we agree how the business name will be put back, and photograph the existing layout so spacing and colours can be matched. We repaint the background and leave the lettering to a signwriter, or work around existing vinyl lettering if it is in good condition. Bozeat’s old core is coursed limestone, and 42 High Street was itself a pub before becoming a house. If a frontage is on a limestone building, any painted stone or render is treated with a breathable coating rather than a standard masonry paint, and where a building is listed, we would keep to the existing colours unless the council has agreed a change.
Commercial work beyond the frontage
Village premises often want the inside done at the same time, such as a shop floor, a pub bar area or a waiting room. That is covered by our commercial painting service. The method for frontages, from preparation to protecting the pavement, is on our main shopfront painting page, and our other services in the village are on the Bozeat page.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
