DH Painter & Decorator takes on commercial painting in Bugbrooke, a village about 5.1 miles west of Northampton. Dean works on small premises such as pubs, shops, the pharmacy and community buildings, planning each job around opening hours and the listed-building rules where they apply.
The premises in the village
Commercial property in Bugbrooke is small and spread along a few streets. OpenStreetMap shows a Londis and Philippa’s Farm Shop on High Street, The Village Takeaway on Great Lane, a pharmacy, post office and medical practice on Levitts Road, and a community cafe on Church Lane. There are three pubs: the Bakers Arms on High Street, the Five Bells opposite the church, and The Wharf on Pattishall Road by the Grand Union Canal. Add the Village Hall on High Street and the Community Centre on Camp Close, and most commercial jobs here are interiors, frontages and woodwork on buildings that serve the village every day.
Working around opening hours
In Bugbrooke the Londis, the farm shop and the Levitts Road pharmacy and post office are the village’s only places for daily errands, so closing any of them for a week is not realistic. We split the work into sections, keep a safe route from the pavement to the counter, and clear up before opening. Inside, low-odour water-based paints let a shop floor or the pharmacy waiting area go back into use soon after painting.
The three pubs each need a different plan. The Bakers Arms is listed, the Five Bells faces the church across Church Lane, and The Wharf sits by the canal on Pattishall Road. Bars are easier to do before opening and outside work is easier in the morning. At the Village Hall and the Camp Close Community Centre we fit around bookings so events can go ahead.
Before any start date, we agree with you which areas are done on which days, where materials and ladders are kept overnight, and how staff and customers will move around the work. On Church Lane and Great Lane there is little room to park or store anything outside, so a short written plan saves confusion on the day. If a delivery or a clinic session at the medical practice is coming up, tell us and the schedule moves around it.
The Bakers Arms and other listed frontages
The Bakers Arms is a Grade II listed, mid-18th century ironstone building with a 19th-century patterned tile roof, and it sits inside the conservation area that covers the historic core. Work on listed commercial premises needs the same care as on listed homes. The bare stone stays unpainted, the joinery is the main painted surface, and any change of colour or finish on the building may need listed building consent. Timber lintels and casements set into the stone need careful hand preparation and a microporous finish.
- Repainting like for like is the simplest route on a listed building.
- Any new colour scheme on the exterior should be checked with West Northamptonshire Council first.
- Signage and colour changes in the conservation area deserve the same check.
Dust from the main road and damp by the water
Heygate’s flour mill sits by the Nene, and its lorries use the main road through the village. Premises facing that road collect road dust and traffic grime on their windows, doors and painted surfaces, so every frontage job starts with washing down and degreasing before any sanding or priming. Painting over traffic film is one of the main reasons exterior paint fails early.
The Wharf faces a different problem. Being canal-side, with the Nene valley to the north, timber there stays damp for longer, which speeds up decay of joinery, gates and fences. We check for soft timber before painting and choose systems made for exposed, wet positions.
For smaller jobs on the shop windows, fascia boards and doors, our shopfront painting page goes into detail. The wider approach to offices, shops and other premises is on our commercial painting page, and the Bugbrooke area page covers the village as a whole.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
