DH Painter & Decorator takes on commercial painting in East Hunsbury, NN4, whose shops and community buildings lie roughly 1.9 miles south of Northampton's centre. Dean paints shop interiors, frontages, a pub, salons and community buildings, and quotes free after a site visit.
Two local centres rather than a high street
East Hunsbury has no high street, and the sources we checked show no business park within the parish. Commercial premises are concentrated in two neighbourhood centres and a handful of community buildings:
- Butts Road, Blacky More: a short parade mixing everyday convenience retail, a chippy, a chemist and a salon, with the local pub on the same site and the community centre just behind.
- Merefield, off Mere Way: a larger site anchored by a round-the-clock supermarket and fuel station, with food and drink outlets, an optician, a hairdresser and other small service units around it.
- Community buildings: Hunsbury Library, Blacky More Community Centre and the primary schools.
These are small units that serve the surrounding estates every day, so the brief is usually a refresh that keeps the business trading rather than a large refit.
Painting while the shop stays open
A unit in a parade cannot close for a week. For most commercial jobs here we agree a sequence with the manager that keeps the entrance and tills usable: back rooms and stock areas first, then the shop floor in sections with the area cordoned off, and the customer entrance done as one quick stage. Low-odour, water-based paints are used inside wherever they suit, which matters in a chemist, sandwich shop or coffee shop where customers are close by and food is on display.
The Merefield site raises a different point. With a supermarket that trades around the clock and a petrol station next to it, there is never a time when the car park is empty. Exterior work there means coordinating with the site or landlord, fencing off the work area, and working around delivery and customer traffic. We do not offer overnight working, so this is planned as daytime work in managed sections.
Food, hair and hospitality premises
Several of the local units have specific needs:
- Takeaways and restaurants need walls degreased before painting and a washable, hard-wearing finish that stands up to regular cleaning.
- Hair salons deal with moisture and product splashes near basins, so a mould-resistant, wipeable finish is a sensible choice.
- The pub combines bar areas, toilets and exterior woodwork, and the work is easier to plan in quieter trading periods.
- Estate agents and opticians rely on a clean, bright interior that passers-by see through the window, so a neutral scheme with crisp woodwork and no visible patching makes the most difference.
Outside, frontages, fascia boards and entrance doors are covered on our shopfront painting page.
Libraries, community centres and schools
Community buildings run to timetables rather than shop hours. A community centre has room bookings, the library has opening hours, and schools are usually decorated in the holidays. East Hunsbury Primary School and Simon de Senlis Primary School, which was rebuilt in 2006 to 2008 under a PFI scheme, may have facilities management arrangements that set who can work on site and when. We work to whoever manages the building and plan around the dates they give us.
A bookable hall such as Blacky More Community Centre takes a lot of knocks from stacked chairs and tables. A durable eggshell on the lower walls, or a two-tone scheme with a harder-wearing finish below dado height, keeps the room looking cared for between redecorations. Floors are covered and fire exits kept clear throughout.
Across all of these sites, the trade approach is the same as on our main commercial painting page: careful preparation, protection of stock and fittings, and hard-wearing finishes. Dean is fully insured for commercial work, and you can find more about the suburb on our East Hunsbury page.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
