We paint shopfronts and small commercial units in East Hunsbury, NN4, at the Butts Road and Mere Way centres south of Northampton town centre. The suburb has two neighbourhood retail centres rather than a high street, and Dean plans each job around the unit's opening hours.
Two parades, not a high street
East Hunsbury does not have a traditional high street. Its shops are grouped into two neighbourhood centres, each with a different rhythm, and that rhythm shapes when and how a shopfront can be painted. The shopfront painting page explains our general approach; this page is about how it applies to these two sites.
| Centre | Typical occupiers | What that means for painting |
|---|---|---|
| Butts Road, Blacky More | Small supermarket, fish and chip shop, florist, chemist, hair salon, estate agent and The Collingtree pub | Mix of daytime and evening trade, so quiet windows differ unit to unit |
| Merefield, by Mere Way | 24-hour supermarket, coffee shop, optician, petrol station, sandwich shop, estate agent, restaurant, card shop and hairdresser | Constant footfall and car traffic, no overnight closing on the anchor store |
Working at the Butts Road parade
The Butts Road shops sit in front of Blacky More Community Centre and serve the estates around them. The occupiers keep very different hours. A chemist or florist trades through the day and is quiet after closing, a fish and chip shop is busiest at teatime, and a hair salon books its days in advance. So there is rarely one time that suits the whole parade. For a single unit we agree a slot with the owner, which might be an early start before opening, a closed day, or the morning for a business that trades at night. Fascia boards, window frames, doors and stallrisers are prepared and painted in an order that keeps the entrance usable, with wet-paint signs wherever a customer might brush past.
The Merefield site and a store that never shuts
The Merefield retail site beside Mere Way is built around a 24-hour supermarket, with smaller units, a petrol station and a restaurant alongside. Footfall and vehicle movements carry on through the day and night, so ladder positions, cones and barriers have to allow for cars and trolleys as well as pedestrians. Smaller units on the site still have their own hours, and an optician or card shop can often be done after closing time. Where a landlord or managing agent is involved, we can work to their access rules and paperwork.
The pub frontage
A pub frontage like The Collingtree’s at the Butts Road parade typically has window frames, doors and a signboard that take a lot of weather, and later trading hours affect timing. Mornings before opening are usually the most practical slot. Pub and restaurant frontages often benefit from exterior work being split over several short visits rather than one long closure.
Planning a shopfront repaint here
Before quoting, Dean looks at what the frontage is made of. Units on modern parades like these often combine painted timber or steel fascias, aluminium or timber window frames, a door that sees heavy use and a stallriser that takes kicks and splash-back from the pavement. Each needs its own preparation and primer, and anything with existing signage or a shutter box has to be masked or worked around. If the lease or landlord specifies a colour or finish for the parade, bring that to the visit so the quote matches it.
Exterior paint needs dry weather and suitable temperatures, so we watch the forecast and keep a fallback date. The Merefield site’s car park makes unloading easier than on a town-centre street, and at Butts Road we check loading arrangements at the visit. For context on what drives the price, see our cost guide, and for the surrounding area, the East Hunsbury page.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
