DH Painter & Decorator paints shopfronts in Hackleton, the village 4.7 miles south-east of Northampton on the B526. There are two shop frontages on Main Road, the stores and post office and the butcher's, and Dean plans the work so the shop stays open and any listed joinery is repainted to match.
A small parade of two
Hackleton’s commercial frontage is short: Hackleton Stores, with the post office and grocery, and the butcher’s, both on Main Road. The parish Neighbourhood Plan warns that the village risks becoming purely residential and supports keeping its local businesses. A tidy, well-kept frontage is part of that. It is also a practical job, since a shop on the B526 takes traffic spray, sun on its glazing and constant use of its door.
This page is for those two premises and anyone who takes them on in future. For other commercial buildings in the village, such as the White Hart, the village hall or the school, our commercial painting service is the better place to start.
The butcher’s bay window at No. 84
The butcher’s shop is attached to Number 84 Main Road, which carries a date stone of 1754 and is Grade II listed together with the shop. The shop is single-storey under a plain-tile roof, built of limestone, and faces the road with a large hipped bay window. That window is the shopfront, and it is timber joinery. Painting it properly means:
- checking sills, the bay’s bottom rail and the glazing bars for soft timber before anything is primed
- hand-sanding rather than heavy power-sanding, and treating old paint layers as possibly containing lead
- cutting cleanly to the glass and keeping paint off the limestone around the frame
- paying attention to the lead or roof junction above the bay, where water gets in
Because the building is listed, repainting in the existing colour and finish is maintenance. A change of colour, new signage on the building, or altering the window could need listed building consent from West Northamptonshire Council. Unless consent to change it is in place, the existing scheme is reproduced, and we can talk through traditional paint ranges that suit pale limestone if a change is planned.
Keeping the shop trading
A village shop cannot shut for a day for decorators. We work in sections, starting with the parts that do not affect the door, and use fast-drying primers where they suit the timber. The entrance is done at a quieter time of the working day agreed with you, so customers can still get in. Wet paint is signed and screened. Window displays can stay in place if we have space to work, or we agree a time with you for moving them.
Working from the pavement on the B526
Both shops front the main road through the village, which the Neighbourhood Plan flags for speeding traffic and on-street parking. Ladders and a small tower stand on the footway, so we keep the footprint tight, keep a clear path for pedestrians and anyone with a pushchair or wheelchair, and use barriers whenever someone is working above the pavement. Deliveries to the shop, and customers parking outside for a few minutes, are part of the day, so the van parks out of the way and kit is never left out. Weather matters as well: exterior joinery needs dry days, so we book shopfront work for the drier months. At Hackleton Stores, which is not one of the listed buildings, we test what is already on the frontage before choosing a primer, so the new coat bonds to the old.
The full process is set out on our shopfront painting page. For the village’s listed buildings and the rest of its housing, there is our guide to Hackleton.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
