We paint shopfronts in Roade, NN7, about 5.4 miles south of Northampton. The village has no town-style shopping street, just a few frontages on the High Street, South View and The Ridings, so work is planned around opening hours and, in the conservation core, the stone buildings around them.
A village with a handful of frontages
Roade’s commercial life is village-scale. Along the High Street you will find the post office and newsagent, The Roade House Cafe, and The Cock Inn where Hartwell Road joins. South View has the pharmacy, and The Ridings has a small convenience shop and a takeaway. Beyond those come day nurseries, an estate agent, the medical practice on London Road and the Stratford Road garage. There is no parade of dozens of units, so each of these frontages is easy to spot from the street, and a faded fascia or flaking window frame shows.
That small number has a practical side too. For many people in the village these are the only local places to buy a paper, collect a prescription or post a parcel, so closing for a day is a bigger deal here than it would be in a town centre.
Keeping the doors open while we paint
We agree working hours with you before anything starts. Sanding, washing and priming can usually be done early in the day or on quieter days, with the entrance painted first or last so customers can always get in. Wet paint signs go up wherever a hand or bag could touch the new coat, and doors are left in a state that can be locked at close of business. For a cafe or pub with outside seating, we work around the busier service times you tell us about. At the pharmacy and post office, where deliveries and collections arrive at set times, we ask about those before fixing a start date.
Any frontage close to the A508 collects traffic dirt and need washing and degreasing before any paint goes on. Parking for a van and space for a ladder are sorted out with you in advance.
Shopfronts in the conservation core
The High Street is part of Roade Conservation Area, an area of about 7.2 hectares of mainly limestone buildings. A shopfront there sits next to coursed stone, and a frontage that is quiet in colour usually looks more at home than a bright corporate shade. Stone walls around a shopfront should be masked and kept clean rather than painted. The post office, newsagent and The Roade House Cafe share the street with listed limestone cottages such as 28 High Street, so a frontage colour is judged against those neighbours as well as the shop itself. If the building itself is listed, any change to its character, including some colour changes, may require listed building consent; repainting like for like avoids that question. The Cock Inn sits on the corner where the High Street meets Hartwell Road, so a frontage like that is seen from two directions and has two elevations to plan, along with where customers and deliveries come in. Signwriting and new illuminated signs can also need advertisement consent; we can paint around existing lettering or leave it for a signwriter.
Barn units and other premises
Out towards the parish boundary, West Lodge Farm and Blisworth Hill Barns have former farm buildings converted into business units. Where those units have painted timber doors, windows or cladding, they need the same kind of care as a shopfront. Inside work for offices, nurseries and village premises comes under our commercial painting service.
For the step-by-step on fascia boards, stallrisers, frames and doors, see our main shopfront painting page. Our Roade area page covers the village’s houses and the other work we do there.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
