DH Painter & Decorator covers St James (NN5), about 0.6 miles west of Northampton town centre, for interior, exterior and specialist decorating. Dean has over 30 years in the trade, and the way a job is planned here depends on the district's Victorian terraces, floodplain streets, busy main roads and newer homes.
St James at a glance
St James End, known locally as Jimmy’s End, sits immediately west of Northampton town centre on the far side of the River Nene, in postcode district NN5. We cover it from our Northampton base, about 0.6 miles from the town centre. It takes its name from St James’ Abbey, an Augustinian house founded in 1104-05 by William Peverel, but the district you see today is mostly a product of the second half of the 19th century, when shoe manufacturing and engineering drew workers and housing west along the main road.
In the 1850s the settlement was little more than a strip along that road, with Stenson’s foundry and a tannery as its main employers. By 1899 there were three shoe factories, a tannery, saw mills and a cycle works. Church’s, founded by Thomas Church in 1873, still makes shoes on St James Road. The area was briefly its own urban district between 1896 and 1900 before joining the county borough of Northampton. All of that history still shows in the buildings, and it decides how painting and decorating jobs here need to be approached.
The housing, era by era
| Era | What you find | What it means for decorating |
|---|---|---|
| Mid-to-late Victorian | Brick terraces for shoe and engineering workers, some bay-fronted, on streets such as Wimbledon Street and Althorp Road | Uneven plaster, small rooms, steep straight stairs, bay woodwork and sills on the front |
| Post-war | Council flats on land cleared of terraces near Franklin’s Gardens | Communal areas and access to plan around |
| 1999-2000 | Houses on the former Express Lift Abbey Works site, around the National Lift Tower | Now about 25 years old, often due a first full repaint of fascias, soffits and stained timber |
| Modern infill | Townhouses and flats around Bruce Street, Ross Road, Countess Road and The Approach | Plasterboard interiors, shared rear parking courts with fences and gates |
| Planned | 70-91 homes on the former St James tram and bus depot | Fresh plaster that will need mist coats before decoration |
The very earliest local cottages were different again. Excavation of houses on the St James’ Road frontage, shown on the 1885 Ordnance Survey map and replaced by a factory by the 1950s, found ironstone and limestone walls with some brick. Those particular houses are gone, but if older solid stone or lime-mortared walling turns up on a job, it needs breathable mineral or lime-compatible coatings rather than plastic masonry paint, which traps moisture and blows off.
Inside a St James terrace
The Victorian terraces were built for working households, so the rooms are compact: a small front room, a narrow hallway often barely wider than a person, and a steep, straight staircase to a modest landing. That shapes almost every interior job. Furniture stays wrapped in the middle of the room because there is nowhere else for it to go. Dust sheeting runs the length of the hall, which is the only way through the house. Stairwells need a stair platform sized to a narrow flight. Our interior painting and hallway, stairs and landing pages explain how we approach that work in general.
Walls in these houses rarely run true. Generations of patching and rewiring leave ridges and cracks, and chimney breasts lean. For paint, that means more filling and sanding than in a newer house; for wallpaper, it usually means lining paper first and careful setting out from a plumb line. Deep moulded skirtings and panelled doors often carry many layers of old gloss, which need keying and sometimes stripping back where runs and chips have built up.
The river, the floodplain and damp walls
Low-lying parts of St James Road, Harlestone Road and Weedon Road lie in the River Nene floodplain. Residents were evacuated during the Good Friday flood of 10 April 1998, and the banks have since been raised. Some ground floors on these streets still show what water and salts do to plaster: efflorescence, tidemarks and paint that flakes from the lower part of the wall.
Before decorating those rooms, Dean takes moisture readings. A wall that is still damp needs a damp specialist or plasterer before a decorator. One that has dried out is brushed down, treated and finished in a breathable paint so any remaining moisture can escape. Vinyl wallpapers and impermeable coatings should stay off those walls.
Main roads, traffic grime and exterior work
Weedon Road, St James Road and Spencer Bridge Road carry heavy traffic towards M1 junction 16, and an Air Quality Management Area covers Weedon Road and St James’ Road because nitrogen dioxide exceeds the annual objective. In practice, front elevations, sills, doors and railings facing those roads get dirty much faster than those on side streets. Exterior repaints on main-road frontages start with washing down and degreasing, and we often suggest dirt-resistant masonry finishes and mid-tone colours that don’t show grime in a season. The exterior painting page covers the wider process.
Front railings and gates on the terraced streets take road salt and spray from passing traffic, so rust is common. They need wire-brushing back to sound metal and a zinc-rich primer before topcoats. On bay-fronted terraces, the timber bays and their lead details need careful preparation, since water tends to sit on bay sills.
Access is the other constraint. Kerbside space on the Victorian streets is shared with residents’ cars, and a fixture at either stadium changes the picture again, so ladder work and van access on Weedon Road frontages are booked against both clubs’ fixture lists.
Conservation, listed buildings and colour choice
No conservation area covers St James. The nearby Boot and Shoe Quarter conservation area lies north and east of the town centre, and the heritage Article 4 directions in Northampton cover places such as Abington Park, Barrack Road, Billing Road and Derngate. That gives owners here more freedom over exterior colours than in those areas. The listed buildings are the exception: the Church of St James (Grade II, 1868-71, red brick with ironstone and black-brick polychrome), the National Lift Tower (Grade II) and the 1930s transport office at the former tram depot all need consent for alterations.
A borough-wide HMO Article 4 direction has applied since November 2020, so converting a house to a small HMO in St James needs planning permission. It doesn’t control external decoration.
Lettings, businesses and new homes
St James is promoted to tenants for being under a mile from the town centre and close to Northampton station, and several agents advertise terraces, townhouses and flats here. Rental decorating is about fast turnarounds between tenancies, durable wipeable finishes and consistent neutral colours that touch up cleanly; see landlord and letting agent decorating.
The district also still works for a living. St James Industrial Estate on St James Mill Road and St James Mill Business Park on Millbrook Close have steel portal-frame units with profile cladding over half-height brick, which need industrial-grade coatings and work scheduled around operations. Shops along St James Road, Weedon Road and Harlestone Road face constant traffic grime, so shopfront work needs wipeable finishes and timing that avoids disrupting trade. Looking ahead, the homes planned on the former tram depot, bought by West Northamptonshire Council in 2023, will bring a new batch of fresh plaster needing mist coats.
For an idea of what decorating work typically costs, see our painter and decorator cost guide. To arrange a free quote in St James, call Dean on 07539 779 036.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
