DH Painter & Decorator repaints shopfronts for businesses in St James, NN5, about 0.6 miles west of Northampton town centre. With over 30 years in the trade, Dean fits each job around opening hours, main-road traffic and match-day crowds on Weedon Road.
Trading on an arterial road
The shops in St James are strung along the main routes rather than gathered in a single high street: St James Road, Weedon Road, and Harlestone Road where it meets Spencer Bridge Road. All three carry heavy traffic out to M1 junction 16. That brings passing trade, but it also means a shopfront here is exposed to a steady stream of exhaust and road spray, and Weedon Road and St James’ Road both sit inside an Air Quality Management Area because of it.
On a shopfront, that dirt lands on the parts customers see first: the fascia sign board, the window sills and, worst of all, the stallriser at the bottom, which also takes kicks, bike pedals and splashes from the gutter. Paint that looked crisp in spring can look grubby by autumn.
Finishes chosen for main-road dirt
Since the grime is constant, the aim is a frontage you can wash rather than one you have to repaint. That shapes the specification:
- Stallrisers get a hard-wearing, scrubbable coating, often in a darker colour that hides splash marks between cleans.
- Fascia boards and cornices get a durable exterior gloss or satin that sheds dirt and keeps signwriting or a fitted sign looking sharp.
- Window frames and glazing bars are cleaned and degreased first, because traffic film stops new paint bonding, then finished in a hard-drying exterior paint.
- Doors and handles get a finish that stands up to constant hands.
As no conservation area covers St James, you are not limited to a heritage palette, so brand colours are usually fine. If your premises happen to be listed, consent comes first.
Planning around opening hours, deliveries and match days
Most businesses here cannot shut for a repaint, so we agree a working pattern before starting. The dirtiest preparation, such as washing down and scraping, can go at quieter times of the week; the entrance is done first or last so customers can always get in, and wet paint signs go up wherever someone might brush against it.
Two local factors come into the timetable. Kerbside parking on these roads is limited and needed by your customers and deliveries, so we work out where our van goes and how access equipment fits on the pavement without blocking the door. On Weedon Road, home and away crowds heading to Franklin’s Gardens or Sixfields Stadium change footfall and parking on match days. For a café or takeaway that can be your busiest day, so we keep outside work off fixture dates unless you want it then.
Shopfronts and the wider premises
Where a St James shop has a flat or office above, the upper woodwork and sills may need doing too. We can price the shopfront alone or with the rest of the elevation. Larger commercial buildings, such as units on St James Mill Road and Millbrook Close, fall under our commercial painting work. Where the flat above is let, it helps to line the shopfront repaint up with any work the landlord has planned upstairs, so access equipment only goes up once.
The full process, from fascia board to stallriser, is on our main shopfront painting page. Temperature and rain limits for outdoor coatings are covered in our exterior painting seasons guide, and the St James area page covers the district’s homes and premises more broadly.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
