We take on commercial painting for businesses in Nether Heyford and Upper Heyford, 6 miles west of Northampton town centre. Work here is small-scale: the shops at The Green, the village pub, the factory units on the former brickworks site and businesses along the Grand Union Canal.
What commercial work looks like in a village of about 700 homes
Nether Heyford has no high street. The neighbourhood plan describes a small central retail area where four roads meet at The Green, says most local businesses employ fewer than ten people, and notes that 23% of households include someone working from home. Commercial painting here therefore means small premises with owners who are usually on site, and jobs that have to fit around opening hours, deliveries and a busy village centre. The general planning we do for business clients, such as phasing work and keeping areas open to customers, is set out on our commercial painting page.
The parade at The Green and the Foresters Arms
The shops at The Green include a general store with post office, a butcher and a hairdresser. Each has different limits. Food areas in a butcher’s need paint that stands up to frequent washing, and any work near food preparation has to be planned with the owner so surfaces are fully cured before food is handled there again. A hairdresser’s needs a finish that resists water splashes and product marks. A shop with a post office counter cannot easily close for a day, so we work in sections and keep the counter and a clear route to it open while each part is done.
The Foresters Arms is now the village’s remaining pub, after The Old Sun closed in November 2023. Pub interiors take heavy wear on bar fronts, door frames and corridor walls, and they are usually repainted in short closures. Outside, The Green sits within the Nether Heyford Conservation Area, and the neighbourhood plan says painted and rendered fronts around The Green do not fit the area’s character. Recoating an existing painted front like for like is the safer route; changing its colour, or painting stone that is currently bare, needs checking with West Northamptonshire Council first. Fascias and signage are covered in more detail on our shopfront painting page.
Factory units on the old brickworks site
The Furnace Lane area, between the railway and the canal, was the village’s industrial district in the 19th century, with two ironworks and later a brickworks. The brickworks closed in 1940 and factory units were built on the site in 1965. Units built in the mid-1960s may have painted blockwork, steel doors and small offices added over the years. Work there can mean repainting walls in work areas, refreshing an office or welfare room, and treating rust on steel doors and frames with a proper metal primer before recoating. We agree working times so the business can keep operating.
Canal-side premises, damp and access
The Grand Union Canal runs through Nether Heyford, with the High House Wharf boatyard and marinas nearby, and the canal corridor is its own conservation area. Buildings close to the water and the Nene floodplain sit in damp air for much of the year. Timber and steel there need more prep and more durable coatings than the same surfaces on higher ground, and drying times stretch in cold months, so we plan outside work for the drier part of the year.
Access around the village centre is the other practical point. Parking around the central shops and The Green is a known problem, and roads become congested at school times because Bliss School has no on-site parking. We schedule deliveries and van arrivals outside those periods so we do not block customers. Other services we offer in the village are on our Heyfords area page.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
