We repaint shopfronts in Wellingborough, about 9.7 miles north-east of Northampton, from Market Street and Swansgate to the smaller units on Cambridge Street and Midland Road. Much of the town centre is a conservation area, where businesses need planning permission for external changes, so colours are confirmed with the council before we start.
The few period fronts left
The 2009 appraisal of the Wellingborough Town Centre Conservation Area is blunt: few good period shopfronts survive. Much of the centre was redeveloped in the 1970s, including the Arndale Centre that is now Swansgate, and many traditional frontages went with it. What remains is worth looking after. Cast-iron columns still stand on several High Street buildings, and Mackenzie Ward on Sheep Street keeps many period features.
On a surviving traditional front, repainting is about keeping what is there legible: the cornice, the fascia, the pilasters and the stallriser each read as separate parts, and a careful choice of tones keeps that structure clear. Cast-iron columns are cleaned back and primed for metal rather than painted straight over. Our shopfront painting page covers the general sequence from fascia to stallriser.
Working with the Shop Fronts and Advertisements Design Guide
Alongside the appraisal, the council prepared a Shop Fronts and Advertisements Design Guide as a supplementary planning document. In the conservation area, commercial premises need planning permission for external changes, and that includes a change of colour. So before quoting a new scheme for a front on Market Street, Sheep Street or Cambridge Street, we suggest:
- Checking the design guide and speaking to North Northamptonshire Council’s planning department about the colour you have in mind.
- Keeping the existing colour if you simply want the front refreshed, which avoids the question altogether.
- Choosing colours that sit well against the ironstone and red brick of the surrounding streets.
If your landlord owns the building, it is also worth confirming with them who is responsible for the frontage before booking.
Each retail street has its own job
| Street | What the frontage tends to be | What it usually needs |
|---|---|---|
| High Street, Sheep Street, Silver Street | Older buildings, some with period features and cast iron | Sympathetic repainting, metal prep on columns, planning checks |
| Market Street and Market Square | The retail core | Fascia and window frame repaints planned around footfall |
| Cambridge Street and Midland Road | Small units on secondary retail streets | Joinery and fascia repaints; Midland Road fronts often have steel shutters and oversized signs |
| Oxford Street, London Road, Northampton Road | Intermittent shops among houses | Single-front jobs, often combined with flats above |
The appraisal criticises oversized signage and steel security shutters on Midland Road. Units inside Swansgate may come with their own landlord rules on frontages and working hours, so it is worth checking those before booking. A repaint is a sensible moment to tidy the paintwork around a shutter box and fascia, even if the sign itself stays.
Painting around trading on narrow pavements
Town-centre buildings in Wellingborough mostly stand right on the back edge of the pavement, and the appraisal warns that reaching upper floors and the backs of buildings is not always easy. That shapes how we work. We agree times that suit your trading, do the doorway first or last so customers can always get in, sheet the pavement, and keep ladders and kit tight to the frontage. The High Street is almost treeless, so fronts dry quickly in sun but take the full force of rain, and we watch the forecast closely.
Upper floors are often where neglect shows, with the appraisal naming unmaintained paintwork and blocked gutters as detractors. If the windows above your shop need doing too, we can quote for both at once. Our wider commercial painting service covers interiors, and our Wellingborough area page covers the town as a whole.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
