Timber shop fronts
We restore period timber shop fronts: the fascia, console brackets, pilasters, stallrisers, glazed doors and the large-pane glazing between them.
Repair where the timber is sound, replacement of individual elements where it isn't, and new shop fronts to match a conservation area's grain where a modern front has to come out. New fronts are made by Barnsbury Joinery.
London · Shop frontsWritten quotationsA studio of The Barnsbury Group, established 1980
What we do
- Survey and condition report (useful for landlord and tenant negotiations)
- Timber repair and splicing
- Replacement of individual elements
- Reglazing including toughened and laminated glass to current standards
- Period ironmongery
- Hand-painted finishes
- Drawings for planning applications, quoted separately
Consent
Altering or replacing a shop front generally needs planning permission. Repair and like-for-like maintenance usually do not, provided the materials and colours stay the same and the work is limited in extent. One thing that catches people out: in a conservation area, repainting a shop front can itself need permission. A listed building needs listed building consent for anything beyond repair. We advise at the survey and work with your architect where there is one. Where an application needs drawings, we can prepare them. That is separate work and we quote for it.
Common questions
Do you work with landlords and managing agents?01
Yes. We survey shop fronts and write condition reports, which are useful in landlord and tenant negotiations, and we can plan repairs as a phased programme across several properties.
Can you work around trading hours?02
We agree the sequence and timing of the work with you before it starts, so the shop can keep trading wherever possible. Any arrangement on working hours is set out in the quotation.
Who makes a new shop front?03
Barnsbury Joinery, our group's manufacturing studio, makes new shop fronts to order, bespoke to the building and to drawings. Altering or replacing a shop front generally needs planning permission, and in a conservation area repainting one can itself need permission. We work with your architect where there is one. Where an application needs drawings, we can prepare them. That is separate work and we quote for it.
Book a survey
Send us photographs of your windows and we'll tell you what needs doing and what doesn't, with a written quotation. The digital survey is free.