Brown's Newsagents is a pleasant compact traditional double bay frontage with an attractive chequer-board tiled doorstep. However the rendering above the shop was very shabby looking and the window and door frames were in a rather uninspiring varnish. When the shop was shut there was a large area of bare metal security shutters. The plastic sign was very bland and the awning just advertised a newspaper but did not enhance the building.

Dulux Heritage Edwardian colours were used throughout. The masonry paint is "Deep Cream". Woodwork and shutters are in "Azure" and details are in "Golden Yellow". The handpainted sign uses a warm cream colour background and "Brown's" obviously had to be in brown! This is shadowed with a vibrant blue to echo the stripes of the awning. The script writing is in a darker blue to provide contrast.

The shop-owner got off to a good start with the improvements by paying for the upper floor to be painted (grants just cover up to and including the fascia) and getting a new canopy. Unfortunately pleas to sort out the shop windows to put an attractive display there has fallen on deaf ears! Currently one is perpetually full of toilet rolls, (with a few kitchen rolls to provide variety) and the other is a monument to every colour of Day-Glo card with scrawled marker pen special offers. This does detract from an attractive scheme.

Painter/decorator E. K. Tomkins

Signwriter Colin Dundas