Shop front revival boosts town

North Kesteven District Council has been working closely with commercial property and business owners to wind back the clock by repairing and reinstating historic features, using funding through the Council’s Sleaford Shopfront Grant Scheme.

More than £380,000 of UK Shared Prosperity Fund funding from the scheme has been allocated across 12 projects, with up to 90 per cent of the total cost of works awarded as a grant.

The scheme is winding up this month with the town centre seeing 15 different shopfronts in Eastgate, Westgate, Southgate, Northgate and Boston Road restored or having existing features repaired. The properties all fall within the town centre conservation area.

Property owners and businesses have come on board and funded the remaining costs of their respective projects and are working together with the Council and Heritage Lincolnshire in partnership through the scheme. In many cases, the funding has enabled them to go beyond what they had originally planned themselves.

In a tour of the town centre, the district’s Conservation Officer, Matt Bentley, and NKDC leader, Coun Richard Wright were proud of the impact the scheme has had.

Coun Wright said: “It has lifted the whole area. I have had comments from people saying they just like to come into Sleaford now, and as we get more events happening in the Market Place we will see a real uplift, as people are already asking about our Riverlight and Winterlight festivals returning.”

Matt Bentley said the regeneration ties in well with the millions spent on renovating the Market Place and the area around the Handley Monument and the Sleaford Museum, with members of the Sleaford University of the Third Age already volunteering to maintain the raised beds around the monument.

The funded projects range widely in scale, from just £1,500 in grant funding for two new stone bricks in the Ringrose Law building on Southgate, up to £75,000 on the Jennings betting shop (formerly Mark Jarvis).

Matt said: “The betting shop building has had substantial work done and that scheme as a whole was worth £200,000 in total. We have been working with the Sleaford Civic Trust as well to get acknowledgement for these buildings at the same time with their blue plaque scheme.”

He said the betting shop premises was completely re-rendered, with a traditional lime render, new window frames and stone sills. The shop front was repainted complete with hand painted signage.

The Bristol Arcade has come in for some attention. Bristol Arcade is owned by Lucinda Newton’s family, having originally been bought as the Bristol Hotel from Lord Bristol by her grandfather. The coat of arms on the Southgate entrance has been restored with funding through the scheme. Properties on the Market Place elevation have also been restored and redecorated.

The popular Appetites Sandwich Bar & Coffee Lounge, found next to Bristol Arcade, has had its white render carefully removed and the red brickwork underneath revealed once more. An arched feature within this brickwork has also been uncovered as part of this process. In addition, wooden windows have been replaced, and there’s been new leadwork above the shopfront. In total, the building has benefitted from £30,000 from the grant funding.

Appetites’ owner, Sarah Graves feels the transformation is “brilliant”. She said: “We had lots of paperwork to do but Matt has helped us and made it much easier.

“We have been trading for 38 years and just seeing the town uplifted has been worth it. We have new people coming into the town and noticing the independent shops. The town is looking really good and it is better for everybody.”

On the strength of it, a new beauty salon has opened next door in Bristol Arcade.

Sarah added that the historic building is featured in a museum in London as it has a medieval timber frame hidden within. The building had been where horses were kept for the old Bristol Arms hotel, as well as the maids’ quarters.

“The place is good for psychic nights, as we have a ghost, called Emily,” she said.

Neighbouring Moore and Scrupps Jewellers on Southgate has seen its red brick and white windows redecorated to create a more traditional shop façade complete with restored tile flooring in the doorway. More traditional signage was also installed, with repairs to the roof and first and second floor windows. Nextdoor at Salvatore Barbers, the Grade II listed building’s brickwork was re-pointed and upper floor windows replaced, plus repairs to the traditional shopfront.

A significant project has been the frontages of Gurkha 19 and The Italian Connection, in the Market Place. Both businesses have had new shopfront windows to open them up, letting in more light and visibility to attract customers and better connect them with the historic buildings on either side. Matt said that most heritage shopfront schemes would overlook these more modern buildings but the UKSPF money enabled this.

“We wanted to really enhance the businesses too,” he said.

The brickwork above has been painted and new hand-painted signage for both the businesses. A carved plaque has been added to help commemorate the old Corn Exchange building which previously stood on the site.

Next door at 17-18 Market Place, a new gate has been added to the old cart archway, while quite a bit of work has been done to 10 Market Place, including signwriting on the gable end commemorating its history as the old post house.

It is hoped that such renovations attract new businesses into any vacant units.