Tiling, bathrooms and kitchens in Northampton

Northampton grew on the boot and shoe trade, and you can still see it in the long Victorian terraces of Abington, Semilong, St James and Far Cotton. Many of these houses were built with tiled front paths and hallways, and plenty have solid floors and walls that have moved a little over a century or more — which makes careful preparation as important as the tiles themselves.

Then there is the New Town. From the late 1960s, the Northampton Development Corporation built whole districts to the east and south of the town — Lings, Thorplands, Ecton Brook, the Hunsburys and more — and many of those homes are now on their second or third bathroom. More recent growth at Upton, Grange Park and St Crispin has added newer homes whose builder-standard tiling is often the first thing owners want to replace.

It's a town with a real eye for pattern, too: at 78 Derngate, Charles Rennie Mackintosh remodelled a Georgian terrace for W. J. Bassett-Lowke in 1916–17, with famously bold geometric interiors. Whether you want a statement floor of your own or a simple, perfectly aligned bathroom, the work starts in the same place — a proper layout.