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Shop front signs made to order in London: folded aluminium composite tray fascias, flat-cut and built-up letters, illuminated or not, and projecting blade signs. Work starts with a survey — the real fascia size, the wall, the power and the access — and ends with a firm price and a firm date confirmed at the quote. Fitting is arranged with the job. Aluminium composite is rated 5–10 years outdoors and does not warp on a sunlit frontage.
Every shopfront is quoted after a survey. Send the address and a photo of the frontage to start.
A shop sign is the one piece of print that works every hour the business is closed. It is also the only one bolted to somebody’s building, over a public pavement, usually with mains power behind it — which is why it is made to order and why it starts with a survey rather than a size typed into a form.
The survey settles the things that decide the price and the date: the true fascia dimensions (rarely the ones on the drawing), what the wall is actually made of and what it will hold, whether there is power where the sign needs it, and how the frontage is reached on fitting day. Half an hour on site is the difference between a firm quote and a hopeful one — and shop fitting runs to a schedule, so a sign that misses opening day costs far more than the sign.
Who orders: independent retail and hospitality — a new café, salon or shop taking over a unit; multi-site operators refitting frontages to one brand standard; offices and clinics needing an entrance fascia and a plaque that match; and landlords and shopfitters re-signing a unit between tenants.
| Build | What it is | Lighting | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACM tray fascia | Aluminium composite grooved and folded into a shallow box with returns | None, or trough lighting above | The standard modern shopfront — hides fixings and cabling, 5–10 years outdoors |
| Flat-cut letters | Letters routed from acrylic or composite and mounted to the fascia or wall | None, or lit by a trough above | Clean lettering on an existing fascia, offices and clinics, conservation-friendly frontages |
| Built-up letters, face lit | Fabricated letters with translucent faces and LED modules inside | The letter face glows | Retail that has to be read from across the road after dark |
| Built-up letters, halo lit | Fabricated letters with solid faces, mounted off the wall | Light thrown back onto the fascia | Restrained, premium frontages — the letter floats in a ring of glow |
| Projecting blade sign | Double-sided panel on a bracket, at right angles to the frontage | Optional | Catching pedestrians coming down the street, not just those already outside |
The workhorse is aluminium composite: grooved and folded into a tray so the fascia has returns and no raw edge, hiding fixings and cabling behind a clean face. It is the same board we cut for flat signage — rated 5–10 years outdoors, dimensionally stable, and it does not bow on a south-facing parade in July. Flat-cut letters are routed from acrylic or composite; built-up letters are fabricated with returns deep enough to carry LED modules inside.
Illumination comes in three honest flavours. Face-lit built-up letters glow at the street. Halo-lit letters keep a solid face and throw light backwards onto the fascia. Trough lighting washes a flat or tray fascia from above and is often the only option a conservation officer will accept. LED modules are specified with weather-sealed ratings from their manufacturer, and anything mains-powered is connected by a qualified electrician — that part is not a print job and we do not pretend otherwise.
On consent, the honest position: in most London boroughs an illuminated sign, a projecting sign over the pavement or a change of fascia size needs Advertisement Consent, and conservation areas and listed buildings are stricter again. We supply the scale elevation drawing and specification your application needs; submitting it is yours or your agent’s job, and we build to whatever is consented. Anyone who offers to make the consent problem disappear is selling you a risk, not a service.
The sequence is fixed and each step has a purpose. Survey — measurements, wall construction, power, access. Drawing — a scale elevation showing the sign on your building, which is both your approval document and the drawing your consent application needs. Fabrication — trays folded, letters cut or built up, faces printed or finished to your colour reference. Fitting — arranged and scheduled with the quote, because a fascia is not a self-fit product and the pavement, the access and the electrician all have to be in the same place on the same morning.
You get one date at the quote and we hold it. A plain tray or a set of flat-cut letters is quick; built-up illuminated work takes longer because it is fabricated and wired. We would rather name the honest date at the start than a hopeful one that collides with your opening.
Two practical notes worth having before you brief anyone. A projecting sign needs real clearance above the pavement — boroughs typically look for around 2.4 m and set rules about how far it may reach towards the kerb; the survey checks it. And a changing frontage is cheaper when the tray stays: a new tenant in the same unit often needs only a new face or new letters, not the whole build.
| Requirement | What we need | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Vector logo | AI, EPS or PDF with paths — not a JPEG from a website | Letters are cut from a vector path at full size; a raster logo has to be redrawn before anything can be routed. |
| Letter strokes | Minimum around 15 mm stroke on illuminated letters | An LED module needs a cavity to sit in. Thinner strokes stay dark, whatever the drawing promised. |
| Colour references | Pantone or RAL, not a screenshot | Painted, powder-coated and printed elements are matched to physical references — screens disagree with each other and with paint. |
| Fascia photo | A straight-on photo of the frontage with the shutter up | It starts the quote before the survey and catches obvious problems early — box shutters, cables, listed detailing. |
| Existing drawings | Any elevation or shopfitter drawing you already hold | Saves survey time and tells us what the landlord or the scheme has already approved. |
Because the building decides the sign. The survey establishes the true fascia size rather than the size on the drawing, what the wall is made of and what it will hold, where power reaches if the sign is illuminated, and how the pavement is accessed on fitting day. Half an hour on site is what turns a guess into a firm price and a firm date.
This is made-to-order work and the date comes from the survey, not from a web page. A plain tray fascia or a set of flat-cut letters is quick; built-up illuminated letters take longer because they are fabricated and wired. You get one date at the quote and we hold it - shop fitting runs to a schedule and a sign that misses opening day costs more than the sign.
Often. In most London boroughs an illuminated sign, a projecting sign over the pavement, or a change of fascia size needs Advertisement Consent, and conservation areas and listed buildings are stricter again - internally lit boxes are frequently refused where painted timber and flat-cut letters are accepted. We supply the scale elevation drawing and specification your application needs; the application itself is yours or your agent's, and we build to whatever is consented.
A single aluminium composite sheet grooved and folded into a shallow box, so the sign has returns on all four sides and no visible edge. The tray hides the wall fixings, the cabling and any unevenness in the brickwork behind a clean face, which is why it is the standard build for a modern shopfront.
Face-lit letters have a translucent front: the light comes towards you and the letter itself glows, which is bright and reads from across the road. Halo-lit letters have a solid metal face and throw their light backwards onto the fascia, so the letter stays dark and floats in a ring of glow. Face-lit for visibility, halo-lit for restraint.
Fitting is arranged and scheduled with the quote - a fascia is not a self-fit product, and anything mains-powered is connected by a qualified electrician. Access, timing and whether the pavement needs managing are settled at the survey, so nobody discovers on the day that the sign needs a tower and the street has none.
Address, a straight-on photo, the trading name and your opening date — enough to start. We arrange the survey, then come back with a scale drawing, a firm price and a firm date.
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