Decorating Upper Street

Upper Street has been the principal thoroughfare of Islington since the medieval period, forming the main road north through the village of Islington long before London's urban expansion engulfed the surrounding fields. The street's commercial character was well established by the eighteenth century and accelerated rapidly with the development of the surrounding residential estates in the 1820s to 1860s, which brought a large middle-class population to the area and sustained a dense and varied retail frontage. The twentieth century saw significant commercial redevelopment, particularly in the post-war period, but many stretches of the street retain their Victorian and Edwardian character and are subject to conservation area controls within the Islington planning framework.

Victorian commercial buildings on Upper Street in red brick or buff terracotta should not be painted; where cleaning is necessary to remove soiling or paint applied in previous decades, low-pressure water nebulisation or steam cleaning should be employed, avoiding high-pressure washing that damages soft brick faces and mortar joints. Surviving Georgian stock brick facades and converted terrace houses should be maintained with breathable lime or silicate mineral paint on any rendered or stucco elements, with brick surfaces left unpainted and repointed with appropriate lime mortars. Timber shopfronts of Victorian or Edwardian origin represent significant heritage elements and should be maintained with linseed oil or heritage alkyd systems in palette colours approved by Islington's conservation officers.