The wall of the former Barratts shoe factory in Northampton has been restored to its former glory five years after it was controversially whitewashed.

The listed building in Kingsthorpe Road, now known as Barratt House. has since the 1960s had a painted sign on its northern wall directing the public to ‘walk round’ the ‘factory shoe shop’.

In 2010, it was whitewashed then repainted with the reference to the shoe shop omitted in response to complaints from businesses in Barratt House, who were irritated by the number of people asking to see the shoe shop

The building houses offices and is now owned by McManus Taverns, who also own the nearby Barratts Club, and they have now been instructed by Northampton Borough Council to repaint the wall, albeit not in exactly the same way as it looked previously.