BD Signs — Your brand, built for business BD Signs — Your brand, built for business
Sign makers serving Derby

Signage in Derby,
thirty minutes from our factory.

Derby is our nearest city and one of our busiest. Sixteen miles down the A52 means a survey this week, a fitting team that is not charging you for a hotel, and somebody who can come back out if a lamp fails in eighteen months.

Sixteen miles down the A52 — our fitters are in Derby and back inside a working day.

Book your free survey 0115 979 4330
  • Free survey
  • Made in our own factory
  • Fitted by our own teams
George's Tradition built-up window lettering, installed by BD Signs
Fillets illuminated shopfront fascia lit at night The Hoxton Kitchen circular projecting light box

16 miles

From our factory to Derby

4,500+

Shops on our books

25 years

As BD Signs

3,500 sq ft

Showroom you can walk round

Derby streets

One city, several different signs.

Derby trades in two halves and they want different signs. The Cathedral Quarter and Sadler Gate are independent, tight-fronted and heavily conservation-controlled — that is hand-painted, hand-made, sympathetic work. The Derbion end and the suburban parades through Allestree, Mickleover and Chaddesden are competing for people in cars, which is an illumination and legibility problem. Sending the same sign to both is how money gets wasted.

We survey the site ourselves rather than asking you to measure the fascia. We draw it, make it in our own factory, and our own fitters put it up — no subcontractor who has never seen the artwork turning up with a ladder. One price covers the design, the manufacture, the installation and the electrics, and you get the date at the point of order.

We work across Derby and the rest of Derbyshire. If your site is somewhere else, ask — we manufacture in Nottingham and install UK-wide.

Why businesses here use us

How we help Derby businesses

Two things matter when you buy a sign. That it gets you noticed, and that it still looks like that in ten years. Most of what separates a good sign from a cheap one is in the parts you never see — the gauge of the metal, the weld, the fixings and the lamps. Here is how that plays out on a Derby frontage.

Legible at thirty miles an hour

Allestree, Mickleover and Chaddesden are read through a windscreen, not from the pavement. That means fewer words, deeper letters and hard contrast against the building behind. Get it right and you are read from a hundred yards; get it wrong and people find you on their phone instead.

Fabricated, not flat-pack

A bought-in tray arrives as folded panels, and the corners are where that kind of sign gives up first. We cut, fold and weld ours in our own factory, then powder-coat them to your RAL, so the tray is one rigid piece rather than a kit held together at the joints.

Colour that does not go pink

Reds and oranges are the first to fade, and a faded fascia makes a good business look tired. We use UV-stable acrylic, laminate the printed work and powder-coat rather than wet-spray, so the colour you sign off is the colour on the wall in five years.

Sixteen miles if it ever needs us

Quality is also what happens afterwards. We made it, so we can fix it — a driver, a panel, a knock from a delivery lorry. Being half an hour down the A52 means that is a phone call and a visit, not a claim form and a fortnight.

Exterior signage

Shop front signs that work outside

Exterior signage takes the weather, the light and the traffic. Everything here is built for permanent outdoor use, weather-sealed and LED-lit, and fixed by our own installation teams — illuminated fascias, built-up letters, light box trays, projecting signs and roadside totems.

Interior signage

Interior signs that keep them in

The sign gets them through the door. What happens next decides what they spend. Interior signage, wall graphics and counter branding, specified as one scheme so the finishes match the frontage rather than nearly matching it.

Past the frontage

A customer decides three times.

On the pavement, at the door, and at the counter. Most suppliers only help you with the first one. We design the whole journey, and the signage is where it starts.

  1. 1

    On the pavement

    The fascia, the projecting sign and the window. Two seconds to say who you are and what you sell.

    Built-up letters
  2. 2

    At the door

    Entrance graphics, opening hours, the handrail. Small things that decide whether somebody actually comes in.

    Interior signage
  3. 3

    Inside the room

    Wall graphics and counter branding that hold the scheme together once they are through the door.

    Counter branding
  4. 4

    At the counter

    The menu decides what they spend. Lit boards or digital screens, built around margin rather than price order.

    Menu systems
How a Derby sign gets made

Survey, design, manufacture, fit.

Four stages, one company, one price. Nobody is sub-contracted in the middle of it, which is why we can give you a date and keep it — including in Derby.

  1. 1

    Survey

    We come to you in Derby. Measure the fascia, check the fixings and the power, photograph the site, and look at the street it trades on. It costs you nothing.

  2. 2

    Design

    Our designers draw it and visualise it on your building, so you see the sign on your frontage before it is made. We keep designing until you are happy.

  3. 3

    Manufacture

    Made in our own factory — routing, welding, spraying and LED build. The quality is ours to get right rather than a supplier's.

  4. 4

    Installation

    Our own fitters install it, connect it and clear up. Access equipment included, electrics tested and signed off.

Got a frontage in Derby?

Send us a photo of it and the name above the door. We will tell you what the building will take and what it costs.

Book your free survey 0115 979 4330

Brands we make signs for

Heavenly Desserts FSW Churchill's Fish & Chips Deep Blue Fish & Chips The Chesterford Group fishnchickn Bankers Fish & Chips The Bay Fish & Chips George's Tradition Chesters Fish Bits Lesley Greaves Yiayia G's Greek Grill

Signage for Pret A Manger, Wendy's, Heavenly Desserts, Sushi Mania, FSW and Harry Ramsden's — and for several thousand family businesses, who get the same drawings, the same factory and the same fitters.

Derby signage FAQ

Questions we get asked in Derby

Do you charge extra to come out to Derby?

No. The survey is free and the installation is priced into the job rather than bolted on afterwards as mileage. Sixteen miles down the A52 is a normal working day for our teams, not a trip that has to earn its keep in the quote.

Can you make a sign for a shop in the Cathedral Quarter?

Yes. A conservation area brings extra control over what can go on the frontage, which is why work there often ends up hand-painted, individually pin-fixed or externally lit rather than a large internally lit box. We survey the building, tell you what it will take, and prepare the drawings for the application.

How long will a Derby shopfront take?

Three to four weeks from artwork sign-off for most fronts, and you get the fitting date when you order rather than after. We are not queuing behind another factory's production, because it is our factory.

We have several sites across Derbyshire. Can you do them all?

That is a large part of what we do. One set of drawings, one specification, and a rollout schedule that fits your trading hours rather than ours. Over 4,500 shops are on our books and a good many of them are groups, not single units.

Elsewhere

Other cities we make signs for

Signage Nottingham Our home city Signage Leicester 27 miles — about 40 minutes Signage Sheffield 40 miles — about 50 minutes Signage Lincoln 40 miles — about an hour Signage Birmingham 50 miles — about an hour Signage Leeds 72 miles — about an hour and twenty

We manufacture in Nottingham and install UK-wide, so this list is where we work most, not the limit of it. If your site is somewhere else, ask.

Client testimonials

What our customers say

Reviews on Google
“We recently used BD Signs for digital signage in our fish and chip takeaway and couldn't be happier with the result. From the first conversation, when they squeezed us in when we drove down without an appointment, through to installation.”
N Nicola Atkinson Google review
“A big thank you to the team at BD Signs for all your hard work with our new Digital Menu System. We have 6 screens in total, and a bespoke display box with our branding. I'm quite fussy and particular, and these guys were very helpful from start to finish! Very passionate and customer focused company. Highly recommend!!!”
P Phil Mellon Google review
“Just want to rate George from tech support's service as a 5. Whenever I get through to him he goes above and beyond to support and get the problem sorted quickly and efficiently, he keeps us informed throughout of the problem and where we are with the fix. Great customer service.”
L Lauren Bannister Google review
“Used BD Signs Design and Print services to design a new logo for my company and to design and print some large labels to use on my jobs. Professional service from start to finish. Highly recommended.”
R Richard Ashwell Google review
“Excellent service as always. Friendly staff. Highly recommend.”
G Gracey Google review
“Excellent service as normal — have used BD Signs for the last 20 years and they have always been very helpful and delivered on time and on price!”
A Anton Google review
Book your survey

Come and see us.

Bring a photo of your frontage, or a problem you have been putting off for three years. We will survey the site, design it properly, and quote the whole job as one price.

Book your free survey 0115 979 4330
Reviews on Google

Or email info@bdsigns.co.uk — we answer everything the same working day.