Built-Up Letters
3D fabricated letters in acrylic or metal, illuminated or plain.
Built-Up Letters detailsWe have been making signs in Nottingham for twenty-five years, from a factory in Bulwell rather than a sales office with a supplier behind it. If your sign is going up in this city, it was drawn here, fabricated here and fitted by people who work here.
Our factory and showroom are in Bulwell, NG6 — fifteen minutes from the city centre.
On your doorstep
Factory and showroom in Nottingham
4,500+
Shops on our books
25 years
As BD Signs
3,500 sq ft
Showroom you can walk round
Nottingham is not one trading pitch, it is a dozen. What works on a Hockley bar does not work on a Beeston high street, and neither of them works on a retail park off the ring road. A fascia that has to compete with the Victoria Centre needs different money and a different build to one on a parade in Arnold where you are the only thing lit after five. We know these streets because we drive them every week.
Being local is not just about the mileage. It means we can be on your frontage the day after you call, and back the same week with a survey. It means a panel that arrives wrong gets swapped in days, not in a fortnight of emails to somebody two hundred miles away. And it means you can walk into the showroom, put your hand on a lit sign, and choose the one you actually want.
We work across Nottingham and the rest of Nottinghamshire. If your site is somewhere else, ask — we manufacture in Nottingham and install UK-wide.
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 Nottingham frontage.
A sign that only works when it is lit is doing half a job. Real return depth throws a shadow, so the letters have shape at two in the afternoon as well as glow at seven at night. That, and a colour nobody either side of you has got, is what gets you noticed on a Nottingham parade.
We fabricate our trays in aluminium rather than buying flat-pack, weld the corners, seal the seams and drain them so water cannot sit inside. Stainless fixings throughout — cheap steel ones bleed a rust streak down a white fascia soon enough, and everybody can see it.
LED throughout, on proper drivers, specified so the modules can be replaced rather than the whole sign scrapped. Even spread across the face with no hot spots. It costs a little more at the front and it is the difference between a sign you forget about and one you keep calling somebody out to.
Come to the showroom in Bulwell and look at the back of a sign, not just the front — the weld, the return, the fixing. Fifteen minutes from the city centre, everything lit, no obligation. It is the only honest way to tell a well-made sign from a cheap one.
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.
3D fabricated letters in acrylic or metal, illuminated or plain.
Built-Up Letters details
Acrylic pushed through a routed tray, or shapes cut clean from panel.
Push Through & Fret Cut details
The classic illuminated shopfront fascia, built to last outdoors.
Panel Tray & Light Box details
Double-sided signs that stand off the wall and catch passing trade.
Projection Signs details
Traditional sign writing and hand-made pieces, brush in hand.
Hand Painted & Hand Made details
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.
3D fabricated letters in acrylic or metal, illuminated or plain.
Built-Up Letters details
Acrylic pushed through a routed tray, or shapes cut clean from panel.
Push Through & Fret Cut details
Traditional sign writing and hand-made pieces, brush in hand.
Hand Painted & Hand Made details
LED neon in any shape or colour — all the glow, none of the gas.
Neon & LED Acrylic details
Everything inside the door — wayfinding, walls and menu boards.
Internal Signage details
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.
The fascia, the projecting sign and the window. Two seconds to say who you are and what you sell.
Built-up lettersEntrance graphics, opening hours, the handrail. Small things that decide whether somebody actually comes in.
Interior signageWall graphics and counter branding that hold the scheme together once they are through the door.
Counter brandingThe menu decides what they spend. Lit boards or digital screens, built around margin rather than price order.
Menu systemsFour 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.
We come to you in Nottingham. Measure the fascia, check the fixings and the power, photograph the site, and look at the street it trades on. It costs you nothing.
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.
Made in our own factory — routing, welding, spraying and LED build. The quality is ours to get right rather than a supplier's.
Our own fitters install it, connect it and clear up. Access equipment included, electrics tested and signed off.
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.
Real installs, shot on location. Every one designed, manufactured and fitted by us. Tap any photo to see that type of sign in detail.
Built-Up Letters
Built-Up Letters
Built-Up Letters
Built-Up Letters
Built-Up Letters
Built-Up Letters
Built-Up Letters
Push Through & Fret Cut
Push Through & Fret Cut
Panel Tray & Light Box
Panel Tray & Light Box
Panel Tray & Light Box
Panel Tray & Light Box
Panel Tray & Light Box
Panel Tray & Light Box
Panel Tray & Light Box
Projection Signs
Projection Signs
Projection Signs
Projection Signs
Hand Painted & Hand Made
Hand Painted & Hand Made
Hand Painted & Hand Made
Hand Painted & Hand Made
Neon & LED Acrylic
Neon & LED Acrylic
Neon & LED Acrylic
Neon & LED Acrylic
3D Foam
3D Foam
Internal Signage
Internal Signage
Internal Signage
Counter Branding
Counter Branding
Counter Branding
Totem Signs
Totem Signs
Totem Signs
Totem Signs
Brands we make signs for
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.
19 Northern Court, NG6 0BJ, in Bulwell. The factory, the design studio and the showroom are all on the one site, so you can see how a sign is made and see the finished thing lit in the same visit. Most people who come in have only ever seen a sign on a screen, and it changes what they order. No obligation — plenty of people just come in for a coffee.
Nottingham is our home city, so a survey here is a short trip rather than a scheduled one — ring us and we will book a time that suits you. It is free and you are not committed to anything afterwards. We measure the fascia, check the fixings and the power, photograph the street, and tell you what the building will actually take.
Frequently. Advertisement consent applies to most illuminated and projecting signs, and it is Nottingham City Council you apply to. A conservation area such as the Lace Market or the Park, or a listed building, brings further controls on top. We will tell you at survey what your site needs and prepare the drawings for the application rather than leaving you to it.
Just the sign is fine. Plenty of our Nottingham work is a like-for-like replacement, or retrofitting an old fluorescent light box with LED — that one usually pays for itself in running cost. If the artwork underneath is tired we will say so, but we will not make it a condition of quoting.
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.
“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.”
“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!!!”
“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.”
“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.”
“Excellent service as always. Friendly staff. Highly recommend.”
“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!”
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.
Or email info@bdsigns.co.uk — we answer everything the same working day.