Globe Galleries has £1,782 to fix its roof. The same Andover fund pays up to £10,000, or £12,500 on a listed building, if the work is finished by 15 March 2027.

A furniture and antiques shop that has traded off Andover High Street for more than 50 years has been given £1,782 by Test Valley Borough Council to replace the lead flashing on its roof.

Globe Galleries, in Globe Yard, will use the money to stop water leaking into one of the building’s upper rooms. The council says the work protects both the building and the stock inside it.

The money came from the Andover Town Centre Frontage Grant. The more useful part of this story is that the fund is still open to other town centre businesses, and it pays a great deal more than £1,782.

What the fund actually pays

The scheme was developed by Test Valley Borough Council with Andover Town Council and the Andover BID. The council is funding it for 2026 to 2027.

  • Maximum grant, non-listed building: £10,000.
  • Maximum grant, listed building: £12,500.
  • Most applicants contribute at least 25% of the total project cost.
  • If you get small business rates relief or charitable rate relief at the premises, you contribute 10% instead.

The council’s own worked examples make the sums concrete. A £2,000 project draws £1,500 of grant against £500 of your own money. A £10,000 project draws £7,500 against £2,500. Above that the cap bites: a £20,000 project on a non-listed building still only draws the £10,000 maximum, so you would find the other £10,000 yourself.

Who can apply

You have to be a landlord or occupier of commercial premises on one of these streets:

  • Lower or Upper High Street
  • Bridge Street and Bridge Street Mall
  • London Street, Marlborough Street, Winchester Street, East Street, Chantry Street, Union Street, Newbury Street, West Street
  • Black Swan Yard, George Yard, Shaws Walk, Swan Court, Waterloo Court

Premises inside the Chantry Centre are excluded. So is any work already under way or finished, because the grant cannot be applied retrospectively.

You also have to be trading at the time you apply, hold a business rates account with Test Valley, have the trading licences your business needs, hold a UK business bank account and carry the relevant insurances. Hospitality businesses have to be registered as a food business with the council.

The dates and the traps

Nothing done after 15 March 2027 can be funded. That is the hard edge of the scheme, and it is worth reading it backwards: a project needing planning permission, listed building consent or a contractor with a waiting list has to start a long way before that date.

The other refusals the council lists are:

  • work done without the consents it needed at the time
  • applicants in arrears on business rates with Test Valley
  • businesses under an enforcement order for a breach of planning control
  • any award that would push a business over the £315,000 Minimum Financial Assistance threshold across three fiscal years

The council is also blunt that the grant is discretionary, available for a limited time and subject to funds. Being eligible does not entitle you to anything.

One line in the guidance is easy to miss and decides a lot of applications. The grants are not for urgent works needed to make a building safe. They are for small-scale projects that improve how a building looks, which the council lists as including signage, lighting and repairs that improve the appearance of the premises. Ongoing maintenance stays the responsibility of the landlord or occupier under the terms of their lease.

The business that got it

Globe Galleries occupies both sides of Globe Yard, in a building that was part of a coaching inn before it became a public house. The family expanded into further sections of it about 20 years ago.

Owner Bill Evans was born in Andover and bought the business with his father, Ellis, after working as an estate agent on London Street and as an auctioneer. He had been a customer of the shop in the mid 1960s while refurnishing let properties. He now runs it with his son, William.

“The building is full of character, but older properties need ongoing care and maintenance,” Mr Evans said. “We’re very grateful for this grant, which will help us carry out important repairs, protect our stock, and ensure the business can continue welcoming customers for many years to come.”

Councillor Phil North, leader of Test Valley Borough Council, said the grant “will help preserve a historic building while supporting a family business that has served local residents for generations”.

What it means for you

If you run or own a town centre shop, café or office on one of the streets above, this is a live pot of money with a deadline attached, and the council assesses applications as they arrive rather than in rounds. Applying takes some paperwork: photographs of the frontage, details of any consents, drawings if the work is not a like-for-like repair, a business bank statement dated within two months, and your most recent accounts or self-assessment return.

If you are a customer rather than a trader, the practical point is smaller but real. This is at least the third Andover frontage award the council has publicised since the scheme started, after a High Street business in November 2025 and The Andover Tap in January 2026, and it sits alongside a separate Independent Retailer Grant aimed at filling empty units.

Applications go through the online form at testvalley.gov.uk/andovertowncentrefrontagegrant.

Sources