Long-standing Daventry business celebrates its 21st anniversary

This month marks the anniversary celebration of a long-standing Daventry business.

First Light Photographic, which is housed in the town’s oldest building, has been operating for 21 years.Owner and award-winning photographer Dawn Branigan, 63, has been providing professional photography services to customers for more than two decades from a beautiful Grade II listed building.

She said: “I've seen a lot of people come and go on High Street. We’re one of the longest-established independent businesses on the street. It's the first thing you see when you drive up here. It’s very, very special, and it's a talking point.

“I'm immensely proud of what we managed to achieve, despite all the obstacles that we've had to overcome.”

Dawn Branigan has lived in Daventry for 25 years now. She spent almost 13 years working in sales and marketing before becoming a professional photographer.

Since May 2018, she has served as one of the town's councillors and has been a part of the museum committee.

Dawn opened the doors of her business to the community in April 2003.

“Historically, we were like a photographic outlet. We've very much grown and adapted, and now we're much more focused on fine art printing and picture framing,” she said.

Things became complicated when major structural problems were found during minor building repairs in 2013, following a renovation project to reveal the shop’s original mediaeval fronting dating to 1450.

Scaffolding was erected to support the shop, which affected Dawn’s business.

“We've had issues with the building. We were under scaffolding for five years, and we continued to operate the whole time. We battled with the council to achieve how the building looks now.

“It is the oldest building in Daventry. When I first got it, it was very much sort of the ugly duckling of High Street. Now it's very often used in council-branded advertising, which irritates me considering they didn't want me to do it,” said Dawn.

Now, the long-standing business is celebrating its 21st anniversary this month.

“I'm just celebrating for 12 months,” said Dawn.