Businesses are proving the community spirit is alive and well by helping each other decorate.

As part of a handy-man scheme to give local businesses a boost, The Big Fix in Hackbridge has seen businesses redecorate and repair their premises.

The Red Lion pub has been given a fresh lick of paint and new energy efficient light bulbs, meanwhile the Hackbridge Convenience store has had new flooring laid.

It is part of the £1m Heart of Hackbridge programme, which is aimed at physical and economic regeneration work and has been funded by GLA’s Outer London Fund, businesses, and Sutton Council.

Programme manager Sally Williams, Retail Revival, said: "This demonstrates what can be achieved when people pull together.

Taylor Wimpey has provided the materials free of charge and a team of local builders and tradesmen led by Wandle Electrical have worked around the clock."

Whitney Farmer, landlady at the Red Lion, is confident that her newly painted room "will help to bring the community together", whether for mother and baby coffee mornings or afternoons watching sport.

The programme, run by Award-winning sustainability charity BioRegional, aims to secure jobs for residents, improve their health and make the streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

The Big Fix will finish later this month by which time a significant number of shops in the area will have been helped.

BioRegional's Anthony Probert, said, "The businesses themselves have been very supportive of the project and many are contributing to the effort.

We are all really looking forward to final results, not to mention raising a pint to the Big Fix team in the newly painted Red Lion."

The aim of the £1.2m project is to start the process of creating a thriving, sustainable district centre set in the natural beauty of the Wandle Valley.

Hackbridge is aiming to become into the UK's most environmentally friendly and first sustainable suburb.

To find out more visit bioregional.co.uk