Oven cleaning in Havering-atte-Bower, RM4, the hilltop village above Romford. Dip-tank method in the van, seven days a week, single ovens from £77.
The stocks and whipping post still stand in the south-east corner of the village green, in front of St John the Evangelist. The set you see now was put up in the summer of 1966. An earlier replacement was torn out by residents who objected to its siting, too close to the narrow part of the road, and the original pair had rotted away by about 1670.
The village is not the borough
Worth separating the two. Havering-atte-Bower is a green-belt village of a few streets on the northern edge of the London Borough of Havering, roughly 15 miles from Charing Cross, with Romford the nearest station. The borough covers Romford, Hornchurch, Upminster and Rainham. RM4 is the village and the lanes around it.
Green Belt stopped the building in 1931
Almost nothing has been built in the parish since 1931, because Green Belt policy has held the line here for the better part of a century, and that single planning fact does more to describe the kitchens in RM4 than any amount of talk about the area would, since a place that stopped growing in 1931 keeps its Victorian and Georgian and interwar houses and simply re-fits them. Adding the extractor hood on a Havering-atte-Bower visit is £28.
344 feet up
The village sits 105 metres up, high enough to see over east London, Essex and Kent. Bower House, a small Palladian mansion, was built here in 1729 for John Baynes with grounds by Charles Bridgeman, and it was Henry Flitcroft's first commission; some of its fabric came out of the royal palace that stood here and was pulled down. St John the Evangelist itself dates from 1878, replacing an older chapel to St Mary. Havering Country Park holds one of only two redwood plantations in England.
The numbers, given before we come
Fixed price, no premium-area surcharge, agreed on the phone rather than on your doorstep.
| Single oven | £77 |
| Double oven | £110 |
| Range cooker, 90cm | £114 |
| Two-oven AGA | £143 |
| Hob | £23–28 |
| Extractor hood | £28 |
| Microwave | £22 |
Asked up on the hill
My kitchen is in an old house. Is the method safe on it?
The soaking is confined to the parts that lift out. Cavity, fan cover and door glass are done indoors by hand with non-caustic products, so nothing corrosive goes near the room.
Do you clean AGAs and range cookers?
Yes. A two-oven AGA is £143, a 90cm range £114. Tell us the make when you call.
Will the house smell afterwards?
It should not. That is the reason the tank lives in the van.
How far ahead do I need to book?
Ring 020 8077 5225 and ask. We run seven days, weekends included.
Reviews from our rounds
Once again a great job guys, I will see you in a couple of months.
Very satisfied with the service. They were slightly late at first but I got a call from customer service to let me know, and it was all fine. The oven man, as he called himself, arrived and worked very hard for a couple of hours. My oven now looks like it has never been used.
I would certainly recommend this service, very efficient and good value for money. The young man did a great job and even cleaned the kitchen floor. Thank you.
Where Havering-atte-Bower sits
Nearby areas we cover
Turnpike Lane · Waltham Forest · Middleton Circle · Arsenal · Herne Hill · Earlsfield
More of our London patch
Ruislip Weybridge Goddington Copse Hill Lewisham Shepherd's Bush Market Shirley Hounslow Ealing Hanover Square Twickenham Notting Hill Belsize Park Grange Park Lee Green Anerley Woodside Park Northolt Park Syon Lane West India Quay Greenwich Peninsula East Ewell Greenwich East Tilbury
To book in Havering-atte-Bower: 020 8077 5225 any day, or send the quote form and we ring you back.