London Oven Cleaners clean ovens in Highgate, N6, from £77, and you check the hot, rebuilt oven before we leave; any corner not right is redone.
Highgate has always straddled a boundary, and the line between Camden and Haringey still runs down High Street: Pond Square is on the Camden side, and the slopes below Hornsey Lane belong to Islington.
Three councils on one hill
The split is old. The Hornsey half of the village lay in the bishop of London's manor, the St Pancras half in a manor of St Paul's. The south-western half joined the county of London in 1889 and passed to Camden in 1965; the north-eastern half stayed in Middlesex until 1965 and then went to Haringey with the rest of Hornsey. In 1967 and 1968 Camden and Haringey each declared the village a conservation area. Haringey's designation is dated 21 December 1967, and Haringey's Highgate conservation area now runs east past Archway Road to streets such as Northwood Road, Orchard Road and Milton Park.
The price of an oven clean is the same in all three boroughs; only the parking changes from street to street.
The Haringey side, east of Archway Road
Archway Road opened in 1813, against the wishes of the village innkeepers, and cut Highgate off from the rest of Hornsey parish. In the 1890s the people who settled on Shepherd's Hill were said to live on the wrong side of it, and they shopped in Highbury rather than climb the lanes to the village. The Victoria County History records that the Archway Road frontage and the streets just east of it were built up by 1896, Holmesdale Road's three-storey terraces of 1873-4 among them. On the village side of the road, Hillside Mansions and Southwood Mansions, early four-storey blocks of flats, went up in 1897.
A three-storey terrace divided into flats can leave the kitchen two floors from the street, and a four-storey mansion block of the 1890s may have no lift. Neither changes the job. Racks, trays and side runners come out and are soaked and cleaned separately, while the cavity, the fan cover and the door glass are degreased by hand indoors, on dust sheets.
Bigger houses, and two kinds of Highgate ward
Haringey's Highgate ward (2022 boundaries) had 5,773 households at the 2021 Census. Some 6.8% lived in a detached house, against 3.9% across Haringey, and 10.9% in a semi; 34.1% lived in a purpose-built block and 28.1% in a converted or shared house. Half (50.7%) owned their home.
- Highgate ward, Haringey
- 37.6% renting privately, 11.0% social renting (2021)
- Highgate ward, Camden
- 19.1% renting privately, 33.1% social renting (2021)
A detached or semi-detached house usually has the room for a larger cooker, a 90cm range or an AGA, and those take longer: two to three hours for a range, about half a day for a two-oven AGA. On the Haringey side, with well over a third of households renting privately, agents can also have the invoice in the agency's name, photos for the checkout file and keys collected for an empty flat.
Oven cleaning prices in Highgate
| Oven or appliance | Fixed price |
|---|---|
| Single ovenBuilt-in single: cavity, racks, door glass and seals. | £77 |
| Double ovenBoth cavities and doors, every rack soaked and cleaned. | £110 |
| Single wide ovenOne oven, wider than the standard 60cm. | £114 |
| Range cooker, 90cmThe whole cooker: every oven and the grill. | £143 |
| Range cooker, 100cm | £167 |
| Range hob or range hoodThe wide hob on a range, or the hood above it. | £48 |
| AGA, two-ovenCooled properly, cleaned, re-lit and checked. | £143 |
| AGA, four-oven | £187 |
| HobCeramic £23, gas £28. | £23–28 |
| Extractor hood | £28 |
| Microwave | £22 |
| Single oven, hob and extractorThe three together, one visit. | £117 |
| Double oven, hob and extractorThe three together, one visit. | £143 |
The price follows the appliance, from a built-in single to a four-oven AGA, and is fixed on the phone before the visit.
Parking on both sides of the High Street
On the Haringey side, the council's zone list gives Monday to Friday, 10am to noon, for the Highgate zone and for Highgate Station Outer, which on Haringey's zone map covers Northwood Road, Orchard Road, Langdon Park Road, Milton Park and Holmesdale Road. Priory Gardens, by the station, is the exception: controlled from 8am to 6.30pm, Monday to Saturday. On the Camden side the zone is CA-U. Camden's open zone data lists it as 10am to noon on weekdays, but Camden has consulted on lengthening the weekday hours on the High Street, Pond Square, the Grove and South Grove to 8.30am to 6.30pm, so read the sign on the day. Below Hornsey Lane, on the Islington side of Highgate Hill, Islington sets its own hours, so check the sign there too. Afternoons are uncontrolled in Haringey's two-hour zones, which suits an afternoon visit.
Highgate oven cleaning questions
My house is on the Camden side of the High Street. Does that change anything?
Only the parking rules. The price, the method and the sign-off are the same on both sides.
Can you come on a Saturday?
Yes, at the weekday price. Haringey's Highgate zones have no Saturday controls, apart from Priory Gardens; on the Camden and Islington sides, check the sign.
Which zone is Shepherd's Hill in?
On Haringey's zone map the end near the station is in Highgate ward and the Highgate Station zone, 10am to noon on weekdays; further east the road is in Crouch End ward and the Crouch End B zone, 2pm to 4pm. The Crouch End page covers the rest of that ward.
What about the foot of Highgate Hill?
That is the Islington side. The nearest page for it is Archway.
Said after the sign-off
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.
Brilliant clean, my oven looks like brand new. A 5 star clean.
Nice hardworking lads that always do a good job. We used them for our old flat when moving out and for the new one now, both jobs were done very professionally. My wife is very impressed with the results and would recommend them to friends and family.
Where Highgate sits
Close to Highgate
Crouch End · Archway · Holloway Road · Crouch Hill · Upper Holloway · Dartmouth Park
Elsewhere in Haringey
Hornsey Hornsey Vale Stroud Green Muswell Hill Alexandra Palace Fortis Green Harringay Turnpike Lane Wood Green Noel Park West Green Bowes Park Bounds Green St Ann's Seven Sisters White Hart Lane Tottenham Green South Tottenham Every Haringey area
To book in Highgate: 020 8077 5225 any day, or send the quote form and we ring you back.