London Oven Cleaners clean ovens in St Mary Cray, BR5, from £77. The oven is rebuilt and heated, and you look inside it, lit, before the van leaves.
Nos. 5 to 9 High Street, St Mary Cray, are built around a timber-framed house of about 1510, with a jettied upper floor carried on curved brackets and its crown-post roof still in place. It was refronted in the early 19th century, when No. 5 and part of No. 9 were added, and listed in 1973.
Timber-framed houses in the old market town
St Mary Cray had a medieval market with its own market hall, which the Great Storm of 1703 destroyed. Some houses from those centuries survive. Nos. 4, 6, 8 and 8A Kent Road are two adjoining timber-framed buildings of the late 16th or early 17th century, with a lobby-entry plan; in No. 4 the staircase still sits behind the chimney stack, the characteristic place in that plan. Nos. 40 to 50 on the west side of the High Street are an L-shaped 17th-century building with a weatherboarded first floor over a Victorian shopfront.
A kitchen fitted into a house that old may be small, with little room either side of the cooker. That suits the method. The racks, trays, side runners and fan cover come out and are soaked and cleaned separately, so the work at the cooker is on the cavity and the door glass, by hand, on dust sheets laid first.
After the prefabs: the estate east of the Cray
Land east of the river and south of the railway stayed empty until after 1945. Prefabs for Londoners bombed out in the war came first and lasted until the 1960s, when they were gradually replaced by permanent housing, including a council development around Okemore Gardens. Most of it was low-rise. The two exceptions were Horton Tower and Alkham Tower, 14 storeys each; Horton, with 52 flats, was photographed newly finished on 19 January 1968. Both towers were being demolished in July 2012.
Low-rise housing usually means a short walk from the front door to the kitchen.
St Mary Cray ward in the 2021 Census
The ward, which also takes in Poverest to the west, had 7,612 households. 45.3% lived in a semi-detached house, 22.1% in a terrace and 19.7% in a purpose-built flat. 64.1% owned their home. Social renting came to 21.2%: 18.3% of households rented from a housing association or other social landlord, against 2.9% from the council. Private renting was 13.1%.
When a private tenancy ends, the invoice can be made out to the letting agency, photos for the checkout file are taken on request, and keys for an empty house can be collected by arrangement.
Oven cleaning prices in St Mary Cray
| 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 (a single, a double, a 90cm range, an AGA) and is agreed on the phone, so the figure on the invoice is the one you were quoted.
- Freestanding cooker
- Oven and hob in one unit. The hob can be cleaned at the same visit: £28 for gas, £23 for ceramic.
- Built-in oven
- Fitted in a tall housing or under the worktop. A single takes about 90 minutes on site, a double about 2 hours.
Questions from St Mary Cray
My cottage kitchen off the High Street is tiny. Is there room to work?
Yes. The racks and trays come out and are cleaned separately, so at the oven itself we need space in front of it, a working socket and the oven cool when we arrive.
Do you cover the roads around St Mary Cray station?
Yes. The station is on Sayes Court Road, on the border with St Paul's Cray, and both sides of the line are covered at the same prices.
Can you come on a Saturday or Sunday?
Yes. We work seven days a week, and a weekend visit costs the same as a weekday one.
What happens at the end of the visit?
The oven is put back together and heated, and you inspect it. If a corner is not right when you look at the lit oven, we put it right before we leave.
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.
Arrived promptly and did a great job cleaning the oven, hob and extractor. They look like new now and for a very reasonable price too.
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 St Mary Cray sits
Nearby areas we cover
Poverest · Orpington · Crofton · Petts Wood and Knoll · St Paul's Cray · Goddington
Other Bromley areas we cover
Petts Wood Ruxley Chelsfield Green Street Green Farnborough Chislehurst Common Southborough Locksbottom Bickley Chislehurst Pratt's Bottom Bromley Common and Keston Widmore Keston Mark Elmstead Sundridge Mottingham Keston Every Bromley area
Call 020 8077 5225 and the St Mary Cray price is fixed on the spot; typers can use the quote form instead.