The Embassy cinema has stood on Chadwell Heath High Road since 1934, an art deco front by Harry Weston that later spent decades as a bingo hall. Behind the High Road, bay-fronted 1900s to 1930s houses on Wangey Road, Grove Road and Cedar Park Gardens sit beside blocks of flats from the 1970s onwards. London Carpet Cleaning has cleaned Chadwell, RM6, since 2009. Carpets are dry within 6 to 7 hours, at fixed prices from £36 a room.
Two boroughs and two kinds of home
Chadwell Heath is split between two councils. The Chadwell ward of Redbridge holds the streets around the High Road, Chadwell Heath Lane and the station, and the Barking and Dagenham side runs south towards St Chad’s Park. St Chad’s became a parish of its own in 1895. Chadwell Heath station, on the Elizabeth line between Goodmayes and Romford, anchors the south of the area off Station Road, and Whalebone Lane North runs down the eastern edge.
The housing comes in two layers. The older one is the bay-fronted terrace and semi of the 1900s to the 1930s, on roads like Wangey Road and Grove Road, many of them built on suspended timber ground floors. The newer one is the purpose-built flats, which the census figures below show are now the biggest group. The Embassy itself has had a long run of uses. It closed as a cinema in 1966 and became a bingo hall until 2015, and since then it has been a wedding and banqueting venue. Residents had it listed as an Asset of Community Value in 2017.
Flats, renters and electric heat in the census
| Homes that are | Share |
|---|---|
| Flats in purpose-built blocks | 40.4% |
| Built 1919 to 1944 | 34.6% |
| Built 1973 to 1999 | 28.1% |
| Built in 2000 or later | 19.4% |
| Rented privately | 35.6% |
| Heated by electricity only | 23.6% |
The census area here is called Chadwell Heath South West, and it covers the Redbridge streets around the station and the High Road. It is less uniform than the bay-fronted streets suggest. Purpose-built flats are the biggest single group at 40.4% of homes. The interwar houses still account for 34.6%, but almost half of all homes went up after 1972: 28.1% between 1973 and 1999, and 19.4% since 2000. More than a third of homes (35.6%) are rented privately, so end-of-tenancy cleans come round all year.
The heating figure is the one that changes our method. Almost a quarter of homes (23.6%) are heated only by electricity, and with storage or panel heaters a carpet dries more slowly than over a gas radiator. So we extract harder and suggest the heaters go on early. For a two-bedroom flat near the station, the clean of both bedrooms and the living room comes to £115.
Figures: ONS Census 2021 (Redbridge 038) and VOA council tax stock, March 2024.
Car parks and permit bays near the station
There are two council car parks close by. The Station Road car park, next to Chadwell Heath station, has 125 spaces and runs Monday to Saturday, 7am to 7pm. The smaller Wangey Road car park, entered from Cedar Park Gardens, has 56 spaces and runs Monday to Saturday, 7.30am to 5.30pm. For a flat near the station, or a house where the road outside is full, we park in one of those and wheel the kit round.
On the residential roads off the High Road parking is mostly at the kerb, and many of the 1930s houses have a short drive, which lets us run the hose straight in. Permit bays are spreading, though. In 2023 the council proposed zone CHC bays, 7am to 7pm, on Chadwell Heath Lane, and since January 2024 zone CHB, 8.30am to 6.30pm, Monday to Saturday, has covered Pedley Road and Mayfield Road. If you are in a permit bay, we need a visitor permit for the day. For the flats over the High Road shops, tell us where the entrance is; it is often at the back.
Stairs, suites and the work in between
The job that comes up most in the houses is stairs and landings. A 1930s house funnels all its traffic onto one flight, and after a few years the carpet goes grey and flat down the middle while the edges stay fine. A hot-water extraction clean lifts the trodden-in grime and evens the colour out. Where a stair carpet is worn through to the backing on the nosings, cleaning brings the colour back but cannot replace fibre that feet have scrubbed off, and we say so on the day.
Most of what we do here is hot-water extraction carpet cleaning, the method that suits wool and the older synthetic carpets alike. We also clean fabric and leather suites with our upholstery cleaning service, and for anything loose we run a proper rug cleaning service done on your floor during the visit. If you are just over the boundary or elsewhere in the rest of Redbridge, the same team and the same prices apply. Nearby we also cover Marks Gate and Little Heath.
How much does carpet cleaning cost in Chadwell?
The figures below are fixed, nothing is charged for the call-out, and Chadwell pays what every other part of Redbridge and London pays.
- Carpet cleaning, per bedroom, from £36
- Living room carpet from £43
- Through-lounge from £61
- Stairs, one flight, from £41
- Two-seater sofa from £57; armchair from £33
- Rug up to 3m² from £35; mattress from £35
A three-bedroom 1930s semi with a through-lounge and its stairs comes to £210. Get a free quote, or call us on 020 8077 8090.
Chadwell: what people ask before booking
Which Chadwell streets do you cover, north and south of the railway?
The whole of RM6, both the Chadwell ward streets in Redbridge and the Chadwell Heath side in Barking and Dagenham. That takes in the High Road, Chadwell Heath Lane, Wangey Road, Grove Road, Whalebone Lane North and everything around the station. If you are unsure which side of the boundary you fall, give us the postcode and we will confirm.
Where do your cleaners park in Chadwell?
Kerbside on the residential roads, or on your drive if you have one. Near the station we use the council car parks on Station Road and off Cedar Park Gardens. In the CHB and CHC permit bays we need a visitor permit. Tell us the address and we will plan the closest spot.
Can you get worn stair carpets looking even again?
Usually, yes. The classic Chadwell problem is a single staircase taking all the household traffic, so the middle goes grey and matted while the sides look fine. Hot-water extraction lifts that ground-in soil and the colour evens out a great deal. Where the pile is only flattened and not worn away, the lift can be dramatic.
How long do carpets take to dry in a Chadwell terrace or semi?
Most carpets here are dry within 6 to 7 hours and fully dry within the day with a window cracked. Heavy wool and thick stair carpet sit at the longer end, and a mattress or a dense rug can stay faintly damp into the evening on a cold, damp day. Strong extraction pulls out as much moisture as we can before we leave.
I rent from a housing association. Can I book a clean myself?
Yes. You book and pay like any other customer, and the price is the same fixed list. Check your tenancy first in case the landlord owns the carpet and has rules on cleaning. We give you a dated receipt, which is useful at a check-out inspection. Social landlords own 17.5% of the homes in this census area, so these bookings are routine for us.
Can you clean a flat above one of the High Road shops?
Yes. These flats are often reached by a side or rear door and a steep internal stair, so tell us where the entrance is and how many flights there are. We park in the Station Road or Wangey Road car park if the High Road is busy and carry the machine up to the flat. Stairs inside the flat are priced as a flight, from £41.
Our re-clean guarantee applies here as everywhere: show us a flagged spot that has not lifted and we treat it again at no charge. We carry full insurance, our cleaners are DBS-checked, and Chadwell has been on our round since 2009.
