There was never a west ferry: the DLR stop that opened here on 31 August 1987 took its name from Westferry Road, built in 1812 to reach the horse ferry to Greenwich at the far end of the Isle of Dogs. Around Westferry, E14, the homes run from Grade II listed warehouses on Limekiln Dock to post-war council flats. London Carpet Cleaning has cleaned both since 2009, from £36 a room, and a carpet is dry again within 6 to 7 hours.
Warehouses on Limekiln Dock and the old Chinatown streets
Westferry station stands where Limehouse Causeway meets Westferry Road, between the old Limehouse and West India Docks stations of the London and Blackwall Railway. Limehouse’s Chinatown was centred on Limehouse Causeway, and the streets south of it run down to Limekiln Dock, the inlet that gave Limehouse its name and that is now listed itself.
The dock is lined with warehouses. Dunbar Wharf, at 136 to 140 Narrow Street, is a Grade II listed group of four from around the middle of the nineteenth century, in stock brick under slate roofs, three storeys on the water side except the western one at two. It carries the name of the shipbuilders Duncan Dunbar and Sons, who ran a fleet of fast sailing ships to India, Australia and North America. These buildings kept their loading doors and cast-iron windows when they became flats. Limehouse Wharf, a few doors along at number 148, is listed too and has been flats for decades, since the river trade had all but stopped.
So the stock here is unusual. Exposed-brick warehouse flats with timber floors and large wool rugs over them; modern blocks towards Limehouse Basin, where the Regent’s Canal meets the Thames; and post-war council housing on the streets running back from the water. Ropemakers Fields, the park named after the ropewalks that once filled the ground here, is the green between them.
How much does carpet cleaning cost in Westferry?
Every job is priced in advance, there is no call-out fee, and the figures below hold in every borough we serve.
- Carpet, per bedroom, from £36
- Living room 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
Get a free quote, or call us on 020 8077 8090.
Westferry homes in census figures
| Homes that are | Share |
|---|---|
| Flats of all kinds | 91.5% |
| Owned by the occupier | 26.5% |
| Social rented | 29.6% |
| One bedroom | 28.3% |
| Three bedrooms | 19.2% |
| Built 1945 to 1972 | 16.8% |
| Heated by electricity only | 28.6% |
The census has no Westferry; the station falls in Limehouse East, a neighbourhood stretching back to Limehouse station and the basin. Nine homes in ten (91.5%) are flats. About a quarter (26.5%) are owned by the people living in them, and 29.6% are social lets, the post-war council blocks among them: 16.8% of homes went up between 1945 and 1972. The size range is wide, from one-bed flats (28.3%) to three-bed family homes (19.2%), so in one morning we might do a single bedroom in a warehouse flat and a full family maisonette two streets away.
Heating is the figure that changes drying. Some 28.6% of homes have electric heating only, which usually means panel or storage heaters, so a room can sit cool in the morning. We extract hard and leave a window open a crack, and moving air finishes the job. In one of the three-bed homes with a staircase, cleaning the bedrooms, the living room and the flight comes to £192.
Figures: ONS Census 2021 (Tower Hamlets 023) and VOA council tax stock, March 2024.
Reaching the riverside lanes
Westferry sits where two of the council’s parking zones meet: zone C on the Limehouse side and zone D towards Poplar and the docks. Both are controlled Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5.30pm, so an evening or a Saturday slot often means a free bay outside. The lanes by the river are tight and the conservation-area streets have little kerb, so for a Narrow Street address we plan where the van will wait before we set off.
In the warehouse blocks, tell us about the porter or the entry system, and whether there is a lift big enough for the hose reels. Clear the floor around any rug on the list, and move small furniture off the carpet so we can work edge to edge.
Rugs, river light and red wine
Two jobs come up again and again. The first is rugs: often a good wool or antique piece on a hard floor in a warehouse flat, and more than once an heirloom someone has owned for decades and is anxious about. We clean those where they lie, and for an heirloom we ask for a photo first so we can say whether it is safe to do in the flat. The second is sun damage. South-facing river windows pour light into these flats, and we are regularly asked to revive faded, dried-out leather sofas and bleached upholstery near a riverside window, feeding the leather so it looks rich again. Red wine on a hall carpet after a Friday night is the other classic.
Strong sunlight soils a fabric and bleaches its dye at the same time, so on a sofa or carpet that has faded badly by a river window a clean restores the texture and lifts the grime but cannot bring the original colour back. We say so before we start.
Cleaning carpets, leather and rugs
Carpets get our hot-water extraction method, which you can read about on our steam carpet cleaning page, and its drying time of 6 to 7 hours is worth planning around in a flat you cannot leave open all day. Sofas, armchairs and leather settees are covered under upholstery cleaning, including the leather feed those riverside suites need. Larger wool pieces are cleaned in your flat through our rug cleaning service, and an antique one needs a photo sent first. We work right across the borough too, and the rest of our Tower Hamlets coverage is on the borough page.
Things Westferry residents ask
Which Westferry streets do you cover, from Narrow Street to Limehouse Basin?
All of E14 on the Limehouse side, including Narrow Street, Limehouse Causeway, Three Colt Street, Branch Road and the blocks around Limehouse Basin, and on towards Westferry Road by the DLR. We also reach over to Poplar and the Isle of Dogs, so most of the riverside is a short drive for our van.
Is parking difficult for the cleaner on these streets?
It can be. Zones C and D are both controlled on weekdays from 8.30am to 5.30pm, and the conservation-area lanes by the river are narrow, so we plan loading and unloading in advance. Tell us the building and any visitor-bay or porter arrangement when you book and we will sort the parking around it.
Can you clean a large antique or wool rug from a warehouse flat?
Yes, it is a job we do often here, though we ask for a photo of an antique or heirloom rug first. A wool rug on a hard floor is vacuumed, any stains are pre-treated, and it is then shampooed and rinsed by hot-water extraction in the flat, with the water kept in check. If the photo shows delicate dyes or a worn foundation, we will tell you before we start whether it is safe to clean on site.
How long will carpets take to dry in a converted flat?
Most rooms feel dry within 6 to 7 hours. Warehouse conversions can hold damp, especially lower floors near the water, so we lift as much moisture as we can on the day and set up air movers if a room is slow or a musty smell needs clearing fully.
Can you do anything for a leather sofa faded by a river window?
Yes, up to a point. We clean the leather, then feed it with a conditioner so it softens and the surface looks richer. Light fading often improves a good deal. Where the sun has bleached the dye out completely, cleaning cannot put the colour back, and we tell you which case yours is before we start.
Our managing agent wants the communal stairs cleaned. Do you do that?
Yes. We clean communal stairs and corridors in the converted blocks, priced by the flight from £41, and we can work early before residents head out. The invoice goes to the agent or the freeholder, and if you want the stairs and your own flat done on the same visit, we price them together.
A treated area that falls short brings us back free; that is our re-clean guarantee. Our cleaners hold full insurance and DBS checks, and this stretch of the river has been part of our work since 2009.
