Removals in Barnet, from the top of Barnet Hill to Arkley

Removals in Barnet: four kinds of home on and around the hill

The town on the ridge. Chipping Barnet is named after its market, which the council’s own pocket history of Barnet traces back to at least the 12th century. The town sat on the main road north to St Albans: the road became a turnpike in 1712, and Barnet’s place at the top of the hill made it a stop for changing tired coach horses. Most of the houses people move out of today came later. The same history dates the spread of suburban streets to after the tram reached Barnet from Archway in 1907 and the railway became part of the Underground. So a typical Barnet house move is an early 20th century or interwar house on a side road off the High Street or Wood Street, with three or four bedrooms, a loft that has held the overflow for years, and a shed at the end of the garden. Our house removals crews ask about the loft and the shed at the quote, because those two decide whether one Luton is enough or a 7.5-tonne lorry is needed.

The hill itself. Between 1818 and 1823 the road up to the town was improved and the climb eased with a raised causeway from Underhill. It is still Barnet Hill, and it still shapes a move. A loaded lorry pulling away on a slope, a crew walking a fridge-freezer down a sloping front path, a house that sits six steps above the pavement: each adds time. When we price a Barnet house we ask how many steps there are between the front door and the road, and whether the path is level, and we set the crew size from the answer rather than from the bedroom count.

The estate at Underhill. The Dollis Valley estate was built in the late 1960s and early 1970s on a south-facing slope at the edge of Chipping Barnet, as two- and three-storey houses and five-storey blocks of flats and maisonettes. Barnet Council is replacing it with 631 new homes, working with Countryside and L&Q, and its Dollis Valley regeneration page reports 408 completed so far. A move here can be out of one of the older blocks or into one of the new houses, each of which comes with at least one parking space. For flat removals from an upper floor we ask whether there is a lift, how far the van can get from the entrance, and for a new home, what the developer allows for delivery times. Our guide to moving into a block of flats lists what to ask the managing agent before the day.

The lanes towards Arkley. West of the town, Arkley and Mays Lane stayed rural long after the roads round New Barnet were laid out, according to the same council history. Where a house sits back from the road behind a drive and a gate, the questions change. A 7.5-tonne lorry may fit on the drive but not through the gate posts, and a soft gravel drive may not take its weight at all. We ask for the gate width and what the drive is made of, and if the lorry has to stay on the road we bring the extra crew to cover the longer carry.

Office removals in Barnet are usually small: a few desks on the floor above a High Street shop, a copier, a comms cabinet and boxes of files. The awkward part is the kerb. The parking outside Ye Old Monken Holt at 193 High Street has been turned into a parklet, and Barnet will not suspend it. Where the frontage is on a yellow line, the council sells a dispensation for one named vehicle instead. Our office removals team works out which of the two the shopfront needs, our IT relocation crew labels and reconnects the network kit, and our article on planning an office move in London covers the staff and supplier side.

Removals and storage in Barnet often go together when a sale completes before the next home is ready, or when a family house is being cleared into a smaller flat. We load once, hold the furniture in our storage, and deliver when you have the keys, so nobody books a second bay suspension for a second loading day. If you are deciding what to keep, our piece on downsizing to a smaller flat goes through it room by room. For a single room or a few pieces, our man and van service is booked by the hour, and the same council rules about where the van can stop still apply.

Barnet removals: a price guide

The table is where a Barnet quote starts. Three things then move the figure: whether a bay has to be suspended, how much is in the loft, garage and shed, and how far the van stands from the front door. All three are settled before you book, so the price you accept is the price you pay.

Guide prices only. Your fixed quote is built on your Barnet street, the access and the volume.

Next door to Barnet

Some moves from Barnet only go a short way: down the hill, across the county line into Hertfordshire, or a few stops down the Northern line. Each of these neighbours has its own page with the detail for its streets.