Removals in Woodford, from the High Road greens to the Monkhams estate

House removals Woodford Green: a ridge, a forest road and lanes without pavements

Redbridge made Woodford Green and Woodford Wells two of its first conservation areas in 1970, and its 2007 character appraisal of the two areas is the best plain description of the place we have found. It puts the High Road on a ridge about 60 metres above sea level, following the route of an ancient forest track, with long, rough greens on either side and buildings from the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries round their edges. It also says something every removal crew learns quickly: many of the roads away from the High Road behave like country lanes. They are narrow, lined with mature hedges, and in places have no footpath at all.

That matters more than the size of the house. On Mornington Road, for example, the appraisal describes large detached houses, each designed individually and set in big gardens, in late Victorian, Edwardian, Arts and Crafts and interwar styles. Further west the road narrows, loses its pavement and runs between a grass verge and hedgerows. A 7.5-tonne lorry can usually get down a lane like that, but it may not be able to pass anything coming the other way, and the crew may be carrying from a lorry parked some distance from the gate. We walk the approach at survey, decide whether a smaller van shuttling to a larger one is quicker, and build the time into the price rather than finding out on the morning.

The High Road itself is the other half of the picture. It is the A104, it carries heavy traffic, and through the greens it is lined with guardrails, traffic lights and an underpass. Pulling up outside a house that fronts the High Road is rarely the answer. The appraisal also picks out the narrow point where Monkhams Lane meets Inmans Row, which is worth knowing if you are moving from one of the houses beyond it. Most of our Woodford Green loads go through side roads, and we tell you in advance where the vehicle will stand.

Woodford removals for big family houses

Single-family houses in large gardens are still a large part of the stock here, and that shows in the inventory. A Woodford survey usually finds a garage holding more than a car, a loft that has not been emptied since the last move, a garden room or summerhouse, and furniture bought for rooms with high ceilings. Our house removals quote covers all of it as one load, with the vehicle and crew size confirmed in writing. If you are moving to somewhere smaller, sort what stays before the survey rather than after; our guide to clearing out a house room by room before the crew arrives sets out an order that works for lofts and garages. For a large house our packing team usually spends a full day before the move, so the loading day is only loading.

The Monkhams estate and The Broadway

East of the High Road, the Monkhams estate runs north from Woodford station. Redbridge’s Woodford Broadway appraisal explains how it was built: an Edwardian first phase around The Broadway, Monkham’s Drive, Monkham’s Avenue and Queen’s Avenue in the early twentieth century, a pause for the First World War, then an interwar phase spreading north towards Epping Forest. The southern streets were added to the Woodford Broadway conservation area in November 2013; the rest of the estate is still a residential precinct, a local designation the council has used there since 1971.

For a move, the estate means detached and semi-detached houses with decorative gables and front gardens, many of which have been turned into parking. A paved front garden usually gives us room for the van off the road, which saves a suspension, so tell us if yours has one. The land falls eastwards from the ridge at different gradients, so some front paths have steps and a slope to deal with. Kings Avenue has traffic calming, which slows a lorry down but does not stop it. Near The Broadway a few of the houses at the southern end of Monkham’s Drive and Monkham’s Avenue have been split into flats, and the parade itself has flats above the shops, reached by metal stairs from the service area at the back. Those are the moves where we check the stair width and the turn at the top before quoting; our notes on moving out over a row of shops cover the questions to ask your landlord.

Woodford Green village: flats, surgeries and small shops

The village part of Woodford Green, along the High Road, Mill Lane, The Square, The Terrace and Johnson Road, is the busiest bit of kerb in IG8. The appraisal lists a doctor’s surgery, a pub, a butcher, a pharmacy and Sir James Hawkey Hall, plus flats above several of the parades and a number of houses converted to flats. Moves here are usually smaller and quicker, often a one or two-bedroom flat, but loading needs more care: we load early, before the shops and the surgery get busy, and we use the side roads rather than the High Road frontage.

If you are leaving a family house in Woodford for a flat, the size of the furniture is the usual problem. A dining table and a wardrobe that suited an Edwardian house will not always suit a newer flat. Measure before you decide what comes with you; our piece on choosing what fits when you downsize goes through it piece by piece. Ring 020 3983 5199 with the address at both ends and we will tell you which vehicle and crew we would send.

Woodford removals price guide

Guide prices for IG8. Your fixed price is confirmed after the survey or a video call:

Prices assume normal access. A long carry from a lane where the lorry cannot reach the gate, a second vehicle for a large house, or a council parking fee is quoted separately and agreed before you book. Woodford is inside the London-wide ULEZ; see how the ULEZ charge works for removal vans.

Areas next to Woodford

Woodford Wells and Woodford Bridge are covered from this page. These neighbours each have their own page: