Removals in Canning Town
and Custom House.
The most transformed part of the borough and the most procedural to move in. Towers with goods lifts and booked loading bays, sitting next to estate housing that has not changed in fifty years.
Canning Town has been rebuilt around its station and the Royal Docks, and the result is two kinds of move happening on the same streets. There are the new blocks — concierge, goods lift, loading bay, a management company with a form for everything. And there is the older housing behind them, where it is street parking and a stairwell like the rest of Newham.
Moving in a new block
On paper these are the easiest moves in east London. A lift that takes furniture, a bay you can reverse into, and a lobby you are allowed to carry through.
In practice the building decides the job. You need the lift booked, the bay reserved and frequently our insurance details lodged with management in advance. Some blocks set a move window. Some will not permit moves at weekends at all. None of that is difficult — it is just slower than people expect, so it has to start when you get the date rather than the week before.
Ask management for the goods lift's internal dimensions while you are at it. It is the one measurement that occasionally stops a move dead.
Moving in the older stock
Behind the towers there is a great deal of post-war and low-rise estate housing, plus terraces towards Custom House and West Ham. These behave like ordinary Newham moves: permit-controlled streets, tight parking, and stairwells that need boarding before anything is carried.
We apply for a bay suspension where the street has suspendable bays. Where it does not, we plan a shuttle and price it honestly.
Who is moving here
A lot of first-time buyers and renters in the new blocks, often moving in from further into London or arriving from abroad. Then families in the older housing, frequently moving within the borough — a flat here to a house in Beckton being one of the commonest journeys we make.
Getting it quoted
For a block: the floor, the lift situation, whether a bay is bookable, and any move window the building enforces. For the older housing: the floor, the stair, and where the van can legally sit.
See flat removals for how we handle blocks and walk-ups, man and van for smaller loads, and areas we cover for the rest of the borough.
Canning Town questions
Does the building need to approve the move?
In almost every new Canning Town block, yes. Management will want the goods lift booked, the loading bay reserved, and often evidence of our insurance. Start that as soon as you have a date — their process is nearly always slower than ours, and a move without approval can simply be refused entry on the day.
Is there a time window we have to move in?
Many blocks set one, particularly where the loading bay is shared. It is worth asking management early, because a restricted window changes how we crew the job — more people over fewer hours rather than the other way round.
Do goods lifts fit a sofa?
Usually, but not always, and "usually" is not good enough to plan on. Ask management for the internal dimensions of the goods lift, or measure it. We would rather know before the day than find out with a three-seater standing on end in a lobby.
What about the older estates?
Canning Town is not all towers. There is a lot of older low-rise housing and post-war estate stock, and those moves behave like the rest of Newham — street parking, permits, stairs. We cover both.
Moving in E16?
Two addresses, the floor at each end, and roughly what is going. That is enough for us to price it properly.