Teddington's drains, as we know them
Teddington’s drain story is written in its lofts and side returns. The Victorian terraces between the High Street and the river are some of the most extended houses in London: side-return kitchens, loft bathrooms, utility rooms, all plumbed (enthusiastically, and sometimes optimistically) into drain runs laid in the 1890s for a house with one cold tap. When a modern family kitchen with a dishwasher and an American fridge drains into a four-inch clay pipe with original joints, the pipe eventually files a complaint. That complaint usually arrives via the downstairs gully, on a Sunday.
Around Bushy Park and the Grove Gardens streets, mature trees do their usual quiet work on the joints, and the closer you get to Teddington Lock the more the river’s water table joins in. We also see a very Teddington special: beautifully landscaped gardens where the drain’s inspection chamber was paved over during the makeover, which turns a twenty-minute clear into a treasure hunt. (We bring the metal detector. Genuinely.)
None of this is a criticism, Teddington; extend away. Just know that TW11 is covered 24/7 by people who find your 130-year-old pipework fascinating rather than annoying, quote before starting, and put the flowerpots back where we found them.
Drain problems we sort in Teddington
Covering all of Teddington
From Teddington Lock, Broad Street, Bushy Park, the High Street and across Hampton Wick, Twickenham, Strawberry Hill, Kingston (over the bridge) — wherever you are in Teddington (TW11), we'll get to you fast.