Medway · Canopy and hood cleaning
Canopy Cleaning in Lower Stoke
One call covers deep cleaning of kitchen canopies, hoods, plenums and grease filters, inside and out in Lower Stoke, from survey to sign-off. Fully insured, with CHAS, SafeContractor and ISO 9001.
- An EHO comment about the canopy
- Drips from the canopy onto the range
- Filters that never seem to stay clean
What canopy cleaning looks like in Lower Stoke
Sea air reaches Lower Stoke, which sits within about 1 mile of the coast. Near the sea, the fan and discharge at the top of a kitchen extract corrode faster than they would inland. Food Standards Agency data counts about 4 takeaways and sandwich shops within 1.5 miles or so of the middle of Lower Stoke. Each canopy in those kitchens catches grease on the inside of the hood and behind the filters. The fire and rescue service for Lower Stoke is Kent Fire and Rescue Service. Grease in a kitchen extract is a recognised fire risk, and the fire authority enforces the law on managing it in most commercial premises.
Where a hall near Church of St Peter and St Paul, or anywhere in Lower Stoke, hosts lunch clubs or events, its extract gathers grease just as a café’s does.
Lower Stoke is about 5 miles south-east of Canvey Island, in Medway. Every kind of commercial site in Lower Stoke, we can take on canopy cleaning. We can work out of hours so the site keeps running. Our area takes in 68 places across Medway, large and small. There’s also a page for Maidstone, about 14 miles away.
Here we cover the ME3 postcode area for canopy cleaning. Local streets include High Street, Brook Lane and Shepherds Way, all of which we cover for canopy cleaning. Neighbouring places we cover for canopy cleaning include Middle Stoke (1 mile south), Stoke (1 mile south-west), Allhallows (1 mile north), Allhallows-on-Sea (1 mile north-east) and North Street (2 miles south-west). Larger places within reach include Gillingham (6 miles south-west), Chatham (8 miles south-west), Rochester (7 miles south-west), Rainham (7 miles south), Strood (8 miles south-west) and Luton (7 miles south-west).
Local landmarks in Lower Stoke
In Lower Stoke, that means kitchens and buildings near The Ship pub. The countryside around Lower Stoke includes Bishop Saltings.
How we handle canopy cleaning in Lower Stoke
A kitchen team can wipe the outside of a canopy, but the seams, gutters and inner skin need more. We scrape the heavy deposits, then degrease the surfaces with methods that suit the build-up, using hot water or steam where it helps. The work covers canopy light fittings, island canopies and baffle filters, and people most often call us about a canopy flagged at an environmental health inspection and a hood coated in old grease.
In a village or hamlet like Lower Stoke, the kitchens that need extract cleaning are normally a pub, a school, a care home or a hall kitchen, wherever there is one. Each still has a canopy and duct that collect grease.
Duct Doctor has been trading since 2009, and we’re a BESCA Vent Hygiene Elite member, cleaning to BESA TR19® Grease. We also hold CHAS, SafeContractor and ISO 9001, and we carry full insurance.
- Location
- Lower Stoke (ME3)
- Region
- Medway
- Paperwork
- Certificate plus before-and-after pictures
- Quote
- Fixed quote, normally within a working day
- When we work
- Evenings, overnight and weekends; 24/7 emergencies
- Phone
- 0345 646 2711
- Last updated
- 30 October 2026
Between visits
How long the results last depends on use and care. We suggest:
- Don’t scrape the canopy with metal tools
- Make sure filters sit tight in the housing
- Clean the baffle filters often
- Empty the grease troughs before they fill
We recommend when the canopy, or the whole system, should next be cleaned. That date is based on your cooking hours and what we found, in line with BESA guidance.
Wipe the canopy surfaces at the end of each day. It does not reach the plenum, but it stops the outside building up.
Towns and villages near Lower Stoke
More services for Lower Stoke
In-house cleaning or a specialist?
If your staff spot something between visits, like drips, unusual noise, smells or damaged filters, they should report it rather than try to fix it. We will take a look and send you a fixed quote.
For ventilation and air handling systems, in-house care is mostly about checks: clear grilles, a log of filter changes and reporting anything odd. The inside of ducts and units needs a specialist.
How the job changes from site to site
Grease troughs and gutters
Many canopies have troughs or gutters around the edge to catch running grease. We empty and degrease them, so they can do their job again.
School and staff canteen kitchens
Canteen staff see the canopy, not the duct behind it. We clean it and the plenum behind the filters, so what’s out of sight is dealt with too.
For landlords and multi-site operators
Multi-site operators often want one contractor and one number. We cover South East England and London, so visits at different addresses can be planned together and kept on a regular cycle.
Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the responsible person must assess and reduce fire risk, which may be the employer, owner, landlord, FM or managing agent. With shared responsibility, good records help everyone.
Why deal with it now?
Getting the canopy cleaned in Lower Stoke now saves a bigger job later. The work takes an hour or two for one small canopy, longer where there are several, out of hours so service carries on. Left alone, grease keeps moving into the plenum and duct. It’s simpler to plan the work at Lower Stoke now than to arrange it in a hurry later.
What you pay reflects the actual work. That’s why we survey first, from pictures or on site, and why the quote is fixed before work begins.
What you get with us
- We diagnose before we treat
- Work around your opening hours, with 24/7 emergency cover
- Each visit written up, with photos
- Fixed quotes from a survey or photos
Take a look at how cleaning jobs are priced and our accreditations.
When to call us in Lower Stoke
Steam and condensation make canopy grease harder to deal with. As the canopy cools, condensation forms and runs with the grease. The result is sticky streaks and drips onto the range.
Any of these means the system needs a check-up:
- Heavy deposits behind the grease filters
- A canopy flagged at an environmental health inspection
- Grease dripping from the canopy edge
- A sticky, discoloured canopy
For schools such as Stoke Primary Academy, kitchen extract cleaning is typically booked for the holidays, when the canteen is closed.
Questions to ask before booking
- Whether inaccessible sections are listed on the report
- How VAT is shown on the quote
- Whether the figure could change on the day
- Whether the whole system is included, or only the parts that are easy to reach
Lower Stoke: your questions answered
Which council inspects kitchens in Lower Stoke?
That’s Medway council, whose environmental health officers carry out food hygiene inspections in Lower Stoke. It helps to keep the extract cleaning records with your food safety paperwork, so they’re ready if asked for.
Who enforces fire safety at workplaces in Lower Stoke?
It’s Kent Fire and Rescue Service, which covers Lower Stoke. TR19® is not law, but it’s the benchmark many fire officers and insurers look to when they ask how often the extract is cleaned.
Do you clean canopies in all kinds of kitchens?
Most commercial kitchen canopies, from one small hood to a long run of canopies. The survey tells us how best to clean yours, from photos or a visit.
Does a canopy clean meet TR19?
Canopy cleaning is part of TR19, not the whole of it. We will make clear on the report which parts were cleaned so nobody mistakes it for a full system clean.
Who is the responsible person?
The Fire Safety Order 2005 calls them the responsible person: often the employer, owner or occupier. Landlords, facilities managers and managing agents can also hold responsibility.
What does canopy cleaning cost?
The cost depends on the size of the system, its condition, access and timing. Ask us for a fixed quote and we will typically reply within one working day.
How do you protect the area?
Protection goes down first: sheeting over floors, worktops and anything close to the work. We tidy up and take our waste away before we leave.
What paperwork do I get after a canopy clean?
Every clean comes with a photo report that lists what was cleaned and anything we couldn’t reach. Where the whole system is cleaned, you also get a TR19 certificate through the BESCA Vent Hygiene Elite portal.
How the visit works
Our technicians bring everything the work needs, including protection sheets, the right tools and access kit. You only need to give us clear access and switch off what needs to be off. On site, the work takes part of a shift for most kitchens, more where there are several canopies or heavy deposits. If you can send pictures, we can arrive in Lower Stoke knowing what to expect.
- First the canopy is surveyed, by pictures or in person.
- Equipment below is switched off and left to cool, then sheeted.
- Filters come out and the plenum behind them is scraped and degreased.
- We degrease the canopy shell, its seams and the grease troughs.
- We refit the filters, clear up and photograph the finished canopy.
How to prepare
- Move anything stored near the system
- Agree a time when the area can be out of use
- Allow time for equipment near the work to be turned off and cool down
Ask for a quote
Photos are the quickest way to a quote: wide shots of the system, close-ups of anything that worries you and how we’d get to it. Tell us what kind of site it is and when it’s open, and we can price many jobs without a visit.