Greater London · Canopy and hood cleaning
Canopy and hood cleaning in Northwood, Greater London
Professional canopy cleaning in and around Northwood, timed so the site keeps working and signed off in writing with photos.
- A hood coated in old grease
- A canopy that no longer draws the smoke away
- Drips from the canopy onto the range
About our canopy cleaning in Northwood
The canopy is where the extract system breathes in. If it’s coated in grease, everything downstream gets more of it. We start the check-up there, and the treatment is a thorough degrease of the hood, plenum and housing. The work covers grease gutters, plenum chambers and canopy light fittings, and common reasons people get in touch are poor capture at the hood and fat running down the front of the hood.
London kitchens tend to trade late and open early, so extract cleaning in Northwood is normally done overnight, after the last service. Before the clean, we agree loading, parking and roof access with whoever manages the building.
Our accreditations include CHAS, SafeContractor and ISO 9001, and we are fully insured. On top of that, we’re a BESCA Vent Hygiene Elite member, cleaning to BESA TR19® Grease, and we have been trading since 2009.
- Place
- Northwood (HA6)
- Wider area
- Greater London
- Records
- Certificate and photo report
- Quote
- A fixed quote up front
- When we work
- Out of hours as standard, 24/7 emergency line
- Call
- 0345 646 2711
- Updated
- 30 October 2026
How the visit works
Night work is normal for us. A lot of visits happen overnight or at weekends, so a kitchen or building can carry on as usual the next day. The visit itself takes a few hours for most canopies. Expect the work in Northwood to happen after your last customer leaves, not during trading.
- We look at the canopy, filters and troughs first.
- Out of hours, the range is switched off, cooled and covered.
- We lift out the filters and scrape the plenum and housing.
- The canopy shell, seams, troughs and gutters are degreased inside and out.
- Filters are refitted, the area cleaned down and the photo report put together.
Preparing for the visit
- Allow time for equipment near the work to be turned off and cool down
- Name a contact who can let us in at the agreed time
- Dig out any earlier paperwork for the system
Ask for a quote
Here’s what helps us quote: the address, the type of site and when it’s open, a few pictures and the last certificate or report, if there is one. Once you have those, call us on 0345 646 2711 or send us an email.
Advice
Why deal with it now?
When grease clogs the filters and plenum, the canopy cannot draw air as it should. The kitchen gets hotter and smokier, and the fan works harder for less. Cleaning restores the path the air should take. Shared walls, risers and roofs mean a problem at one London site seldom stays put.
A single site or a whole portfolio, the quote is built the same way: what needs doing, how we get to it and when. The price is fixed before any work starts.
Why choose Duct Doctor in Northwood
- Work around your opening hours, with 24/7 emergency cover
- A BESCA Vent Hygiene Elite member, cleaning to BESA TR19® Grease
- We diagnose before we treat
- CHAS and SafeContractor accredited, with ISO 9001
Part by part
Island canopies
Island canopies hang over cooking in the middle of the kitchen, which means grease settles on all four sides. Each face is cleaned inside and out.
Plenums and filter housings
The plenum is the space behind the filters where air gathers before entering the duct. Grease that slips past the filters settles there, and it’s cleaned every time we clean the canopy.
Canopy cleaning around Northwood
The FSA’s food hygiene register shows about 51 cafés, restaurants and staff canteens and about 26 sandwich bars and takeaways within about 1.5 miles of central Northwood. Any of those kitchens with a canopy has a hood that needs cleaning inside and out. The fire and rescue service for Northwood is London Fire Brigade. Fire and rescue authorities enforce the Fire Safety Order in most non-domestic premises, and in a kitchen that fire risk includes the grease in the extract. Kitchens in Northwood get their food hygiene inspections from Hillingdon council. An officer looking round a kitchen will see the canopy, and grease there is hard to miss. Keeping each certificate and photo report on file helps show the extract is looked after.
Kitchens that cook twelve hours or more a day, as some healthcare kitchens do, fall into BESA’s three-monthly minimum; Northwood and Pinner Cottage Hospital is the nearest hospital to Northwood, about 1 mile south. Bursars and site managers at schools such as Frithwood Primary School tend to book extract cleaning for when the kitchen is empty.
Northwood is about 3 miles south-east of Rickmansworth, in Greater London. From the centre of Northwood to the outskirts, we cover canopy cleaning for every kind of premises, from a single unit to a large public building. Northwood is one of 764 places in Greater London where we work for commercial clients. For sites nearby, see our London page (16 miles or so).
Every address in HA6 is within our area for canopy cleaning, from busy streets to back roads. That includes premises on Little Stream Close and Sandy Lodge Way and nearby roads. If your site is just outside Northwood, we cover Eastbury (1 mile north-east), Moor Park (1 mile north-west), Batchworth Heath (1 mile west), Batchworth (2 miles north-west) and Holywell (2 miles north). Within a short drive, we also cover City of Westminster (14 miles south-east), Marylebone (14 miles south-east), Kensington (12 miles south-east), St Pancras (14 miles south-east), Hampstead (11 miles south-east) and Ruislip (3 miles south).
Near you in Northwood
Locally, jobs take us to businesses close to King George V Playing Fields, The Gate Public House and London School of Theology. The nearest railway station is Carpenders Park station, roughly 1.7 miles north-east. Nearby you will also find Harlequin Centre (2.9 miles north-east) and Heath Robinson Museum (2.2 miles south-east). Open spaces near Northwood include Dews Farm Sand Pits and Tumbling Bay.
Northwood: your questions answered
Who is the fire and rescue service for Northwood?
London Fire Brigade is the fire and rescue service for Northwood. If a fire safety officer visits a commercial kitchen, they may ask about the fire risk assessment and how the extract is kept clean.
Do you clean school canteen extracts around Northwood out of term?
Yes, out-of-term visits are normal for schools. Around Northwood, the Food Standards Agency lists about 24 schools and colleges with registered kitchens within a mile and a half or so. Booking early in the term gives the best choice of holiday dates.
Does the law say we must follow TR19?
No. The law sets the duty; TR19® is the benchmark used to show it’s met. Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the responsible person has to manage fire risk, and without records, many insurers may refuse or reduce a claim.
What information do you need?
The site address, the type of premises and your opening hours, along with a few pictures and any previous report.
What causes grease to drip from the hood?
Most drips come from overflowing troughs, damaged filters or a plenum thick with grease. We clean the canopy, plenum and troughs and tell you what we find.
What accreditations do you have?
We are a BESCA Vent Hygiene Elite member, cleaning to BESA TR19® Grease. We also hold CHAS, SafeContractor and ISO 9001, and we are fully insured.
Do you offer emergency callouts?
Yes, 24/7. Our office is open from 8am to 6pm on weekdays, and the emergency line covers the rest.
Which sectors do you work in?
Restaurants and pubs, hotels, schools and colleges, hospitals and care homes, offices and retail, as well as food production and leisure sites.
Nearby places to Northwood
More services for Northwood
What staff can safely do
Staff cleaning and specialist work are not the same thing. A daily filter wipe and a weekly filter wash keep grease down at the front of the system, but they don’t reach the grease that builds up further in. That part needs specialist access and equipment.
Keep a record of what your team does. A simple log of filter washes, wipe-downs and checks helps show that the system is managed between specialist visits, alongside our reports.
What affects the cost of canopy cleaning
Some jobs are bigger than they look, and some smaller. What affects the quote:
- Whether it’s a one-off visit or part of a schedule
- The condition of the system
- Site requirements such as sign-in and permits
- Parking and loading at the site
The price reflects the work, not guesswork. That’s why we survey first, from pictures or on site, and the price is agreed before any work starts.
Asking for a quote
Photos let us diagnose from a distance. Try to include:
- Where the plant sits or the system leaves the building, such as a roof or outside wall
- Anything you’ve noticed, such as smells, noise, drips or poor airflow
- Any access panels or hatches you can see
- The paperwork from the last visit, if you have it
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. Add the site type and your opening hours, and we can price many jobs without a visit.
Multi-site and managed buildings
For anyone managing more than one site, we can schedule visits across all of them on one quote. Each site gets its own report and photos, so records stay tidy.
Facilities teams in offices, schools and healthcare sites book us too in Northwood and across Greater London. Work can be phased by floor, building or site to keep disruption down.
What we are called out for in Northwood
Grease does not build up any differently in Northwood: the hours and the type of cooking decide how fast. Frying and grilling load a canopy far faster than steaming or boiling.
Keep an eye out for these warning signs:
- Smoke hanging around the canopy during service
- Grease dripping from the canopy edge
- Filters that never seem to stay clean
- A greasy hood noticed by an inspector
If you run catering at a historic house or estate in the area (Headstone Manor is about 3.3 miles south-east), event kitchens in older buildings often have awkward duct runs that need planning.
What to look for in a quote
- If the quote is a fixed price or an estimate
- Whether inaccessible sections are listed on the report
- Whether a survey comes first
- Whether a written report and pictures are included