Kent · Canopy and hood cleaning
Shepway canopy cleaning
We cover Shepway for canopy and hood cleaning. Fixed quotes, work around your opening hours and photo reports on every job.
- Condensation running down the canopy
- Canopy gutters full of old fat
- Grease filters blocking between washes
Canopy cleaning for kitchens and businesses in Shepway
Duct Doctor has cleaned canopies and hoods since 2009. As a BESCA Vent Hygiene Elite member, cleaning to BESA TR19® Grease, we treat the canopy as one part of a whole system, and we hold CHAS, SafeContractor and ISO 9001. If you have drips from the canopy onto the range and a sticky, discoloured canopy, we can put it right, from canopy light fittings, baffle filters and wall canopies onwards.
Kitchens around a place like Shepway are often in older buildings or single-storey extensions, with the duct running through a roof space or up an outside wall. Flat runs collect grease and need proper access to clean.
A written report with pictures follows each visit, so you have a record of what was done and when. Where the work is a TR19® Grease clean, the certificate is issued through the BESCA Vent Hygiene Elite portal.
- Location
- Shepway (ME15)
- Region
- Kent
- Reporting
- Certificate and photo report
- Price
- Fixed quote, normally within a working day
- Hours
- Out of hours as standard, 24/7 emergency line
- Telephone
- 0345 646 2711
- Reviewed
- 30 October 2026
Part by part
Plenums and filter housings
A plenum that hasn’t been cleaned for a long time can hold a thick layer of grease. We remove thick grease by hand, then degrease.
Grease troughs and gutters
Grease channels around the canopy collect what runs down the inside. They’re emptied and cleaned during the job, so they can do their job again.
Shepway kitchens: local notes
Look up Shepway on the FSA’s food hygiene register and you’ll find about 118 cafés, restaurants and staff canteens and about 47 takeaways and sandwich shops within roughly a mile and a half of the centre of Shepway. Wherever there’s a canopy over the cooking, its hood and plenum collect grease with every service. Environmental health officers from Maidstone council inspect food businesses in Shepway. They look at how clean the premises and equipment are, and the kitchen extract is part of that. Before-and-after pictures from each clean are a simple way to show the extract is in hand. Fire safety in Shepway falls to Kent Fire and Rescue Service. In most workplaces, including commercial kitchens, it’s the fire and rescue authority that enforces the Fire Safety Order.
School kitchens, at schools like Greenfields Community Primary School for example, are typically cleaned in the holidays so no lunches are lost. A hospital like KIMS hospital, about 2.2 miles north, is the kind of site where a kitchen may cook for patients, staff and visitors all day. Where a hall near St Martin's Church, or anywhere in Shepway, hosts lunch clubs or events, its extract gathers grease just as a café’s does.
Shepway is about 1 mile south-east of Maidstone, in Kent. From the centre of Shepway to the outskirts, canopy cleaning is available to all kinds of commercial premises, from small sites to large estates. Shepway is one of 922 places in Kent we cover for commercial clients.
Postcode districts we cover here for canopy cleaning: ME15. We cover sites on Derby Road, Devon Road and Surrey Road and the roads around them. Neighbouring places we cover for canopy cleaning include Willington (1 mile east), Park Wood (1 mile south), Otham (1 mile south-east), Maidstone (1 mile north-west) and Weavering (1 mile north-east). Further out, we also cover Sittingbourne (10 miles north-east), Royal Tunbridge Wells (15 miles south-west), Gravesend (14 miles north-west), Tonbridge (12 miles west), Faversham (15 miles east) and Northfleet (15 miles north-west).
Near you in Shepway
Locally, jobs take us to businesses close to Mote Park, The Wheatsheaf pub and Senacre Technology College, among other places. Shepway’s nearest station is Maidstone West station, roughly 1.7 miles north-west of the centre. Other landmarks nearby include KIMS hospital (2.2 miles north) and Allington Castle (3.1 miles north-west). Open spaces near Shepway include Detling Hill.
How the visit works
We turn up at the time agreed with you, often in the evening, overnight or at the weekend so the site keeps working. Equipment that has to be off is switched off and allowed to cool first, and floors and nearby surfaces are sheeted. On site, it takes part of a shift for most kitchens, more where there are several canopies or heavy deposits. Evenings, weekends or a closed day all work for a site in a place like Shepway.
- We start by checking the canopy and what’s behind its filters.
- We protect everything below once it has cooled.
- Thick grease is scraped away before the canopy is degreased.
- We finish the plenum, troughs and canopy and check them over.
- You get pictures of the result and a recommended date for the next clean.
How to prepare
- Name a contact who can let us in at the agreed time
- Plan for cooking equipment or plant to be off before we arrive
- Clear the space around the work
Get a fixed quote
To help us quote: the address, the type of site and when it’s open, pictures of the system and the last certificate or report, if there is one. Once you have those, call us on 0345 646 2711, or email photos.
Related advice
Landlords, agents and facilities managers
From a single site to a large estate, you get the same standard: a survey first, a fixed quote, the work timed around the site and a report with photos.
Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the responsible person must assess and reduce fire risk, and that can be the employer, the owner, a landlord, a facilities manager or a managing agent. Where responsibility is shared, records matter even more.
Between visits
Here’s the after-treatment advice, short and simple:
- Refit filters the right way round and fully seated
- Tell us when the canopy starts to drip
- Avoid harsh scourers that scratch the canopy
- Keep grease cups and drawers emptied
The report gives a recommended next clean date. It reflects how long the kitchen cooks and how much grease we removed, in line with BESA guidance.
Wipe the canopy surfaces at the end of each day. It won’t replace a professional clean, but it slows the build-up you can see.
What staff can safely do
In-house cleaning and specialist cleaning do different jobs. Wiping filters daily and washing them weekly keeps the visible parts in order, but grease that has passed the filters is out of reach. That part needs specialist access and equipment.
Day-to-day cleaning is something your team can do: wiping down canopy surfaces, cleaning filters and keeping a simple log. Inside the ducts, risers and fan is specialist work, which is where we come in.
When something else is needed
We’d rather tell you now than book work that will not help, so here are the limits:
- Filters that no longer seal in the housing
- Faulty canopy lights or wiring (a job for an electrician)
- A canopy undersized for the equipment
Not sure which it is? You can call 0345 646 2711 or drop us a line and we’ll tell you honestly.
What we work on in Shepway
- Canopy light fittings
- Plenum chambers
- Baffle filters
- Island canopies
- Grease gutters
- Wall canopies
Towns and villages near Shepway
What else we do in Shepway
What happens if it’s left?
For a kitchen in Shepway, a canopy that looks greasy can colour a whole inspection. Keeping it clean shows the rest of the kitchen is being looked after, and it’s far easier to keep clean than to rescue. Light use slows the build-up but doesn’t stop it.
One small site or a whole estate, we price it on the same basis: the work involved, the access and the timing. The price is fixed before work begins.
Why choose Duct Doctor in Shepway
- Full insurance on every job
- One contact for all your sites in London and the South East
- Every job surveyed first
- Out-of-hours work and a 24/7 emergency line
Shepway: your questions answered
Who is the fire and rescue service for Shepway?
Shepway is in the area of Kent Fire and Rescue Service. Records of extract cleaning are a sensible thing to have ready if a fire safety officer carries out an audit.
Which council inspects kitchens in Shepway?
The local authority for Shepway is Maidstone council, and its environmental health team does the inspecting. How often a business is inspected depends on the risk rating the council gives it, so it’s worth staying ready all year.
What causes grease to drip from the hood?
Full gutters and a heavily coated plenum are the common causes. With nowhere to collect, the grease overflows, and condensation can carry it too. Cleaning the canopy and plenum clears it.
How long does canopy cleaning take?
Size and build-up decide it. As a guide, it takes an hour or two for one small canopy, longer where there are several.
Which accreditations do you hold?
BESCA Vent Hygiene Elite membership, cleaning to BESA TR19® Grease, plus CHAS, SafeContractor and ISO 9001. We have been trading since 2009 and we are fully insured.
Do you offer maintenance contracts?
Yes. Regular plans can run on 3, 6 or 12-monthly cycles, to suit the system and how it’s used.
Do we lose a day’s trading?
Not normally. We need the work area to ourselves while we’re on site, so we book a time when it would be closed anyway.
Can you clean the canopy outside our opening hours?
The clean is done out of hours: evenings, overnight, early mornings or weekends. Equipment under the canopy needs to be off and cool.