Hertfordshire · TR19 inspections and grease testing
TR19 inspections and grease testing in Hook's Cross, Hertfordshire
TR19 inspection across Hook's Cross and nearby, timed so the site keeps working and finished with a written report and photos.
- Insurance renewals needing proof of TR19 cleaning
- Systems cleaned on a calendar with no measurements
- Sites with gaps in their extract records
TR19 inspection in Hook's Cross
BESA’s minimum cleaning frequencies depend on how long the kitchen cooks each day: every 3 months for heavy use of 12 to 16 hours a day, every 6 months for moderate use of 6 to 12 hours, and every 12 months for light use of 2 to 6 hours. Those are minimums, and grease readings help set the real interval. Common call-outs are for kitchen extract systems with no recent grease readings and insurance renewals needing proof of TR19 cleaning, on pre-clean surveys, post-clean checks and deposit thickness tests.
Rural kitchens often have long, low duct runs through a roof space or along an outside wall, and those horizontal sections are where grease settles. Access, parking and timings are agreed before the day.
Insurers, fire officers and environmental health officers all look at records. So every job comes with a written report and pictures, plus a TR19® certificate through the BESCA VHE portal where the work is a TR19® Grease clean.
- Where
- Hook's Cross (SG14)
- Wider area
- Hertfordshire
- Records
- TR19® certificate and photo report
- Price
- Fixed quote, usually within a working day
- Working hours
- Overnight and weekend work, 24/7 emergency callout
- Call
- 0345 646 2711
- Updated
- 30 October 2026
What staff can safely do
Day-to-day cleaning is something your team can do: wiping canopies, washing grease filters and recording it in a log. What they can’t safely do is clean inside the ductwork, the fan or the risers, which is where we come in.
A few tasks are always specialist work: entering ducts, working on fans, testing dampers and taking grease readings need training, the right equipment and safe access. Leave those to us.
FAQs for Hook's Cross
Can you work in Hook's Cross outside opening hours?
Yes, nights and weekends are routine for us. It means the site in Hook's Cross keeps running as normal. When you call 0345 646 2711, or send details by email, mention when the site is quiet.
Do you do school kitchen extract cleaning in Hook's Cross in the summer holidays?
Yes. The holidays are the usual time for school work. There are about 6 schools, colleges and universities on the FSA’s food hygiene register within about 1.5 miles of Hook's Cross. You can call us on 0345 646 2711 or drop us a line with the dates the site is empty.
Can you verify a clean after it’s been done?
Verification means repeat readings and pictures once the clean is done. The report flags anything missed.
Why survey before a clean?
We look at the system from canopy to discharge, take grease readings and check access. From it, we plan the clean and quote a fixed price.
Do you offer emergency callouts?
Yes. Our emergency line runs 24/7 for anything that cannot wait until a planned visit. Call us any time and explain what’s happened.
Will you produce a report for our insurer?
Yes. Insurers often want evidence the extract is managed to TR19®, and an audit report gives you that, with recommendations where something needs doing.
What does TR19 inspection cost?
There’s no set price, as it depends on the job: the size of the system, its condition, access and when we can work. We fix the price before we start.
How do you protect the area?
Protection goes down first: floor sheeting and covers over nearby surfaces and equipment. We tidy up and take our waste away before we leave.
Fixed quotes for TR19 inspection in Hook's Cross
The diagnosis comes before the price. The main factors are:
- Any permits to work or inductions
- Whether we need access equipment or extra panels
- When the work can happen, such as evenings, overnight or weekends
- The condition of the system
What you pay depends on how big the system is, the condition it’s in and how easy it is to reach. You get a fixed price before any work starts, so you know where you stand.
What we need to know
Photos and a few facts are often enough to price the work. Useful things to send:
- The paperwork from the last visit, if you have it
- How we’d reach plant on a roof or in a plant room
- The postcode and the type of business
- The times we could work without disrupting the site
Some systems can be priced from pictures; others need a survey. Big or complicated sites, and systems that are hard to see in photos, get a survey first. Either way, you get a fixed price before work begins.
Places near Hook's Cross
Also in Hook's Cross
When to call us in Hook's Cross
TR19® is the benchmark that insurers, fire officers and EHOs refer to. TR19® itself is not law, but the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires the responsible person to assess and reduce fire risk, and grease in the extract is part of that risk.
Any of these means the system needs a check-up:
- Sites with gaps in their extract records
- Heavy grease suspected in the plenum or ducts
- Checking the result of a recent clean
- Cleaning intervals that may not suit the kitchen
Church and community hall kitchens, near Church of All Saints or anywhere around Hook's Cross, are easy to forget, but their extracts collect grease like any other.
What your quote should include
- Which accreditations they hold, and whether you can check them
- How areas they cannot reach will be recorded
- How VAT is shown on the quote
- What hours they’ll be on site
Honest limits
We will not sell you work that doesn’t address the problem, so these are the things it will not cover:
- Sections with no access, until panels are fitted
- Installation problems, which fall under design guidance such as DW172
- Removing the grease, which is a separate clean
If you are not sure, just call 0345 646 2711 or use the quote form and we’ll give you a straight answer.
Where we work
- Access surveys
- Wet film thickness tests
- Pre-clean surveys
- Deposit thickness tests
- Insurer audits
- Post-clean checks
Landlords, agents and facilities managers
Landlords, managing agents and facilities managers book us, not only the businesses that use the systems. Where a system serves more than one tenant, such as a shared riser, it helps to agree who arranges the work, and we can quote for the whole system.
For anyone managing more than one site, we can plan visits across the whole estate and price them together. Every building has its own written report, so each one has its own record.
Kitchen extracts in Hook's Cross
Food Standards Agency data counts about 7 restaurants, cafés and canteens within roughly a mile and a half of the centre of Hook's Cross. Kitchens like these cook for very different hours, and grease testing shows which extracts need cleaning soonest. The fire and rescue service for Hook's Cross is Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service. The Fire Safety Order puts the duty on whoever runs a kitchen to control its fire risk, and a greasy duct is fuel. Food hygiene inspections in Hook's Cross are the job of East Hertfordshire council’s environmental health team. An officer looking round a kitchen will see the canopy, and grease there is hard to miss. Before-and-after pictures from each clean are a simple way to show the extract is in hand.
If you look after a school kitchen, at a school such as Barnwell School or anywhere near Hook's Cross, the holidays are the usual time for a TR19® clean. Kitchens that cook twelve hours or more a day, as some healthcare kitchens do, fall into BESA’s three-monthly minimum; Lister Hospital is the nearest hospital to Hook's Cross, about 4.8 miles north-west.
Hook's Cross is about 3 miles south-east of Stevenage, in Hertfordshire. We carry out TR19 inspection for businesses, landlords and public buildings in Hook's Cross and the rest of Hertfordshire. Our Hertfordshire coverage runs to 381 places, Hook's Cross among them. Our London page covers sites nearby, about 26 miles away.
We cover every part of SG14 for TR19 inspection and the streets around it. We also cover the places around Hook's Cross: Bragbury End (1 mile north-west), Aston (1 mile north), Datchworth (1 mile south-west), Watton at Stone (1 mile south-east) and Knebworth (2 miles west). Further out, we also cover Stevenage (3 miles north-west), St Albans (11 miles south-west), Bishop's Stortford (13 miles east), Welwyn Garden City (5 miles south-west), Harpenden (10 miles west) and Hitchin (8 miles north-west).
Landmarks near Hook's Cross
Locally, jobs take us to businesses close to Chequers Inn. The closest station to Hook's Cross is Watton-At-Stone station, about 1.3 miles south-east of the centre. Nearby you’ll also find Lister Hospital (4.8 miles north-west) and Benington Castle (2.1 miles north-east). Not far away are Astonbury Wood.
How the visit works
Protection comes first: sheeting goes over floors and surfaces close to the work. Then we make the system safe and start. It takes an hour or two for a single kitchen, longer for a large or complex system, and the area is cleaned down before we leave. Rural roads and tight entrances are worth telling us about before a visit to Hook's Cross.
- After the clean, we arrange a time to check the system.
- The same access points are opened up.
- We repeat the WFTT or DTT readings.
- Photos are taken to show the condition after the clean.
- The results are reported, with anything missed flagged.
Getting ready for the visit
- Let us know about parking and loading
- Make sure equipment near the work can be switched off and left to cool
- Let us know how we reach the system, including roofs, risers and plant rooms
Ask for a quote
Here’s what helps us quote: where the site is, what it is and its opening hours, pictures of the system and any previous report or certificate. Once you have those, give us a ring on 0345 646 2711 or use the quote form.
Advice
Keeping the system healthy
No system stays clean for ever, but care slows the build-up. A few tips:
- Diary the next grease test and clean
- Report grease dripping from the canopy
- Don’t box in or cover duct access panels
- Mention new equipment or longer hours at the next test
Any access problems we found are listed with a suggested fix. Fitting them before the next clean means the whole system gets done.
Keep filters clean and in place. Missing or damaged filters let grease straight into the plenum.