The same insect, different buildings
A cockroach in a Stoke Newington kitchen, one in a flat near Dalston Junction and one behind a stall at Broadway Market may be the same species, but the fix isn't identical. In a house you control the whole building; in a flat, shared pipework can be part of the story; a food business carries legal duties of its own.
Confirm what you are seeing
Cockroaches stay hidden through the day, so it's usually the evidence that shows up first, droppings resembling ground pepper, shed skins, a musty smell near warm pipework - the same pattern holds near Hoxton, where warehouse conversions and estate housing close to Shoreditch. Checking with a torch after dark, when they're most active, gives a clearer answer than looking in daylight - the same pattern holds near Clapton, where victorian terraces rising up from the marshes.
In your own kitchen
Check the warm, enclosed places one after another: behind the fridge, under the sink, around the boiler, and inside the base plinths of the units, true near Dalston too, where dense Victorian housing and old warehouse and loft conversions around the junction and Kingsland. None of this is a reflection of housekeeping, a slow leak under the sink is enough on its own to cause it - the same pattern holds near Hoxton, where warehouse conversions and estate housing close to Shoreditch.
Kingsland Road and Broadway Market
The food businesses and flats along Kingsland Road and around Broadway Market sit close together, sharing warm pipework and sometimes a rear yard. Where cockroaches seem to be arriving from a neighbouring unit rather than starting in your own kitchen, telling the other businesses or households matters, since treating only one side rarely settles it.
If you run a food business
Keeping pests out is a legal requirement for food businesses under food hygiene law, not just good practice, true near Shoreditch too, where former industrial buildings converted into flats and offices. Keep a note of what you see and when, keep stock off the floor, and check boxes as deliveries come in, true near Homerton too, where terraced streets and ex-GLC estates near the hospital and Chatsworth Road. Tell us the kind of premises and roughly how big it is; tell us roughly how big the premises is and what kind it is, since commercial work is priced on a case-by-case basis, as anyone near Shoreditch will recognise, where former industrial buildings converted into flats and offices.
What to avoid while you wait
- Spraying at cockroaches you can see, which scatters the rest into walls and next door
- Moving boxes, appliances or furniture from an affected kitchen into clean rooms
- Leaving pet food, dirty dishes or standing water out overnight
- Bringing in second-hand appliances without checking them first
Booking cockroach control in Hackney
Cockroach control in Hackney is £190 for a flat and £240 for a house (business premises quoted separately); since around Stoke Newington, where victorian terraces around Church Street and the reservoirs, telling us whether you are in a home or a business, and whether neighbouring premises might be affected, when you book cockroach control saves time, and the Hackney cockroach control page has the rest.
