The same insect, different settings
A cockroach in a Hornchurch kitchen, one in a flat above a Romford shop and one behind a market stall may be the same species, but the fix is not the same. In a house you control most of the building; in a flat above a shop, the business below is often part of the story too; a food business has legal duties of its own.
Confirm what you are seeing
Cockroaches hide by day, so evidence often comes before the insects: droppings like ground pepper, shed skins, a musty smell. Check the corners of cupboards, the hinges of doors and behind the cooker, and take a look with a torch after dark, when cockroaches are most active.
In your own kitchen
Work through the warm, enclosed spots one by one: the gap behind the fridge, under the sink, round the boiler, and inside the plinths at the base of the units. None of this reflects on how the house is kept; in a bungalow especially, an airing cupboard that stays damp or a slow leak under the sink can matter as much as anything in the kitchen itself.
Flats above Romford's shopping parades
Living above a shop around Romford's town centre means sharing warmth, drainage and sometimes a rear yard with whatever business trades below. Where cockroaches look to be coming up from downstairs, both the flat and the shop usually need to be told, since treating only one side rarely settles it. A sink that goes unused for a while is worth topping up with water, so its trap doesn't dry out and open a route upward.
If you run a food business
Food hygiene law places a duty on any food business to have proper pest-control procedures in place, whether that's near Rainham, where riverside and marshland industrial land to the south, or elsewhere in the borough. Record what you find and when, keep incoming stock clear of the floor, and inspect boxes on arrival, as anyone near Collier Row will recognise, where suburban streets to the north of Romford. When you get in touch, tell us the kind of premises, roughly how big it is and where sightings have happened; when you contact us, mention the type and rough size of the site, commercial premises are always quoted separately, whether that's near Romford, where the market-town centre, or elsewhere in the borough.
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 Havering
Cockroach control in Havering is £190 for a flat and £240 for a house, with business premises quoted separately; see the Havering cockroach control page. When you book cockroach control, say which setting you are in and whether neighbours or the business below are affected.
