House Clearance in Petts Wood

Petts Wood was built almost from scratch in the late 1920s by the developer Basil Scruby, with Leonard Culliford designing the road layout. Scruby paid £6,000 to build the railway station to serve his new suburb, and put shops and a cinema up beside it. The Petts Wood and Knoll ward recorded 13,651 residents at the 2011 census.

The railway line splits the suburb into two noticeably different halves, and that genuinely changes the job. East of the line the houses are larger and better built; west of it they are smaller and more densely packed, because Scruby's financial difficulties left him with less control over the developers working there.

In practice, an east-side clearance usually means a driveway, wider doorways and room to turn a van, while the west side more often means on-street parking and a carry. Saying which side of the line you are on is one of the more useful things you can tell us when you enquire.

Because the whole suburb went up within a few years, the properties are consistent and the jobs repeat — full clearances on sale or probate, loft and garage clear-outs. The woodland holds a sundial commemorating William Willett, who promoted daylight saving and is thought to have had the idea while riding here.