After more than 25 years in the cleaning industry, the map of London has become like a puzzle of well-known pieces to me. My customer support team gives me an address, and quite often, I can picture it in my head – there is a small park to the right, a nice cafe to grab a cup of latte, or a fabulous Italian restaurant to replenish the engine after a particularly hard job.
There are the posh streets and the shabby ones; the quiet residential alleys and the quick-paced high streets; the long line of marble terraced houses and the concrete high-rises. So, I decided to share my list of favourite streets to visit on a cleaning assignment – to draw my own cleaning map of London, so to speak. Today, I start with one of my all-time favourite spots – a place where I know I can unwind after the scrubbing and mopping. Welcome to New Kings Road in Fulham!
Let’s Find New Kings Road On The Map
The busy thoroughfare runs from north-east to south-west, a few hundred yards away from the Thames. To the left, the street is flanked by the Eel Brook Common – an excellent place to sit down and just enjoy a sunny day. The closest station of the subway is Parsons Green, barely a hundred yards away to the north.
Any professional cleaner will tell you that transport links and accessibility are the unmentioned features that can turn an area into a dream location or a nightmare place to work. New Kings Road is definitely the former. It is easy to get to, you have multiple public transport options, and you can travel to pretty much any area in South West London and the West End in less than half an hour. Besides, the traffic is not too bad, and you don’t have to worry about jams. So when I get a quote request from the area, at least I don’t have to worry about scheduling and planning a 2-hour trip to the address.
Grab A Coffee? Want Some Pizza? No Problem!
So, you’ve just finished a 2-bedroom apartment end of tenancy cleaning job but have two hours before your next appointment in the area. Besides, you are famished/have skipped the morning coffee, and you are cranky as a result. So what do you do? More often than not, you bite your lip and munch on a sandwich. If you happen to work on New Kings Road, however, you have multiple options!
I readily admit it – I am a foodie and proud of it! So, let’s start with my favourite spots to grab something to eat between jobs! My number one choice would be Vicino at 189 New Kings Road. It is a fabulous and cosy Italian restaurant with outstanding recipes, and the hospitality there is top-notch! If you ever visit the place, try their Bruschetta Pomodoro – you will thank me later! Oh, and their fish plates are sublime!
If you feel a bit more adventurous, try Koji at 58 New Kings Road. In my opinion, it is the best Japanese restaurant in South West London! Obviously, the sushi is ten out of ten, but the real surprise is their tacos, especially the tuna and spicy ponzu. OK, I am going to stop here because I am already salivating!
I rarely miss my morning coffee, but when I do, the best place to make amends is St Clements at 201 New Kings Road. I absolutely love that the place is independent and not part of a big chain. You can tell the difference – the cheerful attitude, the family-like atmosphere, the friendly banter between the staff and the regulars. If you want to recharge the batteries and get a cup of positive energy, go to St Clements!
Cleaning On New Kings Road Is Never Dull
As you can probably guess, with so many top-level restaurants, shops, cafes, and local businesses, this is one of the most preferred residential districts in Fulham. Naturally, many locals book a wide range of cleaning services, but two occasions stick out in my mind.
The first was an emergency tenancy cleaning job in a large apartment above Brook House, just across the street from Eel Brook Common. The customers were an overworked young couple – Adam and Jessica – who were also parents to 4-year-old twins. They were about to forfeit their security deposit, but we managed to squeeze them in at the last minute. There was nothing exceptional about the cleaning itself, except the final part – the couple had booked a hot water extraction for their carpets. We had finished all other chores and were pre-spraying the carpets for the treatment when the front door of the apartment opened with a bang, and two little, blond-haired banshees – a boy and a girl – burst on the scene.
Of course, these were Eve and Tom – the couple’s twins. They were enthralled by the heavy-duty hot water extraction machine, and no threats or pleas by their mother could discourage them from climbing on it. And so we washed the carpets, with the banshees riding the hot-water extractor like a pony. It might have been one of the funniest carpet cleaning jobs we had in months!
The second story is no less funny, though it tested the limit of my patience at first. An elderly lady booked us to wash her fabulous large hand-woven Persian rug. She lived in a lovely 1st floor flat, a stone’s throw away from the magnificent Grade II listed building at 237-245 New Kings Road, but there was a twist – she was a bit of a hypochondriac. When I visited her place to take a look at the rug before the procedure, she spent thirty minutes describing her allergies and demanded we use no detergents whatsoever, just pure steam. I reassured her the materials involved were 100% biodegradable and totally health-safe, but she was unimpressed. So we made a bet – if she had an allergic reaction, I would not charge her for the cleaning and buy any necessary medication on top of that.
Needless to say, the cleaning went smoothly, and there was no allergic reaction. A week after the procedure, we received the payment with a note: “I stand corrected. Excellent job!” Mrs Williamson has been a regular customer ever since.
I’ve got so many more nice memories from cleaning jobs in and around New Kings Road that even if the restaurants and cafes did not exist, it would still be my favourite spot to visit in Fulham!
Image Source: Wikipedia Commons
