Pest Control in Soho
Same-day callouts across W1 — call before midday and we can usually attend the same afternoon.
- Checkatrade approved
- DBS checked staff
- RSPH Level 2 certified
- Fully insured
- Six-month guarantee
Services
What we treat in Soho
We treat rats, mice and cockroaches for Soho's restaurants, bars, food shops and media offices, and for the flats above them: around Gerrard Street in Chinatown, the Berwick Street market, Dean Street and the lanes between Oxford Circus and Leicester Square. Soho's waste goes out in sacks on the pavement rather than in wheelie bins, and the rats here are well fed as a result.
Rats
Removal plus proofing of the route they use to get in.
Mice
Trapping and entry-point sealing, usually over two visits.
Cockroaches
Gel bait and residual programme over planned revisits.
Bed bugs
High-temperature dry steam followed by a residual spray.
Wasps & hornets
Nests treated at source, usually the same day.
Fleas
Residual treatment that breaks the breeding cycle.
Moths
Clothes and pantry moth larvae treated at the source.
Ants
Gel baiting that takes out the colony, not just the trail.
Running a business in Soho? Commercial pest control starts with a free site survey.
How it works
From your call to a guaranteed result
Call us
Tell us what you've seen and where. We explain the usual treatment and give you a ballpark price on the phone.
Inspection
A technician arrives in an unmarked vehicle, identifies the pest and finds how it's getting in.
Fixed price
You get the method, the number of visits and a fixed price before any work starts.
Treatment & guarantee
We treat and proof where needed. If the treated pest returns inside the guarantee period, we re-treat free.
Local knowledge
Pests and properties in Soho
Soho's streets are among the oldest in the West End: Gerrard Street was built between 1677 and 1685, Dean Street in the 1680s and Berwick Street between 1687 and 1703. Three centuries of alterations have left party walls, floors and basements full of gaps, and most buildings now put a kitchen at ground or basement level under offices, studios or flats. Mice and cockroaches follow the warmth and food from one kitchen to the next through shared walls and ducting, so a restaurant rarely has a problem on its own. Rats come up from the drains and work the rubbish left out for collection. Only a small population lives here, many in housing association flats, but they share walls with the businesses below.
What to expect from every visit
- Discreet unmarked vehicles and plain workwear
- No emergency call-out charges
- Treatments safe around children and pets
- Free inspection survey for homes and businesses
Westminster City Council and pest control for Soho businesses
A Soho restaurant, bar or office cannot buy pest control from Westminster City Council at the moment. The council's commercial trading team "is not taking on any further work at this time", according to its pest page as updated on 13 May 2026, and private customers are pointed to the British Pest Control Association instead.
The free service that remains is for Westminster City Council's own tenants and leaseholders. A flat let by a housing association such as Soho Housing, or by a private landlord, is not a council tenancy, so pests there are for the landlord or a private firm to deal with.
What the council still offers everyone is advice. Its rat leaflet asks for food waste to be stored in sealed containers and for drain inspection covers to be kept in good repair, and both matter in Soho, where the pavements leave no room for wheelie bins.
The position is set out on Westminster City Council's pest control page. Our 2026 guide to council pest control in London shows which neighbouring boroughs still sell treatment.
Why Soho gets rats, mice and cockroaches
Rubbish is the first reason. Writing in The Spectator in February 2025, Jonathan Miller noted that Westminster does not allow wheelie bins in Soho because the pavements are too narrow, so waste goes out in sacks, leaving food "always spare for the rat community".
Bin stores are the second. In May 2022 a Soho Housing tenant described the block's bin store to the Westminster Extra as "full of well-fed rodents and a good collection of old mattresses": food and nesting material side by side.
Then there are the kitchens. Soho is mostly restaurants and media offices on streets laid out in the late 1600s, and basement kitchens, ducting and shared walls give mice and cockroaches warmth, food and hidden routes between businesses. The Berwick Street market, trading since the early 18th century, adds produce waste at street level.
See rat control and cockroach control for how we treat each.
Getting pest control in Soho
We cover all of Soho in W1, from Oxford Street down to Shaftesbury Avenue and Chinatown, plus Covent Garden and Fitzrovia. For restaurants we arrange visits before opening or between services, Monday to Saturday from 8am to 7pm, with Sunday reserved for emergency calls.
The first visit is a free inspection survey of your premises and, where we can get access, the routes around it: basements, bin stores and shared ducts. You then get a fixed written quote. Treatment is often possible the same day, with products applied to label and rooms kept clear for the stated time, and each treatment carries a written six-month guarantee, subject to the site survey.
If an environmental health officer has already called, our article on what to do when an EHO finds mice covers the paperwork. Phone 020 3411 2329 or use the contact page; Mayfair and Marylebone are next door.
Coverage
Postcodes we cover in Soho
- W1
Also covering nearby Covent Garden and Fitzrovia.
Local authority: City of Westminster.
Soho FAQ
Pest control in Soho: common questions
Can Westminster City Council treat our Soho restaurant?+
Not at present. The council's commercial trading team says it is not taking on any further work, and its pest service now covers only council tenants and leaseholders. A Soho restaurant, bar or office needs a private contractor. A free inspection survey comes first, then a fixed written quote.
Why are rats so common on Soho's pavements?+
Because the food is on the pavement. Soho's narrow streets have no wheelie bins, so restaurants and residents put waste out in sacks, and rats tear into them. Keeping waste indoors in a sealed container until just before collection, and asking neighbours to do the same, cuts their supply.
We rent a Soho Housing flat. Who deals with mice?+
Your landlord is the housing association, not Westminster City Council, so the council's free tenant service does not apply. Report the mice to the association in writing first, since shared walls, bin stores and communal areas are usually its responsibility. If you want treatment inside the flat sooner, we can survey and quote.
Why do we still get mice when our kitchen is spotless?+
In old terraces mice usually come in from a neighbouring kitchen, a basement or a shared duct rather than living in yours. Cleaning removes their food but not their route. The survey traces where they enter, and closing those gaps matters as much as the treatment.
Need pest control in Soho today?
Same-day slots across W1. Speak to a technician, not a call centre.