What £580 covers
- Two crew, which is what a one bedroom needs almost everywhere in the centre
- A long wheelbase transit or a Luton, matched to what the street will take
- Wrapping the sofa, the mattress and the wooden furniture before it leaves the room
- Dismantling and reassembling the bed and the wardrobe where they will not turn on the stairs
- The Congestion Charge at £18 and ULEZ where they apply
- Booking the goods lift and squaring it with the porter
- Goods in transit and public liability cover
Jobs we have priced
Four real one bed move jobs with the access at both ends, so you can find the one that looks like yours.
Pimlico to Clapham
Second floor with no lift, resident bay free outside on Cambridge Street, ground floor flat at the Clapham end with a driveway. Weekday, one run.
£575
Marylebone to Maida Vale
Mansion block on Devonshire Place, service lift both ends, porter given two days notice, lift booked and floor protected.
£520
Shoreditch to Hackney
Third floor warehouse conversion with a shared goods lift that takes one load at a time, plus a wardrobe that would not turn on the half landing and came apart.
£660
Kensington to Fulham
Raised ground floor with eight external steps, Saturday booking, bay suspension applied for on the Kensington end and charged at cost on top.
£750
What the access does to the price
| Situation | Price |
|---|---|
| Lift or ground floor at both endsMansion blocks with a service lift and porters sit here. Notice for the lift is worth more than anything else you can give us. | £420 to £540 |
| One or two flights at one endThe standard Central London one bed. Two crew, one run, done by early afternoon. | £530 to £660 |
| Third floor walk-up or higherThree crew on the worst of them. A sofa down four flights of a period staircase is where the money goes. | £650 to £850 |
| A shared goods lift you have to queue forPriced for the lift being slow, because it will be. This is the case hourly billing punishes hardest. | £570 to £740 |
What moves the figure
- The floor and the staircase+£100 to £270
- A Georgian half landing that will not turn a wardrobe is worth more on the price than an extra floor is. We ask about the turn, not just the number of steps.
- Whether the van can stop at the door+£60 to £155
- Red routes on Marylebone Road, Euston Road and Park Lane have no legal stopping at all, so we load from a side street and walk it.
- A suspended bay£45 to £120 at cost
- Worth it on a one bed more often than on a studio, because the number of trips makes the carry distance count. Several working days of notice, set by the borough.
- Saturday or the last week of the month+10% to 15%
- Tenancies end on the same dates across the whole city, so the last Friday of the month is the single busiest slot there is.
- Packing, if you want it done for you+£175 to £350
- A one bedroom takes two people three or four hours to pack properly. Booked alongside the move it is cheaper than as a separate visit.
- Moving out of the centre rather than within it+£80 to £235
- Priced as one job rather than by the mile. A one bed from Islington to Croydon costs more than Islington to Holborn, and less than the mileage would suggest.
Why the same flat costs £520 or £750
Take the two ends of our own examples. The Marylebone mansion flat and the Kensington raised ground floor hold the same furniture. One has a service lift, a porter who was told in advance, and a loading area. The other has eight external steps, a Saturday date and a street where the van cannot legally stop without a suspension.
Nothing about the furniture explains the hundred and twenty pound gap. The staircase, the date and the parking explain all of it, which is why we ask about those three before we ask what you own.
What an hourly firm would charge for the same job
Two people and a Luton in Central London runs £95 to £150 an hour, usually with a two hour minimum and often a three hour minimum on the larger vans. A one bedroom move with two flights of stairs is four to five hours door to door once you count loading, the drive and the unload.
That puts an hourly quote somewhere between £380 and £750 before the Congestion Charge, the minimum and whatever the firm calls a stairs surcharge. Our £580 sits inside that range rather than under it, and the difference is not the price. It is that ours is the number you pay whatever the lift does, and theirs is an estimate that only goes one way.
Boxes, and the number that changes the van
A one bedroom flat produces fifteen to twenty five boxes for most people, and that fits a long wheelbase transit alongside the furniture. Past about thirty five boxes we bring a Luton, and past fifty it stops being a one bedroom job on the price whatever the tenancy agreement calls it.
Where that matters is books, records and kitchen equipment, which are heavy rather than bulky and are the usual reason a flat outgrows its own description. If you have more than four boxes of books, say so, because it changes the crew rather than the vehicle.
The end of tenancy timing problem
Most one bedroom moves in the centre are rentals, and rentals end on the last working day of the month. Everyone in London is moving on the same Friday, every removals firm is booked, and the councils have a queue for suspensions that week as well.
Booking a Tuesday saves you ten to fifteen per cent and gets you a crew that is not on its third job of the day. Where the tenancy will not bend, ask for the morning slot and get the keys sorted the day before.
How to bring the number down
Every one of these is something you can do rather than something we can discount.
- Move on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, and avoid the last Friday of the month
- Pack and seal every box yourself, and label which room they are going to
- Take the wardrobe doors off yourself if you know the staircase is tight
- Give us the floor number and the lift answer at the quote stage rather than on the day
- Book the goods lift and tell the porter yourself where your building allows it
- Move the contents of the wardrobe into bags rather than leaving it loaded
One bedroom flat move costs: common questions
How much does it cost to move a one bedroom flat in Central London?
Between £420 and £850 including VAT, with most jobs landing near £580. A one bedroom with a lift at both ends and somewhere legal to park sits at £420 to £540. A third floor walk-up, or a Saturday in the last week of the month, sits at £650 to £850. That figure covers two crew, the van, the wrapping, the dismantling, the fuel and the Congestion Charge.
Why is your price fixed when everyone else charges by the hour?
Because the things that make a Central London move run long are things we choose, not things you choose. The route, the crew size, the van, whether we asked about the lift. An hourly rate hands you the bill for our planning. A fixed figure means a slow goods lift is our problem, which is where it belongs.
How long does a one bedroom move take?
Four to five hours door to door for a typical one, including the drive and the unload. With a lift at both ends it can be done in three. A third floor walk-up at the loading end alone will push it past six, and that is the job we price at the top of the band.
Does the price include the Congestion Charge and ULEZ?
Yes, both, and they are inside the quoted figure rather than added at the end. The Congestion Charge went to £18 a day in January 2026 and ULEZ is £12.50, and almost every Central London move crosses one or both. A quote that does not mention them is a quote that will grow.
What is not included in the price?
Full packing unless you book it alongside, which adds £175 to £350 on a one bedroom. Disconnecting plumbed appliances or hardwired electrics. A council bay suspension, which we pass on at cost and show as its own line. Storage facility fees, which you pay the facility rather than us.
Do you need a deposit?
Not for a standard one bedroom move. Where the job needs a bay suspension we ask for that cost up front, because the council takes the money in advance and does not refund it once the suspension is granted. Anything we ask for is stated in the quote rather than raised later.
Can you move me at short notice?
Often within a couple of days, and sometimes the same day for a weekday slot. What we cannot compress is a bay suspension, because the borough sets that lead time and it runs to several working days. If your street has no legal stopping, short notice means carrying further rather than waiting.
How we do the job itself
This page is about the money. The flat and apartment removals page covers the method: the crew, the wrapping, the access planning and what tends to go wrong.
Prices by area
The band above holds across all 37 Central London areas we cover. What changes between them is the parking and the housing stock, which is what decides where in the band you land.