Central London to Cambridge prices
A dedicated van and crew for your move alone, on the date you booked. Everything below includes VAT, the fuel, the mileage and the Congestion Charge on the London leg.
| What you are moving | Price |
|---|---|
| Single item or a small loadA few boxes, a bed, a sofa | £350 to £650 |
| Studio or one bedroom flatTwo crew, one van, same day | £750 to £1,250 |
| Two bedroom flat or houseTwo or three crew, a Luton | £1,100 to £1,800 |
| Three bedroom houseThree crew, a full day | £1,500 to £2,500 |
| Four bedroom houseLarger vehicle or two, sometimes two days | £2,000 to £3,300 |
Why people make this move
- University and research posts, plus the biotech and technology employers around the science parks, which move people on a schedule
- London workers taking the fifty minute train from King's Cross and buying twice the house
- Students and postdocs moving a single room, which is a large share of the small load work on this route
Loading and unloading
Loading in Central London
The London end is the familiar question of floor, lift and legal stopping, with the added constraint that a two hour drive and an unload follow. We prefer an early start and we push harder for a proper loading position than we would on a local job, because time lost in London is time the Cambridge end does not get back.
Unloading in Cambridge
Cambridge divides sharply. The historic centre around the colleges, along Trinity Street and the lanes off it, is narrow, partly pedestrianised and covered by camera-enforced bus gates that penalise a van for driving through. College accommodation often means a staircase with no lift and a tightly defined move-in window. The Victorian terraces along Mill Road and around Romsey are ordinary residential streets with resident permit zones, where a suspension through Cambridgeshire County Council is worth having. The newer developments at CB1 by the station, at Eddington and around the science parks have lifts, parking and loading bays, and are the easiest unloading on this route by a distance.
The journey
M11 the whole way, sixty two miles, about an hour and three quarters. It is a straightforward run and the slow part is getting out of London to the M11 junction rather than the motorway.
One day, dedicated van and crew, loaded in the morning and unloaded the same afternoon. Where the address is inside the historic centre we plan the final approach in advance, because a satnav will route a van through a bus gate without hesitating.
Bus gates, which catch people out weekly
Cambridge enforces bus gates with cameras on several central routes. A van that drives through one gets a penalty notice, and the signage is easy to miss if you do not know the city.
We plan the route around them rather than trusting the satnav. If your address is inside or beyond one, say so at the quote stage: it changes the approach and occasionally the vehicle, and it is a cost that otherwise turns up on someone's bill three weeks later.
College moves and the move-in window
A good share of this route is a single room going into college accommodation: a bed, a desk, boxes, a bike. The college usually gives a move-in window measured in hours rather than days, and often a staircase rather than a lift.
Tell us the window and the floor when you ask for a price. Those two facts decide the crew and the schedule, and a room on the third floor of a staircase with a two hour window is a different job from a ground floor room with a car park outside.
Which Cambridge you are moving to
A flat at CB1 by the station with a lift and a loading bay sits at the bottom of its band. A third floor room in a college staircase in the middle of the restricted centre, in the first week of October, sits at the top of it.
The distance is identical. The last four hundred metres are not, which is why we ask for the address rather than the postcode on every long distance job.
What makes this move go well
- Say whether the Cambridge address is inside the bus gate area, since a satnav will not warn us
- Give us the college move-in window if there is one, because several are only a few hours
- Avoid the first weeks of October and January, which are the busiest and most expensive on this route
- Ask whether the street is in a resident permit zone and give us the address early if a suspension is needed
Central London to Cambridge: common questions
How much do removals from London to Cambridge cost?
A one bedroom flat is £750 to £1,250, a two bedroom £1,100 to £1,800 and a three bedroom house £1,500 to £2,500, including VAT. A single room or small load is £350 to £650. That is a dedicated van and crew for your move alone, loaded in London and unloaded in Cambridge the same day.
Can you drive into the centre of Cambridge?
To most addresses with planning, but the camera-enforced bus gates are a real constraint and the lanes around the colleges are narrow and partly pedestrianised. We plan the approach in advance rather than following a satnav into a penalty notice.
Do you do college and student moves?
Frequently. Most are a single room in the £350 to £650 band. What decides the price is the staircase and the move-in window the college has given you, not the volume, so tell us both when you ask.
Is it done in one day?
Yes for anything up to a three bedroom house. Sixty two miles on the M11 is under two hours, so we load in the morning and unload the same afternoon comfortably.
Do you do part loads?
No. Every quote is a dedicated van and crew on a fixed date. A shared load is cheaper and gives you a delivery window of several days instead of a date. It is a reasonable option for a small flexible load and it is not what we sell.
What is included in the price?
The crew, the van, the wrapping, the dismantling and reassembly, the fuel, the mileage and the Congestion Charge on the London leg. There is no per mile addition. The one thing quoted separately is a council bay suspension at either end, passed on at cost.
