Emergency plumber in Holland Park

Holland Park grew up around Holland House, a Jacobean mansion begun around 1605 that is now a ruin within the park. As the Holland estate released land through the 19th century, it insisted on high-quality housing: richly decorated Italianate stucco terraces to the north, large detached villas to the west, and the artists’ studio houses of Melbury Road and Holland Park Road, including Leighton House. Most houses are two generous storeys over half basements, with taller mansion blocks such as Oakwood Court among them.

January 2026: the Holland Park roundabout burst

In the early hours of 21 January 2026, a 30-inch Thames Water main burst near the Holland Park roundabout. Flooding up to a metre deep spread over about a mile, more than 50 homes and a hotel were affected, and residents in Lorne Gardens and Clearwater Terrace were evacuated by boat. Homes across west London, from W1H to W14, lost water or pressure.

Worth knowing: A burst trunk main is the water company’s to fix, and the first calls are 999 if anyone is at risk, then Thames Water. A plumber’s part comes once it is safe: protecting what can be saved, restoring your own supply and checking your pipework afterwards.

Storms and sewers

On 12 July 2021, Holland Park station closed, Holland Park Avenue flooded, and the council later visited streets including Holland Villas Road, Holland Park Gardens, Royal Crescent and St Ann’s Road. The lost river known as Counter’s Creek runs, culverted, along the western edge of the borough, and the sewers here carry rainwater and waste together. In a cloudburst, basements are the first to take water. Kensington and Chelsea’s planning policy expects new basements to have a pumped device rather than a simple non-return valve.

The Ilchester estate’s consent

Kensington and Chelsea’s appraisal of the Holland Park Conservation Area is unusually clear: written consent from the Ilchester Estates is needed for any external alteration to the appearance of a house, as well as any planning or listed building consent. The same appraisal lists badly routed pipework, at Holland Park Mews, as an example of what harms the area. An emergency repair that puts things back as they were is fine. Anything that changes the outside needs to be planned.

West Kensington

Across the railway from Olympia, West Kensington in W14 is part of Hammersmith and Fulham. Its Victorian terraces, many split into flats, and its mansion blocks bring the usual problems of shared pipes and drains. We cover it as part of Holland Park.

From Melbury Road to Norland Square, call 07862 142953 or WhatsApp us a photo. Our flood timeline for north-west London shows how storms and burst mains affect basements.