Pest control in Ashton-under-Lyne

A cotton town laid out on a grid

Ashton’s homes owe a great deal to cotton. Seventy-five mills opened here between 1773 and 1905, and in the decades either side of 1800 the middle of town was redrawn as a planned grid of roads. Housing built specifically for mill workers appeared at Park Bridge, close to the border with Oldham, as early as the 1820s. In 1845 the mill owner Hugh Mason went a step further at Oxford Mills, founding a model community for his workforce with its own recreation facilities and public baths.

That history still matters when something is scratching under your floorboards. A house from the mill years has had generation after generation of gas pipes, cables, waste outlets and extensions cut through its walls, and every rough gap left behind is a way in.

Why do mice move in when the weather turns?

House mice spend the warmer months in hedges, sheds and garages, then look for heat and food once the nights draw in, usually from October. An adult can get through a hole roughly the width of a pencil, and mice climb well. In older Ashton houses the usual routes are where services enter: the gas meter box, the gap behind the boiler, pipework under the sink and airbricks with cracked grilles. Where homes share a party wall or a roof void, mice wander along the row, so it’s worth asking next door whether they’ve heard anything too.

Our mice control visits begin outside, walking the walls to find where they’re getting in, before we move on to the kitchen, the cupboard under the stairs and the loft. Once activity stops, we close the holes with wire wool, mesh and filler so the next lot can’t follow the same trail.

Living alongside the Tame, the canal and the railway

The town sits on the north bank of the River Tame, and along its southern edge the river, the Ashton Canal and the railway line run close together. At Portland Basin, in OL7, three waterways meet: the Ashton, the Peak Forest and the Huddersfield Narrow canals, with boats tied up at the marina and towpaths that never close. Brown rats like it as much as walkers do. They swim strongly, burrow into soft banks and use fences, hedges and embankments as cover when they travel.

Living near the water doesn’t mean you’ll get rats, but on that side of town it pays to remove easy food and shelter. Feed birds from a tray rather than scattering seed, keep compost in a closed bin and block the gap under the shed or decking. If rats turn up indoors, the drains are a likely route. Rat control in these streets often includes a drain check, because a cracked pipe or an uncapped old inspection chamber lets a rat reach the inside of a house without ever crossing the lawn.

The moss on the western side of town

West of the centre lies Ashton Moss, a peat bog of about 260 acres that was once far larger. The M60 cuts through this part of Ashton, and in 2023 land on both sides of the motorway, off Lord Sheldon Way, was put forward as an innovation park. The proposals mentioned further work on peat deposits, ground conditions and drainage, with an ecology park in every version of the layout. Large groundworks, if and when they start, tend to unsettle rats and mice living in rough ground, and some head for the nearest gardens and outbuildings. Seeing diggers arrive is a good prompt to check your airbricks and the base of your shed.

Three-weekly recycling and your bins

Since 31 January 2022, Tameside has emptied black bins (glass, plastic bottles and cans) and blue bins (paper and card) every three weeks rather than every two, while general rubbish and food and garden waste stayed fortnightly. The trouble comes from unrinsed pop cans and jam jars, which draw wasps in late summer, and greasy trays bring rats nosing round the bin store. A quick rinse, lids that close properly and no overflow bags left on the pavement do most of the work.

Is it Jigsaw’s job, my landlord’s or mine?

Jigsaw Homes, the housing association, has its head office in Ashton, so its pest guidance is worth knowing. It lists rats, mice, squirrels, bed bugs, fleas and cockroaches as examples of pests it deals with and takes charge of shared areas such as bin stores, drains, roof spaces and stairwells. Ants, moths, flying insects and household beetles are left to residents. In practice, a Jigsaw tenant with a line of ants marching across the worktop needs to arrange treatment privately, and that’s where our ant removal service comes in.

Renting privately works differently. Landlords in England must keep the structure, exterior and drains in repair, so broken airbricks, gaps round pipes and damaged drains that let pests in normally fall to them. Tenants are expected to keep food sealed and report problems promptly. A brief written note from our visit, passed to your landlord or agent, saves a lot of back-and-forth about the cause. Owner-occupiers carry the job themselves, though a word over the fence helps, since mice and rats rarely stop at a boundary.

Poison isn’t our first move in a family home

Before planning anything, we ask who shares the house, from the baby to the cat to the rabbit in the hutch. Snap traps go inside closed plastic housings that small fingers can’t reach into. Where rodenticide is genuinely needed, it’s secured in a lockable station that’s screwed or weighted down, and we keep a note of where each one sits. Gardens that back onto the towpath or the moss get extra thought, because hedgehogs, birds and dogs pass through them, so proofing and trapping do most of the work there. For insect treatments, we’ll tell you how long to keep children and pets out of a room.

Should I try Tameside Council first?

Many councils run a pest control service for residents, but what is covered, who can book and the charges all vary and can change, so check the council’s own pest control pages before you book. If you rent, report the problem to your landlord first. If you would rather book a private firm, call or message us and we’ll offer the earliest slot we have.

Market stalls and small shops

Ashton’s outdoor market goes back to medieval times, and the Grade II listed Victorian Market Hall reopened in 2008 after a fire four years earlier. Early in 2025 the old fixed stalls on Market Square were cleared and foundations laid for a new canopy, with traders moved for the time being to Fletcher Square and Market Street. Digging on that scale, where food has been traded for centuries, can disturb rodents. If you run a stall or a small shop nearby, our commercial pest control page explains how business visits are arranged.

Reaching homes in OL6 and OL7

OL6 covers the centre and east of the town and OL7 takes in the west, including Guide Bridge. We visit both, including the streets below Hartshead Pike, the stone tower on the hill overlooking Ashton and Oldham, and the houses of Hurst, Waterloo and Ryecroft. Visit times depend on the day’s bookings, so we’ll give you an honest estimate when you call and offer the earliest slot we have, often the same day. Ashton lies about six miles east of Manchester city centre, and our city centre and Stockport pages cover those areas if you have a property there too.