Pest control in Stretford

Semis built for the Trafford Park workforce

Stretford has a Manchester postcode, but it’s a Trafford town, and it grew quickly once Trafford Park was opened up for industry. The land around it had been farmed, and much of the housing for the park’s workers went up on those old fields. The result is mostly family streets. At the 2021 Census almost half the households in Stretford ward lived in a semi-detached house, about a fifth in a terrace and another fifth in a purpose-built flat.

Firswood’s private houses along Rye Bank Road and Warwick Road date from about 1930, when they replaced Rye Bank Farm; post-war social housing was built on part of neighbouring Firs Farm, and Darley Park is Firswood’s oldest residential corner. Gorse Hill, at the northern tip of the borough, is a mostly residential district cut in two by the A56 Chester Road.

That housing shapes the pests we deal with. A pair of semis shares a party wall, a roof line and often a drain run, so mice or rats in next door’s half rarely stay put. Side passages where the wheelie bins live, garages with a gap under the up-and-over door and timber sheds by the back fence are where we look first. In the terraces it tends to be back yards and older drains; in the flats, shared bin stores and the gaps where pipes run between floors.

A canal through the middle of town

The Bridgewater Canal has been part of Stretford since 1761 and runs straight through its centre, so plenty of homes are only a street or two from the water. Brown rats are capable swimmers and keen burrowers, and a canal bank gives them water, soft ground and cover along its whole length. They forage outwards at night, and any garden offering spilled bird seed, an open compost bin or a split bin bag soon becomes part of their nightly round.

That’s why our rat control visits here start outside: the boundary nearest the water, the base of sheds and decking, the airbricks and the drain covers. We can’t treat canal land, but we can make your side of the fence far harder to cross. Many of those gardens are where children play and dogs run about, so every box we fit is locked, fixed in place and shown to you, and we lean on traps and proofing where pets have the run of the lawn.

Down by the Mersey and Sale Water Park

The far south of the town lies on the River Mersey’s flood plain and has a long record of flooding. Since the 1970s the Mersey Valley has had a run of flood mitigation schemes, and one of them is Sale Water Park, a flood basin sitting just past the town’s southern edge. When the river runs high, water can swamp the burrows rats dig along the banks, and the occupants move to wherever is dry: under a shed, beneath a garage floor or into the void below a house. If your road is towards the water park and it’s been a wet winter, check the bottom of garden buildings in spring for fresh holes and droppings.

Mice in shared walls, wasps under the eaves

Mice make good use of the same shared walls and floors as rats. Once the weather turns in autumn they follow pipe runs into kitchens and airing cupboards, and in a block of flats one affected home usually means the neighbours are too. Nowhere is immune: during a food hygiene inspection in April 2025, officers found signs of mice in several hospitality suites at the Old Trafford stadium. Our mice control work concentrates on finding the way in and sealing it, not just on treatment.

Summer brings wasps. The lofts, eaves and soffits of the town’s semis, Firswood’s houses from around 1930 among them, are exactly the kind of sheltered spot a queen looks for in spring, and by late summer a nest in a roof space can hold thousands of workers. For wasp nest removal we usually treat through the entrance from outside, while children and pets stay indoors.

Fleas after a house move

Cocooned fleas can survive in an empty home’s carpets for months and hatch as soon as vibration and warmth signal that people are back. That’s why new tenants sometimes find bites in the first week, even without a pet of their own. Private renting accounts for more than one home in five in Longford ward, and with tenants coming and going, flea calls often follow a move. Our flea removal visits include advice on treating the animal at the same time, because spraying the house alone rarely works.

Renting from a housing association or a private landlord

In 2021 roughly one household in five in the Stretford, Gorse Hill and Longford wards rented from a council or housing association. Where pests are using a defect in the building to get in, fixing it is normally the landlord’s job, because most tenancies leave the structure, exterior and drains with them. Social tenants are best going to their landlord first, as many handle pest treatment through their repairs service. Private tenants should email or write to the landlord or agent, attaching dated photos. We’re happy to send our findings straight to the landlord or agent so everyone works from the same notes.

Manchester postcode, Trafford council

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 from a council or housing association, 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.

King Street, the mall and Talbot Road

The centre of town is about to change a great deal. Stretford Mall, which opened as the Arndale in 1969, closed on 28 February 2026 and is due to be demolished, with a new King Street planned in its place. Demolition and groundworks on that scale disturb rats and mice that have lived around old buildings and service yards for years, and a share of them will move into houses close by. Living near the centre? It’s worth looking over your airbricks, the holes where pipes go through the wall and the gap under the back door, and calling early if droppings show up. Along Talbot Road, a 2.9-hectare brownfield site is also listed as suitable for up to 150 homes, although no planning permission is in place.

Cafés, corner shops and the industrial park next door

Most of our Stretford work is in homes, but the town’s cafés, takeaways and corner shops get the same straightforward service. Trafford Park, the world’s first planned industrial estate, has stored and processed food for generations, with the Co-operative Wholesale Society’s food-packing works and Kellogg’s plant among its best-known names. Businesses there will find more on our commercial pest control page.

Between Chorlton and Urmston

Stretford sits between Chorlton to the east and Urmston to the west, and we cover both, so the town is right in the middle of our usual rounds. Describe what you’ve noticed and where, and we’ll offer the earliest slot we have.