Pest Control Stoke-On-Trent

Pest Control in Stoke-On-Trent

Stoke-on-Trent is a city formed from six towns, Hanley, Burslem, Tunstall, Stoke, Fenton and Longton, all strung out along the valleys of the River Trent and its tributaries in north Staffordshire. The pottery industry that built the city left a legacy of tightly packed terraces, old factory buildings and canal corridors that create strong conditions for pests. Rats follow the river and canal corridors through the city, moving along the Trent and Mersey Canal, the Caldon Canal and the River Trent itself. The old industrial sites, many derelict or partially redeveloped, give rats shelter and food and from these they spread into the residential streets. We see rat activity right across the six towns, but the terraced streets closest to the waterways and former factory sites tend to produce the most calls.

The Victorian and Edwardian terraces that line the streets through Hanley, Burslem, Longton and the other centres share party walls and connected roof lines. Mice move between these houses through gaps in the shared walls, around pipework and beneath floorboards. The sheer number of connected properties in a city built on terraced housing means a mouse problem can spread through a row quickly. The ageing drains beneath these streets are another issue. Cracked and broken pipes give rats a route from the sewer system into gardens and ground-floor areas and the heavy clay soil in the Potteries holds water, creating the damp conditions rats prefer.

The town centres at Hanley and the other high streets have a good concentration of food outlets, takeaways and restaurants and the waste from these businesses attracts both rats and mice. Further out into the more suburban parts of the city at Trentham, Meir Park and Endon, the pest pressures shift. Larger gardens and more tree cover bring squirrel problems, with grey squirrels getting into loft spaces from overhanging branches. Wasp nests are common throughout the summer across all six towns, appearing in the stone and brick walls, under slate roofs and in garden sheds from Tunstall in the north right down to Longton in the south.