
Areas We Cover
Edwardian terraces, busy wood burners and fireplaces coming back into service: Tooting keeps a sweep busy. We are the oldest established chimney sweep firm in London, est. 1870, rated 5.0 from 54 Google reviews. Call 0208 668 9914.
Tooting
Tooting's streets were laid out with fire in mind. The Edwardian terraces between the two commons, the cottages of the Totterdown Fields estate and the family houses of Furzedown all went up with a chimney breast in every living room, and plenty of those flues are working harder today than they have in fifty years.
The reason is simple: Tooting has fallen back in love with the real fire. Wood burners sit in reopened hearths and rear extensions across SW17, and a stove that earns its keep all winter lays down tar and creosote that must be swept out regularly. That is not a sales line, it is the difference between a safe flue and a chimney fire waiting for a cold night.
We are Naish & Sons, the oldest established chimney sweep firm in London. Since 1870, five generations of one family, father to son, sweeping the same south London streets. Every Tooting visit gets the full treatment: room protected, flue swept end to end, smoke test where required, and an official NACS certificate before we drive back to our base in Coulsdon.
What We Do Here
Stoves that run all winter need sweeping more than once a year. We keep Tooting's burners clean, drawing well and certificated, on a schedule that matches how you actually burn.
Taking on a house where the fireplace history is a mystery? We sweep, smoke test and tell you straight whether the flue is ready for a real fire.
Twigs in the hearth, smoke curling back, a smell you cannot place: usually a blocked flue. We clear it, prove it is open and guard the pot against repeat visitors.
Good To Know
Yes, once a year even so. Soot is only half the story: a flue standing idle for months can gain a bird's nest in spring, collect leaves and debris in autumn and suffer damp all year, and none of it announces itself until the fire is lit. An annual sweep and check means the one evening you do want the fire, it is safe, clear and drawing properly.
That is almost always a jackdaw building a nest in the pot, and the twigs raining into the hearth are the ones that missed. Left alone, the nest will plug the flue completely, which is both a fire risk and a carbon monoxide risk. An active nest with eggs or chicks cannot be touched by law until the birds have finished, roughly March to August, so call us and we will time the clearance properly and fit a guard to close the door on next spring's attempt.
Yes. Stoves in extensions usually run on a twin-wall or lined flue rather than an old brick chimney, and they need sweeping just the same, because wood deposits tar and creosote whatever it travels up. We sweep the full run, check the draw and issue the NACS certificate. If you are not sure what kind of flue you have, we will identify it on sight.
Spotless, and we stake 150 years of reputation on it. The opening is sealed before any sweeping starts, the sheets go down first and come up last, and the vacuum runs throughout. When we leave, the only evidence we were there is a clean flue and the certificate on your mantelpiece. If you have heard sweeping is a dirty business, you have not had the right sweep.
You do not, until it is swept and tested, and that is the honest answer. A flue with an unknown history can hide blockages, old repairs and gaps you cannot see from the hearth. We sweep it clear, then run a smoke test to prove the flue draws and holds its smoke all the way up. If it passes, enjoy the fire. If it does not, you will know exactly what you are dealing with before anything is lit in anger.
Everywhere in SW17: Tooting Bec, Tooting Broadway, Furzedown, the Totterdown Fields estate and the streets between the two commons, plus the borders with Colliers Wood, Mitcham and Wandsworth. Five generations of our family have swept south London since 1870, and Tooting has always been on the round.
Also sweeping in Balham, Streatham, Brixton, Croydon and across south London.
Free quotes and straight answers from Alan or Dean, anywhere in Tooting.
Call 0208 668 9914