Cafés — Kitchen Extract Cleaning in Manchester

A café may cook for fewer hours than a restaurant, but a griddle, grill or fryer in daily use still sends grease into the canopy, along the duct and onto the fan. We arrange TR19 extract cleaning quotes for cafés, coffee shops and tea rooms across Greater Manchester, from the city centre to Bolton and Altrincham. The work itself is done by an independent specialist provider, which also issues the certificate.

The Northern Quarter, which sits between Piccadilly and Victoria stations, is known for independent shops, cafés and bars, and some of its old warehouse and industrial buildings have been converted into flats. When people live over a kitchen, its extract deserves more attention, not less.

How often a café extract needs cleaning

BESA's TR19 Grease specification ties minimum cleaning intervals to how many hours a day the kitchen cooks: once every 12 months for 2 to 6 hours, every 6 months for 6 to 12 hours, and every 3 months for 12 to 16 hours. If your griddle is only on for breakfast and lunch, a few hours a day, you are probably light use. Cook from opening until mid-afternoon and you are likely to be in the moderate band. BESA calls these figures minimums and says the type of cooking also counts, so a fryer or a busy flat-top can justify a shorter interval than your hours alone. For the full picture, read the TR19 compliance guide.

Fire safety law, flats above and insurance

In England, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires the responsible person, who in a workplace is the employer, to assess fire risk and take steps to reduce it. Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) enforces the Order locally, and its business guidance warns that flammable fats, dust and grease collecting in extraction ducts can help fire spread rapidly. The same page says most insurance companies make duct cleaning a condition of building cover, which may be invalidated if it is not done. GMFRS advice written for cafés, bars, pubs and restaurants adds that, in most premises, fires are most likely to start from electrics or cooking.

Upper floors need particular thought. GMFRS reports a number of recent fires in Greater Manchester cafés, takeaways and restaurants where upper floors were used for sleeping, often with a single staircase down through the shop or kitchen. Since 1 October 2023 every fire risk assessment has had to be written down, and a business sharing a building must take steps to identify the other responsible persons, such as the landlord or management company. File each extract certificate alongside that written assessment.

What the provider does on the day

The work covers every part of the system, however small the café. The canopy and filters are degreased, the ductwork is cleaned along its full length to the outlet, with access panels fitted wherever the duct is otherwise out of reach, and the extract fan is cleaned too. Grease deposits are measured at the start and again at the finish. TR19 Grease uses a mean of 200 microns as the ceiling between cleans, and anything at 500 microns or more needs spot cleaning straight away. Afterwards you get a certificate backed by photographs of the same spots before and after.

Working around early starts

Cafés that close mid-afternoon can usually have the clean done in the evening without losing a single sale. If your doors open at breakfast time, give us your hours and the provider will work to them. Mention access when you get in touch, such as a rear yard, a shared roof or a fan reached through the flat above. Where the route of the duct is a mystery, an inspection report will trace it first.

Food hygiene inspections

Fire safety and food hygiene are assessed separately. Your hygiene rating is set by a food safety officer from your council under the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme, which the Food Standards Agency runs jointly with local authorities. At inspection the officer looks at the physical state of the premises, ventilation included, alongside cleanliness, layout and lighting. Showing the sticker is optional in England, though encouraged, and inspection gaps run from six months for the highest risk businesses to two years for lower risk ones.

More than one café

Own a few cafés? We can arrange one quote for the lot, with an individual certificate for each kitchen and visits spaced out so you never have two sites closed at once. The cost guide covers what moves the price, and how it works walks through the process.

Areas we cover for cafés

We arrange café quotes in Manchester city centre, Chorlton, Didsbury, Salford Quays, Stockport, Altrincham, Sale, Bury and Bolton. Cafés that also serve evening meals may find the restaurants page useful.

Where we see these kitchens most

Services: TR19 extract cleaning · canopy cleaning · ductwork · filters · what it costs

Frequently Asked Questions