Example photo by Kirsten Miles on Unsplash, not our project
Westminster · London
Loft storage in Chinatown, Westminster
In Chinatown, we design loft storage around the room you actually have. Your eaves cupboard is designed at a visit to your home and made at our workshop.
- Nowhere to store bags and boxes
- Furniture that can’t get up to the loft
- Boxes piled on loft boards
Loft storage designed for your room
Loft storage for homes in Chinatown
Behind the short walls at the edge of a loft room, there’s often space going to waste. Eaves cupboards and pull-out drawers built into the knee wall put it to work. Drawers bring the back of the space within reach. At the design visit in Chinatown, we’ll see what fits. We make eaves cupboards from birch plywood and moisture-resistant MDF with a spray-painted or hand-painted finish, and the things people most often want solved are standard furniture that won’t go up the loft stairs and nowhere to store bags and boxes.
Original features like shutters, cupboard doors and panelling are worth keeping where they survive. Around Chinatown, where homes from before 1919 make up a large share, new storage can be made to sit beside them rather than replace them. Panel details can be drawn to suit the house, and painted to match. For a listed home, fixing into original joinery can need consent, so check first.
A quote in writing is the clearest record of what we’ve agreed. It sets out the eaves cupboard designed for your room, what it is made from and how it’s finished, and the workshop works from it.
- Location
- Chinatown (W1F, W1D, W1T)
- Area
- Westminster
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- How it starts
- Design visit, then a written quote
- Where it’s made
- Workshop-made, then fitted
- Boards and paint
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- Fitting days
- Weekdays (Saturdays if arranged)
- Get in touch
- The contact form
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
Storage in Chinatown homes: local notes
About 50% of the homes in the neighbourhood around Chinatown went up before 1919, and about 23% since 2000, based on the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax data. We take that into account at the design visit, since older and newer walls take different fixings. The National Heritage List has 996 entries within half a mile of the centre of Chinatown. Older homes nearby may have original joinery, shutters or panelling worth keeping, and eaves cupboards can be designed to work around them. Near central London, streets tend to be narrow and busy, so the route from the van to your door is planned beforehand, especially for larger pieces.
If you live in a flat close to Tottenham Court Road station, check any building rules on lifts and working hours early, and the sections will be sized for the way in. For families living near Soho Parish CofE Primary School, deep drawers suit the bulky things families collect, from scooters to swimming kit. Close to St Anne's Churchyard? Living near green space often means muddy boots, bikes and outdoor kit, and eaves cupboards can give those things a place.
Chinatown is about 1 mile west of City of Westminster, within the City of Westminster. We cover Chinatown as part of our work across Westminster, and the process is the same everywhere we work. Our Westminster coverage includes Chinatown, along with the rest of the borough.
Postcode districts we cover here for loft storage: W1F, W1D and W1T. Our area takes in homes on streets such as Duck Lane, Drury Lane and Bruton Lane, whether you want loft storage or another piece made for the room. Main roads around Chinatown include the A4 and A301, and we plan where the van can stop before fitting day. Neighbouring places we cover for loft storage include Soho (1 mile north), St James's (1 mile south), West End (1 mile north-east), Seven Dials (1 mile north-east) and St Giles (1 mile north-east). Other parts of Westminster we cover include Paddington Green (2 miles west), Paddington (2 miles west), Lisson Grove (2 miles north-west), Westbourne (3 miles west), Little Venice (2 miles west) and Westbourne Green (3 miles west). Being one of the larger places in Westminster, Chinatown is covered for loft storage and everything else we make.
Local landmarks in Chinatown
Around Chinatown, we cover homes near LITE Regal International School, Harris Westminster Sixth Form and Waxy O'Connor's pub, among other places. There’s a railway station in Chinatown itself: Tottenham Court Road station. Nearby you’ll also find Leverian collection (close by, under half a mile south-east) and Kingly Court (less than half a mile west). For a walk, there is St. James's Park Lake and Ludgate Hill.
Common questions about loft storage
Can parking be tricky on fitting day in Chinatown?
It can be: much of inner London is covered by controlled parking zones. Depending on the street, a visitor permit, a paid bay or a bay suspension through the council may be needed, and suspensions often need notice. Let us know what parking is near you during the design visit, and we’ll plan around it.
I live near Tottenham Court Road station. Is that in your area?
Yes. We cover all of Westminster and the rest of London. You can send us a few details through our contact form to arrange a design visit.
What if my walls and floors are out of level?
It’s something we deal with all the time. The furniture is scribed to follow the walls and levelled on feet or a plinth, so it sits tight to the room.
Is the furniture spray painted or hand painted?
There are two ways to finish it: by spray or by hand. Spray painting gives a smooth, even finish, and hand painting is easy to touch up.
Does fitted furniture need planning permission?
Not normally. Fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission, even in a conservation area. Listed buildings can need listed building consent for works that affect their character, so check with the council first.
Will the storage fit up my loft stairs?
Measuring the route is part of the design visit. Each section is made to fit the narrowest point, and then assembled in the loft.
When is bespoke worth it?
Long shelves are where off-the-shelf often struggles. Span, depth and the weight on it decide whether a shelf sags, so a long run needs a thicker shelf, a stiffening lip or a support. We design shelves with that in mind.
Off-the-shelf cupboards come in fixed sizes, so there is often a strip of wasted space at the side or above. Fitted furniture is made to the room’s measurements, so it can run to the ceiling and fill the width.
Nearby places to Chinatown
Other services in Chinatown
What we do not do
We are carpenters, so some jobs belong to other trades. These are worth knowing before you plan:
- Building Regulations approval for a conversion
- Any wiring, which needs an electrician
- Altering the structure of the loft
Not sure whether your space suits loft storage? You can drop us a line using the contact form and we will tell you. How a job runs, step by step.
What goes into it
- Birch plywood
- Sloped wardrobe tops
- Moisture-resistant MDF
- Spray-painted finish
- Hand-painted finish
- Eaves doors and drawers
Flats, conversions and leaseholders
For a rented home, access for the design visit and fitting day has to be agreed with the tenants. A letting agent can arrange this on a landlord’s behalf.
If you live in a flat, getting the furniture in is planned from the start. We measure the stairs, landings, lift and doorways as well as the room, so the furniture can be made in sections that fit through without a struggle.
From workshop to your room
However carefully a piece is made in the workshop, it still has to meet the room, and that happens on fitting day. Few walls in older London homes are truly flat or square, so each edge that meets a wall is scribed to follow it. How long the fitting itself takes depends on how much storage you want in the loft, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. Where a period house has been split into flats, the way in often goes through shared parts, so it helps to let neighbours know about fitting day. Each section is sized for the tightest door or turn. Saturday fitting is possible by arrangement.
- You get in touch with a few details about the loft room.
- We visit to measure and look at what’s behind the knee walls, and talk through the design with you.
- A quote in writing follows, with the fitting days agreed.
- Your storage is built in our workshop, shaped to the loft.
- We fit it in your home and leave it ready to use, with the doors and drawers checked with you.
Preparing the room
- Tell us about parking near your home
- Have your electrician move any sockets or switches beforehand
- Empty the space we will be working in
Starting with a design visit
To get a quote for loft storage in Chinatown, get in touch through our contact form. Let us know the room and the rough idea, with sizes if you have them. Next comes a design visit, followed by a quote in writing.
Related advice
How it is made
Pull-out drawers
Pull-out drawers bring the back of the eaves within reach. We size each drawer for what you plan to keep in it. They suit clothes, bedding and boxes.
Birch plywood
Birch plywood is strong and holds screws well. It suits carcasses, drawer boxes and shelves. Its layered edge can be shown or painted.