Victorian seaside, Edwardian hill
Herne Bay grew as a resort. The first pier opened in 1832, 3,600 feet long, and the clock tower followed in 1837. By the late Victorian and Edwardian years, the council's appraisal says, Beacon Hill, Canterbury Road, Mickleburgh Hill and Beltinge Road were being built up with elaborate semis, detached houses and smart terraces.
Those houses are big, with high ceilings and a lot of radiators. Many of them have been through several boilers and still have pipework from three of them. When we replace one here we look at the radiators and the pipes as well, and size the new boiler for the house you live in now, not the house as it was built.
Flats on the front
Four in ten homes in Heron ward, which takes in the town centre and seafront, are flats. Flats bring their own questions: where the flue can go a few floors up, what the freeholder allows, and whether there's room for a cylinder. We answer those at the survey.
New homes coming
Canterbury's 2017 Local Plan allocates land for about 3,000 homes round Herne Bay, at Hillborough, Strode Farm, the golf course and Greenhill. They aren't all built. As they are, they'll come with boilers on manufacturer warranties that need a service every year to stay valid. That's the kind of job we can do.
The conservation area and Article 4
The Herne Bay conservation area was designated in 1991, taking in the two Central Parade areas from 1970. An Article 4 direction has covered every house in it since 1997. Eddington, Broomfield and Reculver have conservation areas too. In any of them a flue facing the road needs planning permission, so we route it to the side or back.
Hard water and help with bills
South East Water's 2025 report for the Herne zone gives a mean hardness of about 287 mg/l as calcium carbonate, which is hard. Canterbury City Council also has Warm Homes Local Grant money for insulation, glazing and solar panels for eligible households. It doesn't pay for gas boilers, but a better-insulated house needs a smaller one.