Church Street cottages and the 2010s estates
Malpas got its market charter in 1281 and the shape of the place has barely changed since: burgage plots along Church Street, St Oswald's churchyard sitting a couple of metres above the street, early-eighteenth-century brick cottages such as those at the lower end of Church Street listed at Grade II, and Georgian town houses on the High Street, all inside the conservation area. Bathrooms in those houses were squeezed in later and the job is preparation: boarding uneven walls, levelling floors, finding a waste route that does not cross a listed frontage.
The census tells the other story. Between 2011 and 2021 the parish went from 1,673 people to 2,503 and from 770 households to 1,084, which means roughly a third of the homes in Malpas are new builds from the last fifteen years, with more affordable homes still to come. Developer bathrooms in those houses are adequate rather than good: a thin tray, a bi-fold door that sticks, tiles to waist height. Replacing them with a proper walk-in shower, a wall-hung vanity and full-height tiles or panels in the same positions is a five to eight day job and the most common thing we do on the estates.
Some of the softest water we work in
Malpas is on United Utilities' Malpas and Mouldsworth zone, and the water is soft: an average of 15 milligrams per litre of calcium carbonate across the supplier's samples, among the softest we see anywhere. Limescale is not a factor in your choice of shower, glass or taps here, rainfall heads stay clear and electric shower elements last. What we do check at the survey is pressure and flow, because a rural main at the end of a long run can be modest and that decides whether a mixer shower will perform.
Conservation area and Cheshire West building control
The historic core is a conservation area with two scheduled monuments, and St Oswald's is Grade I, so for a house on Church Street or the High Street we keep extractor vents and new soil pipes off the street elevation and check with Cheshire West and Chester Council before any external change. Building regulations are the council's: new drainage, structural changes and bathroom electrics are notifiable, the electrics that need certifying are done by a registered electrician we work with, and you get the certificate.
Choosing a bathroom around Malpas
There is no bathroom showroom in Malpas. The nearest is the Heritage Bathrooms showroom at Waymills in Whitchurch, about six miles south, and the merchants that serve the village are in Whitchurch and Chester. For most Malpas customers the practical route is the one we use across the villages: we bring tile and panel samples, brassware and brochures to the house, draw the layout there and price every item separately on the quote.
What we do in Malpas
- Developer bathroom upgrades on the 2010s estates, three to five working days
- Full renovations in Georgian and Grade II cottages, with the preparation old walls need
- Wet rooms and walk-in showers
- Ensuites and downstairs toilets
- Bathrooms in the SY14 villages: Tilston, Hampton Heath, Bickerton, No Man's Heath
- Tiling, wall panels, plumbing, towel rails, fans and lighting (electrician certified)
- Repairs, resealing and regrouting
Example scenario: a 2015 estate house
A four-bedroom detached house with a family bathroom and an ensuite, both fitted by the developer with an 800 by 800 enclosure and a pedestal basin. In the ensuite we fit a 1000 by 800 tray with a fixed glass panel, a wall-hung vanity and full-height panels; in the bathroom we keep the bath, add a thermostatic shower over it with a bath screen, replace the basin with a vanity and tile floor to ceiling. Same plumbing positions throughout. Six working days for both rooms.
Out-of-hours leaks in Malpas and the SY14 villages
Malpas is about 26 minutes from Wrexham through Holt and Farndon, so we come out to bathroom emergencies in the village, Tilston and Hampton Heath at any hour: WhatsApp first if you can send a photo, or call. United Utilities supplies the area, and a leak in the lane or before your outside stop tap is theirs to put right.