Hard water on one side of town, moderate on the other
United Utilities' Widnes West zone covers Farnworth, Hough Green, Ditton, Appleton, the town centre and the Cronton side of town, and its water averages about 225 milligrams per litre: hard, with every sample in the year between 207 and 247. The Widnes East zone, covering Halton View and Bold, averages about 97 but varies widely. West Bank, south of the railway, is fed from a different zone altogether at about 96.
If you live on the west side, plan for limescale. We recommend shower glass with an easy-clean coating, heads with soft nozzles, a thermostatic valve whose cartridge can be bought and changed on its own, and wall panels or a mid-grey grout in the shower. A water softener on the incoming main is worth pricing with a new bathroom, and we can fit one while the plumbing is open. On West Bank those steps matter less.
From the chemical town to the newer estates
Widnes grew as a chemical town after John Hutchinson opened its first works at Spike Island in 1847, and West Bank, beside it, is the oldest part of the industrial town; its riverside promenade has been a conservation area since 1976. Farnworth is older still, a hamlet on higher ground with St Luke's church, founded as a chapel around 1180. Appleton sits around Victoria Park with its bandstand and glasshouses.
Ditton has newer estates, including Redrow's Chapel Gate, and borders Hough Green. Upton Rocks to the north-west is a private estate of more recent houses, where the bathroom job is usually replacing a developer suite. Cronton, across the boundary in Knowsley, is an older village ringed by green belt that grew after the 1950s and has seen very little new building since.
Halton building control and the Widnes conservation areas
Halton Borough Council runs building control for Widnes, and its service also lists inspections for Knowsley, which covers Cronton. On a bathroom job the council needs to know about new drainage connections and structural changes; the electrics are self-certified by our electrician. Halton has ten conservation areas, and in Widnes they include West Bank Promenade, Victoria Square in the centre, Hale Road and Halebank. In those streets we take extractor ducting out through the rear wall.
Seeing bathrooms in Widnes
City Plumbing has a bathroom showroom on Wellington Street and Wickes is on Earle Road. The nearest Easy Bathrooms showroom is at St Helens Retail Park. Send us your product list before we quote and we will check the shower suits your pressure and that nothing is missing from the order.
What we do in Widnes
- Full renovations in Farnworth, Appleton, Ditton and Hough Green houses
- Developer bathrooms replaced on Upton Rocks and the newer Ditton estates
- Walk-in showers and wet rooms with fittings chosen for hard water
- Water softeners plumbed in during a renovation
- Ensuites, downstairs toilets and accessible bathrooms
- Tiling, wall panels, plumbing, fans and lighting (electrician certified)
- Limescale problems fixed: blocked heads, stiff valves, running cisterns
Example scenario: a Farnworth semi with a scaled-up shower
A family bathroom of 2 by 1.8 metres with an electric shower over the bath that trips when the element scales up. The bath comes out for a 1500 by 800 low tray and a fixed panel with easy-clean coating, a thermostatic mixer from the hot water system replaces the electric unit, wall panels go in the shower area, porcelain on the floor, and a water softener is fitted on the incoming main under the stairs. Five working days.
Emergencies in Widnes
We are not the fastest help for a same-night emergency in Widnes: a local plumber will reach Farnworth, Ditton or Upton Rocks sooner. When the leak is stopped, send us photos and we put right the bathroom it came from, with a refit if the damage goes that far.