Sometimes the honest answer is a full lock change: a cylinder that fights every key, a handle set that no longer matches the door, a break-up where rekeying feels like half a measure. For homes across London we replace the hardware, match the finish to what is already on the house and hand over new keys.
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Sometimes the honest answer is a full lock change: a cylinder that fights every key, a handle set that no longer matches the door, a break-up where rekeying feels like half a measure. For homes across London we replace the hardware, match the finish to what is already on the house and hand over new keys.
After a break-in, households in London need the door secured tonight and the decisions made later. We come out, board or repair what is damaged, replace or rekey anything that might have been compromised, and leave you with a locked house. Conversations about strike plates and better cylinders wait until the shock has passed and you are ready to have them.
Winter in London finds every weak lock. Cylinders freeze, doors swell and deadbolts stop lining up with the strike. We thaw and release frozen hardware without damage, adjust alignment so the door locks with one hand again and suggest lubricants and habits that help through the rest of the season. When spring comes, the same door often needs a small adjustment back.
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For people in London who like to know before they call: these pages describe each lock service in detail, from the routine rekey to the less common safe opening or master key design. They explain the steps, the parts involved and the decisions you may be asked to make on the day.
Home Lockout ServiceYou stepped out to grab the recycling bin and the door swung shut behind you.
Business Lockout ServiceIt is ten to nine, three staff are on the sidewalk with their coffees, and the key that has opened the glass front door for six years will not turn.
Break-In Damage Lock RepairThere is a hole where the cylinder used to be.
Vintage Mortise Lock ServiceThe old skeleton key still fits the keyhole, but it now needs a jiggle, a lean on the door and a little luck before the bolt moves.
Safe Installation & ServicingA homeowner inherited a heavy old dial safe from a parent's house, moved it into the new place, and has no idea whether the bolt-work still works, whether the lock is sound, or how it should be anchored.
High Security LocksYou have lost count of how many people have had a key to your house over the years: cleaners, a contractor, a former partner, the previous owner's family.
Spare Car Key DuplicationA teenager just passed a driving test and reasonably wants a key of their own rather than negotiating over the family's single copy every time the car is needed.
Vehicle Lock RepairPressing the remote locks three doors with a solid clunk and leaves the rear passenger door untouched, every single time.
Motorcycle & Scooter KeysThe key still opens the seat and unlocks the fork, but at the ignition it needs a slow half-turn and a small lift before the switch engages, a habit that has crept in over years of daily starts.
Home Lockout ServiceYou stepped out to grab the recycling bin and the door swung shut behind you.
Business Lockout ServiceIt is ten to nine, three staff are on the sidewalk with their coffees, and the key that has opened the glass front door for six years will not turn.
Broken Key ExtractionThe padlock on the shed has been stiff all summer.
Break-In Damage Lock RepairThere is a hole where the cylinder used to be.
Seized & Jammed Lock OpeningEvery time you pull the key out of the side door it comes away gritty.
Lost Keys — Same-Visit RekeyThe spare under the planter by the side door is gone.Middlesex, Ontario
2021 Census
About 52% of homes in London were built in 1980 or earlier, according to the 2021 Census.
In neighbourhoods of established homes, keys have often been copied many times over many owners. Rekeying every exterior door to one fresh key is the common first job, and it works on old cylinders just as well as on new ones.
Single-detached houses make up about 49% of homes in London (2021 Census).
Mixed housing brings mixed hardware ages as well as types. A locksmith may rebuild a mortise lock on a semi-detached house and then set up a keypad on a townhouse door across the road, and treats each with the care its owner expects.
The moving truck has left, half the boxes are inside, and the single key the previous owner handed over turns the knob but not the deadbolt. Someone locked it on the way out, and nobody has a key that fits it.
Home Lockout ServiceThe heavy glass door has been scraping the threshold for weeks. This morning the key turns, you can hear the bolt trying to move, but it is jammed hard in the strike and the door stays shut no matter how the handle is pulled.
Business Lockout ServiceThe patio slider is sitting crooked on its track. Its latch is snapped, the frame is bowed where it was pried, and the panel no longer meets the jamb, so the house cannot be closed up for the night.
Break-In Damage Lock RepairThe old skeleton key still fits the keyhole, but it now needs a jiggle, a lean on the door and a little luck before the bolt moves. Last week it took three tries. You have one key and no idea where a second could come from.
Vintage Mortise Lock ServiceThe till drawer has been holding two days of cash because the new shop never got a proper safe, and a locked drawer under the counter is the only thing standing between that cash and anyone who works late.
Safe Installation & ServicingThe restricted keys you bought years ago are no longer restricted; the locksmith mentioned the patent has run out and blanks are sold openly. Your key control quietly stopped being control.
High Security LocksA lockout last month ended with a locksmith opening the door and going home, and the same single key has been carried ever since with nothing behind it. The relief of getting back in faded within a week into the same exposure.
Spare Car Key DuplicationThe button on your key fob does nothing now: no beep, no flash of the lights, no click from the doors. The metal blade folded inside the fob still turns the door by hand, so you are getting in and out, just without the remote.
Vehicle Lock RepairThe key turns half a rotation in the ignition, catches, then the blade lets go with a small snap. The bow is still in your hand; the rest of it is somewhere inside a lock that now has nothing to grip.
Motorcycle & Scooter KeysCommercial
Commercial doors carry more hardware than most people notice: cylinders, exit devices, closers, strikes, keypads. When one part fails the door stops behaving. We service and replace all of it and set up key systems that survive staff changes.
High security
A customer's rifle safe at the range has a dial that simply will not respond to the combination written on the sales receipt from years ago.
A homeowner inherited a heavy old dial safe from a parent's house, moved it into the new place, and has no idea whether the bolt-work still works, whether the lock is sound, or how it should be anchored.
Sensible optionHome Lockout Service
WhyDifferent locks call for different openings, and a lockout visit starts by reading the hardware on your door.
Sensible optionBusiness Lockout Service
WhyAuthority for a business is a question about the company, not just the individual at the door.
Sensible optionBreak-In Damage Lock Repair
WhyBreak-in damage lock repair is the visit that turns a forced door back into a locked one.
Sensible optionVintage Mortise Lock Service
WhyThe trim on the door face is the other half of the lock.
Sensible optionSafe Installation & Servicing
WhyFor a household bringing in its first real safe, the service covers everything between the empty spot on the floor and a working, anchored unit with a combination only the family knows.
Sensible optionHigh Security Locks
WhyThink of the upgrade as four layers working together.
Sensible optionSpare Car Key Duplication
WhyA vehicle that arrives with only one working key is a common situation after a private sale or an estate transfer, and it is one of the more straightforward calls a locksmith takes.
Sensible optionVehicle Lock Repair
WhyWhen a car has collected a spare key or an aftermarket key that no longer quite matches the original cut, one door can start behaving differently from the rest.
Sensible optionMotorcycle & Scooter Keys
WhyMotorcycle and scooter key service is the work of producing a key that a two-wheeled machine will actually accept, whether that means cutting a plain blade, decoding an ignition lock with no key at all, or programming a transponder that talks to the engine control unit.
Describe the property, the hardware and what has changed, and the visit starts from what you have seen.
01
We ask for something that ties you to the premises: a lease, business card, or a call to the owner. Opening a shop for the wrong person is not a risk we take.
02
Storefront and office locks vary, so we choose the approach that leaves the hardware intact wherever possible. If the lock itself has failed, we tell you before opening it.
03
Once inside we check the lock, cut keys if needed and note anything that should be addressed later so your day can carry on.
A locksmith will want to understand the situation first, because a tenant's right to their home is protected and a lockout of a tenant is something only a sheriff enforcing a Landlord and Tenant Board order may carry out. Legitimate reasons do come up: a tenant has asked you to let them in, a vacated unit needs securing, or an emergency requires access. Bring ownership records and be ready to explain the circumstances, and the locksmith will help you handle it properly.
Entry comes first and repairs second. Once authority is confirmed the door is opened, staff go in and start their routine, and the locksmith turns to the cause: extracting a broken key, rekeying for a lost one, re-springing a deadlatch or lifting a dropped door. Anything that can wait for a quieter hour, such as rekeying interior doors, is offered as a return visit so the shop floor is not blocked while it trades.
Many can be repaired. A split along the grain is pressed back together, glued with a two-part wood epoxy and held by a steel repair plate or a boxed strike screwed through it into the stud, so the fasteners reinforce the repair as well as the lock. Missing wood is built up with filler or a fitted piece. A jamb that has pulled off the framing along its length or shattered around the pocket is replaced by a carpenter, with the opening secured until then.
On a cylinder mortise lock this points to the cylinder rather than the case. The set screw that holds the cylinder in the door has loosened or stripped so the whole cylinder rotates, or the cam on the back of the cylinder has worn or is the wrong shape and no longer catches the bolt lever. Both are fixed by resetting or replacing the cylinder and its set screw, and the case itself is usually fine.
Yes, on an electronic keypad that supports multiple users, each person can be given a separate code rather than everyone sharing one, which also makes it simple to remove a single code later without resetting the whole lock. A mechanical dial lock, by contrast, has one combination for everyone who needs it, so a change in who has access there means changing that one combination.
A photo of each door's lock from inside and outside, the type of door, whether there is glass nearby and roughly how many keys are in circulation. For a business, a sketch of the doors and who needs to reach each area saves a great deal of time. Mention any door that sticks, has been forced or has a closer or push bar on it. With that, the locksmith arrives with the right formats and a plan to discuss.
The whole process depends on having a working key to read or trace from, so making the spare while that key still exists is simpler than the alternative of proving ownership without any key present and building access from scratch. A spare made now also means a future lost key is solved by reaching for the second one already tested and waiting, rather than starting the whole process from nothing.
Yes, provided the person requesting the work can show a connection to the vehicle, such as a lease agreement, a fleet authorization letter, or documentation from the company that holds the registration, matched against the vehicle's identification number.
It can, but motorcycle wafer locks vary between manufacturers even when they look similar, and a generic cutter is not always set up to read the specific depths and keyway profile correctly. A copy that is slightly off shows up as a key that catches or needs a wiggle, which is often what brings someone in after trying that route first. Cutting from the lock's actual code avoids that guesswork.
After a break-in, households in London need the door secured tonight and the decisions made later. We come out, board or repair what is damaged, replace or rekey anything that might have been compromised, and leave you with a locked house. Conversations about strike plates and better cylinders wait until the shock has passed and you are ready to have them.