Chorlton · M21
The most valuable thing you own is in a shed with a £4 padlock.
Get a price in 2 minutes
House, shed, garage or gate? Tell us which.
- 20-30 min from Salford
- From £25
- Closed shackle padlocks stocked
- No call-out fee
Chorlton cycles. There are more bikes per street in M21 than almost anywhere in Manchester, a fair number of them worth more than the car parked outside, and almost every one of them spends the night in a timber shed secured by a hasp screwed into softwood with the screws that came in the packet.
Where the money is, and where the lock isn't
Work out what is actually in your shed or garage: two or three bikes, a set of power tools, a cargo bike, a lawnmower. Then look at the lock on it.
The hasp is the weak point
Not the padlock. A hasp screwed into 12mm softwood with 20mm screws comes off with a screwdriver and thirty seconds. Coach bolts through the door, or it is decoration.
Open shackle padlocks
Nine seconds with bolt croppers. That is not a figure of speech. A closed shackle padlock gives the croppers nothing to bite. £45-90 fitted with a proper hasp.
Shed hinges
Half the sheds we see have the padlock on a door held by hinges with exposed screws. They take the door off and leave the lock.
Ground anchors
If the shed opens, they still cannot ride out with anything bolted to the floor. The single best thing you can do.
The garage that connects to the house
This is the one that actually matters. A garage with a door into the hall or the kitchen is an external door wearing a disguise, and it is frequently the weakest thing on the property: people fit an internal-grade lock because it looks like an internal door, and the up-and-over outside it has whatever came with it in 1978.
Get into the garage quietly, and you are then working on that inner door in a closed garage with nobody watching at all. See garage locks.
The back entries
Chorlton's terraced streets have the same gated ginnels as Oldham, and the same problem: an alley gate lock that has been outside for a decade and that nobody has ever lubricated. When it seizes, the whole street loses its bin access. £45-90 for the gate, not per house.
A note on bike locks
If you have lost the key to the lock on the bike, that is a different trade with different kit: angle grinders six inches from a carbon frame. We run a separate business for it at bikelockremoval.co.uk. This page is about the building the bike sleeps in.
What it costs
| Job | Price |
|---|---|
| Closed shackle padlock + coach-bolted hasp | £45-90 |
| Shed / outbuilding lock upgrade | £45-110 |
| Garage up-and-over lock | £45-120 |
| Garage-to-house door, external-grade lock | £65-140 |
| Alley gate lock, freed or replaced | £45-90 |
| Lockout, non-destructive | £65-110 |
| BS3621 back door mortice, fitted | £85-140 |
Around here
Questions people actually ask
What's the best lock for a garden shed with bikes in it?
The padlock matters less than what it is bolted to. A closed shackle padlock on a hasp that is coach-bolted right through the door with the bolt heads on the outside and washers inside is a real lock. The same padlock on a hasp held by the 20mm screws in the packet is decoration, because the whole hasp comes off with a screwdriver in thirty seconds. Budget £45 to £90 for a padlock and a hasp fitted properly, and put a ground anchor in the floor while you are at it, because that is the thing that stops them riding out with anything.
Is an open shackle padlock really that bad?
Nine seconds with bolt croppers, and that is not a figure of speech. The exposed shackle gives the jaws something to bite on and there is nothing you can do about it because it is the shape of the thing. A closed shackle padlock shrouds the shackle so there is nothing to grip, and it costs a few pounds more. If you have bikes or tools worth several hundred pounds behind an open shackle padlock, that is the cheapest upgrade available to you.
Is my garage a security risk if it connects to the house?
It is often the weakest point on the whole property, and almost nobody looks at it. People treat the garage-to-house door as an internal door and fit an internal-grade lock, because that is what it looks like. It is not: it is an external door in disguise. And the up-and-over on the front has whatever came with it decades ago. Get into the garage quietly and somebody is then working on that inner door inside a closed garage with nobody watching at all. An external-grade lock on it is £65 to £140.
Can you cut off a bike lock if I've lost the key?
Not from this business. A hardened D-lock shackle needs an angle grinder held six inches from a carbon frame, and a chain through a wheel needs different kit again. It is a different trade and we run a separate company for it at bikelockremoval.co.uk. This page is about the building the bike sleeps in: sheds, garages, gates and outbuildings. If the lock is on the bike, go there instead.
Our alley gate has seized. Can you sort it?
Yes, and Chorlton's back entries have exactly the same problem as Oldham's: a lock that has been outdoors for a decade that nobody has ever lubricated, until one day the whole street loses access to its own bins. Freeing it off or replacing it is £45 to £90 for the gate rather than per house. If the gate has dropped because the post has moved, that is a realignment and a new lock will not fix it.