Oldham · OL1-OL4, OL8, OL9
Oldham locksmith. Including the gate at the back.
Get a price in 2 minutes
Tell us the OL postcode and what you need. We ring straight back.
- 25-45 min from Salford
- From £25
- Alley gate locks
- No call-out fee
- £1m public liability
Oldham has a lock problem almost nowhere else in the country has at this scale, and no locksmith website mentions it: the alley gate.
OL1 to OL4, OL8 and OL9: the town centre, Royton, Shaw, Crompton, Chadderton, Hollinwood, Werneth, Lees, Springhead and Waterhead. About 13 miles, 25 to 45 minutes.
The ginnel gates
Thousands of Oldham's terraced streets had their back entries gated years ago to stop people wandering down them. It worked. Then everybody forgot about the locks.
What we get called to:
Nobody's key works
Ten years of weather in a lock nobody has ever oiled. The whole street is locked out of its own back yard. £45-90.
One neighbour lost theirs
Cut a new one to the lock rather than rekeying eighteen houses. £25-55.
Somebody moved out with theirs
The awkward one. Rekeying the gate means new keys for every house on it.
The gate has dropped
Not a lock problem. The post has moved and the bolt no longer meets the keep. £35-65.
Who pays? Usually the residents between them, sometimes the council or the housing association if they installed it. Worth one phone call before you split it eighteen ways. If it is a shared gate, ring us and we will quote for the gate, not per house.
And the back door behind it
An alley gate is not a lock. It is a deterrent, and once somebody is over it they are in a yard nobody can see into, working on a back door at their leisure.
Oldham's terraces overwhelmingly still have the original back door lock. If it is a 2-lever mortice, it is not BS3621 and most policies want it to be. £85-140 fitted, and it matters more than the gate.
Saddleworth is a different job
OL3 out towards Uppermill, Delph, Dobcross, Greenfield and Diggle is not Oldham in any sense that matters to us. Stone cottages, some listed, mortice locks older than the road, and a drive that is 35 to 50 minutes rather than 25. Tell us on the phone if you are out that way.
What it costs
| Job | Price |
|---|---|
| Alley gate lock, freed or replaced | £45-90 |
| Alley gate key cut to the lock | £25-55 |
| Gate realignment (post moved) | £35-65 |
| Lockout, non-destructive | £65-110 |
| Back door mortice, strip and service | £40-70 |
| BS3621 5-lever, fitted | £85-140 |
| Euro cylinder repair or replacement | £35-60 |
Around here
Questions people actually ask
Nobody on our street can open the alley gate. Can you fix it?
Yes, and it is one of the most common calls we get in Oldham. An alley gate lock lives outside, at the end of a ginnel, and in ten years nobody has ever put anything in it. It seizes solid and suddenly eighteen houses cannot get to their own back yards. Freeing it off or replacing it is £45 to £90 for the gate, not per house. If the gate itself has dropped because the post has moved, that is a realignment at £35 to £65, and no amount of new lock fixes it.
Who pays for an alley gate lock in Oldham?
Usually the residents between them, but make one phone call first. If the council or a housing association installed the gate under an alley gating scheme, they may still be responsible for maintaining it, and plenty of people split a bill eighteen ways that somebody else should have paid. We quote for the gate as a single job rather than per household, so whoever ends up paying is dealing with one number.
I've lost my alley gate key. Do we all need new ones?
Not usually. If it is one key out of a street, we cut a new one to the lock for £25 to £55 and nothing else changes. Rekeying the gate is only worth doing if somebody has moved away with a key and you genuinely do not want them able to come back, and that means new keys for every house on the gate, which is why it is the awkward conversation. If the lock is old and seized anyway, replacing it and issuing fresh keys to everyone is often the tidier answer.
Is an alley gate enough to secure my back door?
No, and it is worth being clear about that. A gate is a deterrent: it stops casual wandering down the ginnel. Once somebody is over it, they are in a yard nobody overlooks, working on your back door with all the time and privacy they want, which is exactly the condition a burglar wants. Oldham's terraces overwhelmingly still have the original back door lock, and if yours is a 2-lever mortice it is not BS3621 and most insurance policies want it to be. That is £85 to £140 and it matters more than the gate does.
Do you cover Saddleworth?
Yes, but treat it as a separate place when you ring, because it is. OL3 out towards Uppermill, Delph, Dobcross, Greenfield and Diggle is 35 to 50 minutes from us rather than 25, and the work is different too: stone cottages, some of them listed, with lever mortice locks older than the road and no kiosk in the country able to cut a key for them. Tell us you are out that way and we will bring the right kit rather than discovering it on your doorstep.