Bristol & Bath · Same-day service
Blocked drains in Bristol, cleared today
We’re an independent drainage company covering Bristol, Bath and the surrounding area. We find the problem, tell you what it will cost before we start, and don’t leave until the water is running properly again.
- No call-out fee
- Fixed price before we start
- Checkatrade approved
Request a call back
Tell us the postcode and what’s happening. We’ll ring you straight back.
Or call us now — 0117 427 4565
We’ll only use these details to contact you about your drain. No marketing, ever.
Same-day response
Most Bristol call-outs attended today
Public liability insured
Certificate available on request
Proper equipment
CCTV cameras and high-pressure jetting
Local and independent
Bristol-based, not a national chain
What's actually going wrong?
Most people call us with a symptom rather than a diagnosis, which is exactly right — working out the cause is our job. But it helps to know what you're looking at. Choose the closest symptom below.
Pick a symptom on the left and we'll explain what it usually means, how urgent it is, and what to do right now — no jargon.
Is it your drain or Wessex Water's?
It depends on what the pipe serves, not where the problem shows up.
If the drain serves only your property and the blockage is within your boundary, it’s usually yours. If several homes feed into the same run, or your neighbours have problems at the same time, it’s likely a shared lateral drain — and in this area that’s normally Wessex Water’s responsibility rather than yours.
The quick rule: if more than one property is affected at once, it is rarely a private drain.
We’ll tell you which it is before charging you for anything, including if you should be calling Wessex Water instead of us. Road gullies and highway flooding are different again — those are reported to Bristol City Council.
What’s affected
Usually whose responsibility
Pipes inside your home
You — the property owner
Drain serving only your property, within your boundary
You — the property owner
Shared drain serving two or more properties
Wessex Water (lateral drain)
Public sewer in the road
Wessex Water
Road gully or highway flooding
Bristol City Council
General guidance for the Bristol area. Check with Wessex Water or Bristol City Council for your specific situation — or call us and we’ll tell you what we think you’re dealing with.
What we do
Clearing a blockage is the everyday job. Finding out why it happened is what stops you calling us again in three months.
Blocked drain clearance
We locate the blockage, clear it properly, then flow test to confirm it's gone rather than moved along the pipe. Blocked manholes and gullies included.
CCTV drain surveys
For homebuyers, landlords, insurers and drains that keep blocking. You keep the footage and a report written in plain English.
Drain jetting & cleaning
High-pressure water cuts through fat, silt and scale to restore the full bore of the pipe, not just a channel through the middle of the blockage.
Drain repairs & relining
Cracked, displaced or root-damaged pipes repaired from the inside wherever possible, so your garden or driveway stays as it is.
Toilets, sinks & showers
Indoor blockages cleared without dismantling half the bathroom, and without leaving the mess behind for you to deal with.
Commercial & maintenance
Scheduled cleaning for pubs, cafés, HMOs and managing agents — so a blockage never decides your closing time for you.
Also: root removal and descaling, blocked sinks, baths and showers, and CCTV rat detection if you’ve got rats coming up from the drains.
How it works
Four steps, in the same order every time. If we can’t complete step four, the job isn’t finished.
1
You call us
Tell us your postcode and what’s happening. We’ll say honestly whether it sounds like today or later in the week.
2
We find the problem
On site we work out where the blockage actually is, before anything gets pushed further down the pipe.
3
We agree the price
One fixed figure, told to you before we start. If you’d rather not go ahead, there’s nothing to pay.
4
We clear and prove it
Cleared and flow tested while we’re still there, then we explain what caused it and how to stop it happening again.
The person who quotes is the person who does the work
Flow Sure Drains is run by Anthony Lord. There’s no national call centre, no subcontracted stranger turning up, and no scripted quote from someone who hasn’t seen your drain.
We’ve been on Checkatrade for 8 years, with verified reviews from customers across Bristol and Bath, and around 118+ reviews on Google. Public liability insurance is in place, and the certificate is available on request.
Most of our work is in central and north Bristol, where Victorian terraces and converted flats share older clay drain runs. That’s the pipework we know best.
- Checkatrade approved
- 8 years trading
- Public liability insured
- Independent & Bristol-based
Anthony Lord
Owner, Flow Sure Drains
Recent jobs around Bristol
Real drains, real properties, real before and after. No stock photography — every picture on this page is a job we actually did.
Before
Blocked gully
After
Cleared and flow tested
On site
High-pressure jetting
Diagnosis
Root ingress found on camera
Photograph every job you can. Even a quick phone snap beats stock, and area pages need three per area.
What Bristol customers say
Reviews left on Google by people whose drains we’ve actually cleared.
What it costs
Most complaints about drainage companies come down to the same thing: nobody said what it would cost until the work was already done. We do it the other way round.
- A fixed price agreed on arrival, before any work starts
- No call-out fee, and nothing to pay if you decide not to proceed
- The same price at weekends, evenings and bank holidays
- The price doesn't change because the job took longer than expected
- A 12 month free call back subject to no defects on pipework and customer maintaining pipework
FROM
£95 no VAT to pay
We won’t quote a firm figure over the phone for a job we haven’t seen — but we’ll tell you what’s likely and what would push it higher.
Where we work
We cover Bristol, Bath and the surrounding towns. Drains don’t follow postcode boundaries and neither do we — if you’re just outside this list, call anyway. If we can reach you today, we will.
Most of our work is in central and north Bristol, where Victorian terraces and converted flats share older clay drain runs.
Central & inner Bristol
- Clifton
- Redland & Cotham
- Bishopston
- Bedminster
- City centre & Harbourside
Outer Bristol
- Fishponds
- St George & Kingswood
- Bradley Stoke
- Yate
Bath & surrounding towns
- Bath
- Keynsham
- Portishead
- Nailsea
- Clevedon
- Thornbury
We also work regularly in Southville, Totterdown, Brislington, Knowle, Horfield, Henleaze, Westbury-on-Trym, Downend, Emersons Green, Montpelier and St Werburghs.
Common questions
The things people most often ask us on the phone.
How much does it cost to unblock a drain in Bristol?
A standard domestic drain clearance works to a fixed price agreed on site, typically from £95. There’s no call-out fee, and no extra charge for evenings, weekends or bank holidays.
We won’t commit to a firm figure over the phone for a job we haven’t seen — that’s how people end up with a bill that doesn’t match the quote. We’ll tell you honestly what’s likely and what would push it higher, usually a blockage that turns out to be a structural fault rather than a build-up.
Is the blocked drain my responsibility or Wessex Water's?
It depends on what the pipe serves, not where the problem appears. If the drain serves only your property and the blockage is within your boundary, it’s usually yours. If several homes share the run, or your neighbours are affected at the same time, it’s likely a shared lateral drain and normally Wessex Water’s responsibility.
A simple rule: if more than one property is affected at once, it is rarely a private drain. We’ll tell you which it is before charging you for anything.
Can you come out today?
Usually, yes. Same-day attendance is most of what we do across Bristol and Bath. When you call you’ll be given a realistic arrival window — [2 to 4 hours] in most cases — rather than an optimistic one, and if we’re running behind you’ll hear from us.
Do you charge a call-out fee?
No. We come and look at no charge, and if you decide not to go ahead once you’ve heard the price, there’s nothing to pay and we leave.
Why does my drain keep blocking?
Because the previous blockage was moved rather than removed, or because something is still in the pipe catching debris — a fat line, tree roots through a joint, a cracked or collapsed section, or a pipe laid at the wrong gradient.
If it’s happened more than twice in the same place, another clearance only treats the symptom. A CCTV drain survey shows the actual cause, and you keep the footage.
Do chemical drain cleaners work?
Rarely, on a genuine blockage. They may shift a light build-up near a plughole but won’t clear wipes, roots, silt or a broken pipe. They can also damage older pipework and make the job more hazardous for whoever opens it up.
If you’ve already used one, please tell us when we arrive — it changes how we approach the job safely.
What should I do while I'm waiting for you?
Stop using water in the property — taps, toilets, the dishwasher and the washing machine. Anything you send down the pipe has nowhere to go and adds to what comes back up.
Don’t keep flushing the toilet to test it, and don’t pour chemicals down. If there’s dirty water on the floor or standing outside, keep children and pets away from it until it’s been cleared and the area disinfected.
Do you work for businesses as well as homes?
Yes — pubs, cafés, restaurants, shops, offices, HMOs and managed flats. Kitchen grease lines and shared runs in converted buildings are two of the most common problems we’re called to in Bristol.
For premises that can’t afford to close, planned maintenance works out considerably cheaper than emergency call-outs.
Tell us your postcode and what's happening
That’s usually all we need to tell you what you’re dealing with and when we can get to you.