Full pad-wrap protection
Every piece of furniture is individually wrapped in heavy quilted blankets in your home, then only unwrapped once placed in its final position. Far fewer chips and scratches than any standard remover delivers.
Mark Ratcliffe Moving is Eastbourne's family-run removal company — established in 1982 and BAR registered. From our Lower Dicker depot, just outside Hailsham, our trained, uniformed crews cover every postcode in Eastbourne and the surrounding East Sussex area. Whether you are moving a one-bedroom flat in Old Town or a four-bedroom family home in Sovereign Harbour, we apply the same premium pad-wrap protection and guaranteed move date that has built our reputation over four decades.
We are a family business. Mark started the firm in 1982 and over forty years it has grown into one of Sussex's most experienced removal companies — but the family ethos has not changed. Every quote is honest, every crew is trained in-house, and every move is delivered to the standard we would expect for our own homes. Many of our Eastbourne customers are repeat clients or referred to us by neighbours, friends or solicitors we have worked with for decades.
From our depot at Lower Dicker we reach every Eastbourne postcode — Old Town, Hampden Park, Langney, Sovereign Harbour, Roselands, Meads, the seafront, Town Centre and the surrounding villages of Willingdon, Polegate and Pevensey — in well under thirty minutes. That means lower mileage, lower cost and faster response than nationals routing in from outside the area.
Every removal starts with a free survey — either in your home or via video call, whichever you prefer. We walk through every room, agree what is moving and what is going to storage or charity, identify access constraints (parking, lifts, low beams), and discuss whether you want us to pack everything or just the fragile items. You then receive an itemised written quote with absolutely no obligation.
This is what makes a Mark Ratcliffe move different from a generic removal. Every piece of furniture — sideboards, wardrobes, dining tables, bedside cabinets, the lot — is individually wrapped in a thick quilted blanket inside your home before it leaves the room. We tape it, we label it, we carry it to the lorry, and it is only unwrapped once it has been placed in its final position in your new property. Many of our customers tell us the absence of chips, scratches or dings is the single biggest difference they noticed compared with a previous remover.
Our removers are trained in-house at our dedicated staff training centre to BS 8564-aligned standards. That covers fragile packing, furniture lifting and handling, vehicle loading, customer service and health-and-safety. They arrive on move day in branded uniforms, in immaculate company vans — small details, but they reflect how we run the rest of the operation.
When you pay your 20% deposit, your move date is locked in. No slippage, no surprises. And critically — there is no charge if your completion date moves, if your buyer pulls out, or if you need to cancel. Removals customers across Eastbourne are often surprised when we explain this; many removal firms levy substantial change fees. We do not.
From Lower Dicker we routinely move every part of Eastbourne and surrounding villages. Our standard Eastbourne service area — with no travel premium — includes:
We do not believe in misleading "from £" headline prices. Every move is different, so every quote is built around your specific circumstances. The main factors are: the volume of your possessions (measured in cubic feet during the survey), the distance between properties, the access at both ends, whether you want a packing service, and whether you have any special items (pianos, antiques, safes, hot tubs).
For a sense of guideline pricing, see our full Eastbourne removals cost guide. As a quick reference: a 2-bedroom local Eastbourne move typically runs £550–£900; a 3-bedroom move £800–£1,400; a 4-bedroom-plus move £1,200–£2,200. Long-distance and international moves are quoted separately.
A young family upgrading from a 3-bedroom terraced house in Old Town to a larger property in Brighton's Seven Dials. We surveyed on the Saturday, packed and pad-wrapped on the Thursday, completed on the Friday morning and unpacked by the early afternoon. Nothing chipped, nothing missing, and the kids' bedrooms were the priority unpack.
A retiring couple moving from a 4-bedroom Sovereign Harbour marina house to a 2-bedroom flat in Lewes. We placed a third of their possessions into our Prestige steel storage at Lower Dicker for their children to claim, donated a vanload via our charity partner, and delivered the remainder to their new home over two days.
For most customers, removal day is the part they have most anxiety about. The honest reality is that if the survey, packing and planning have all been done properly, move day itself is the easiest part. Here is how a typical Eastbourne move runs with us.
Arrival, 8.00–8.30am. Two or three of our liveried lorries pull up at your property. The crew lead introduces the team, walks the rooms with you, confirms the destination address and any final additions, and lays out floor protection on hard floors and stair carpets.
Loading, 9.00am onwards. The pre-packed cartons load first — they stack heaviest on the bottom and travel well. Pad-wrapped furniture follows, with the items going into the new property last loaded last (so they are first off at the other end). Mattresses and sofas travel in protective bags. The crew keeps a running inventory as items go on board.
Final walk-through, lunchtime. Before the lorry pulls away, we walk every room of your old home with you — including loft, garage and shed — to confirm nothing is left behind. We take photographs of the empty rooms for your records. You lock up and the crew heads to the new address.
Unloading, afternoon. At the new property, the crew lays floor protection again, takes the inventory in reverse order, places each piece of furniture in the room you have nominated, and only then removes the pad-wrap. Boxes go to the rooms you indicate. Beds are reassembled. By the end of unloading, everything is unwrapped, placed and accounted for.
Sign-off. Final walk-through, you sign off the inventory, balance payment is settled, and the crew heads home. A typical Eastbourne 3-bedroom move runs 8am to 4pm — though this varies with distance, volume and access.
Most removal companies handle standard furniture and boxes well; it is the awkward items that separate good firms from great ones. Over forty years we have moved every variety of awkward thing across Sussex, and our crews are equipped to handle:
Upright and grand pianos require specific lifting technique, a piano dolly, climbing belts and at least four crew. We have moved pianos through bay windows, up spiral staircases and into the back of houses without external access. Always quote ahead — pianos are never an add-on the day of.
Custom-built timber crates for valuable paintings, sculptures and mirrors. For genuinely high-value antiques we recommend a specialist art shipper — and we will tell you honestly when that is the right answer rather than us.
Up to around 250kg we can move with our own equipment; above that we partner with a specialist heavy-lift firm. We will recommend the right route during the survey.
Hot tubs need to be drained, disconnected and lifted — typically a specialist sub-contractor. Sheds, summer houses and garden offices often dismantle and travel in panels. We coordinate.
Temperature-controlled transport for serious collections. Standard transport for everyday wine. We can also store wine in our climate-stable Prestige rooms between properties.
Pets and plants travel best with you in your own vehicle. We will happily help plan logistics — including kennels or specialist pet transport — and we can pack and ship potted plants where local rules allow.
Why choose Mark Ratcliffe Moving
Every piece of furniture is individually wrapped in heavy quilted blankets in your home, then only unwrapped once placed in its final position. Far fewer chips and scratches than any standard remover delivers.
A 20% deposit locks your chosen date in. No bumping, no rescheduling for bigger jobs. We hold the slot and we keep it.
No fees for date changes, key waits, cancellations or moves running long. Your quote is your final price — we eat any overrun.
One of only a handful of UK removers with our own staff training facility. Every crew member trains here — including the pad-wrap method, fragile handling and customer service standards.
Individual steel strong rooms at our Lower Dicker depot with 24-hour CCTV. Climate-stable, accessible by appointment, with an antiques tier for high-value contents.
The same name on the lorry as the name on the paperwork. Mark personally surveys every overseas job and every white-glove relocation. Started 1982. Still here.
Eastbourne properties tend to fall into two main groups. Substantial detached commuter homes on the established estates — typically three to five bedrooms, with garages, summerhouses, gym or office conversions and a fair amount of outdoor furniture. And the older village cottages and farmhouses in the surrounding lanes — listed buildings, original fireplaces, low beams and steep stairs that benefit from careful pad-wrap protection on every piece.
Either type lends itself well to a proper in-home survey. We walk every room, count cartons by name and size, photograph the access points and email the quote with itemised pricing within two working days. For straightforward smaller jobs (a single bedroom, a studio flat or a baggage shipment) a phone or video survey is enough. The aim is the same regardless of the property: a fixed, written price that doesn’t move on the day.
Our daily routes out of the Lower Dicker depot put Eastbourne within standard half-day or full-day reach, depending on inventory size and the destination address. A typical Eastbourne pickup with a Sussex or Surrey delivery completes in a single day, including pad-wrapping at the load and unwrapping at the unload. The lorry leaves Lower Dicker in time to be on your driveway ten minutes before the stated load time — we don’t make customers wait around at 6am for a 7am scheduled start.
For chain-day moves out of Eastbourne the timings matter and we plan the schedule from the keys-release time backwards. The conveyancer’s 12 noon or 1pm completion target shapes when we crew up, when we pad-wrap and when we leave the property. For longer-distance UK moves — to the Midlands, the West Country, the north — we generally split the day across two crews if the inventory exceeds a single lorry. Anything heading overseas from Eastbourne routes through our customs-controlled holding bay at the depot, where the container is loaded after a final inventory check.
Every Eastbourne quote starts with an in-home or video survey — free, no obligation, and the only way to give you a fixed price that doesn’t move on move day. The surveyor walks every room, photographs access at both ends, and counts the cartons by size. The written quote follows within 48 hours, broken down by line: crew time, lorry, fuel, pad-wrap, materials, insurance, any specialist handling. You can see exactly what every cost line is paying for.
Confirming the date takes a 20-25% deposit, protected under the BAR Advance Payment Guarantee. The balance is paid on the day of completion. The crew that arrives on move day is the crew that gets the job done from start to finish — uniformed, directly employed, trained at our Sussex training centre. No agency labour, no day rates, no sub-contractors. It’s a slightly more expensive way to run a removals firm but it’s the single biggest reason we’ve been in business since 1982.
Eastbourne removal costs vary by volume, distance and packing service. As a guide, a 2-bedroom local Eastbourne move typically runs £550–£900 and a 3-bedroom move £800–£1,400. Our full cost guide breaks down every factor.
We recommend 4–6 weeks during the peak May–September season. For off-peak moves we can often book within 1–2 weeks. A 20% deposit locks in your guaranteed move date.
Yes — Mark Ratcliffe Moving is a member of the British Association of Removers Overseas Group, which means we are independently inspected against BAR standards for premises, vehicles, training and customer service.
For smaller man-and-van jobs we sometimes can. Full house removals require survey and packing time so we usually need at least a few days' notice — give us a call and we will tell you what is honestly possible.
There is no charge for postponements, cancellations or key waits. We simply update the diary at no extra cost — one of the things our Eastbourne customers tell us they value most.
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Read article →Call us today for a free, no-obligation quote — or use our online form. Whether it's a one-room move or a full international relocation, we've handled it before.