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Mews Return


Mews Return in Pale Green (RAL 6021) — five leaves down the side return, lavender above

CM-RTN-04 · Standard depths · runs against any wall

Mews Return

From £5,750 including VAT and installation within the M25
Two to five bikes
Standard depths
Length cut to suit
Bin bay option
Planted roof option
10-year manufacturing guarantee
Made in Britain

The side return is the most repeatable awkward space in London, and the most wasted. Mews Return turns the whole length of it into locked storage: a long, shallow run standing against the wall, in three standard depths with the length cut to suit. Cut-outs for the meter box, the drain and the step are made at survey. It works equally well against a rear garden wall, and it costs you no garden at all. In plain terms: narrow bike storage for a side return — a bespoke bike shed cut to the length of your passage, with a green roof if you want one.

Indicative price
inc. VAT & install

£5,750

Guide sizes shown. Your unit is confirmed at survey and the price fixed on the drawings we issue. Groundworks, planning and any electrical supply upgrade are quoted separately.


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Specification

What you are actually getting

Frame
2mm mild steel, polyester powder-coated as standard in RAL 7016 Anthracite Grey, RAL 9003 Signal White, RAL 6021 Pale Green or RAL 9005 Jet Black; hot-dip galvanised available for harsh environments (e.g. coastal or exposed sites)
Cladding
Sapele hardwood slats, or steel
Build type
Standard depths, length to suit
Depths
600mm · 750mm · 900mm
Length
2.5m to 5.5m, cut to your passage
Height
1.45m including planted trough
Bike capacity
Two to five, stored in line
Sites
Side return, rear garden or courtyard

Bin bay
Two 240L wheelie bins
Roof
Steel tray, sedum, planted trough or timber deck
Locking
Euro-profile cylinder, 3 keys
Ventilation
Perforated rear panel
Floor
Open base as standard; steel floor tray optional (£340)
Lead time
5–6 weeks from order
Installation
Included, zones 1–6
Guarantee
10 years, manufacturing defects in the steel frame (timber not covered)

A cargo bike almost never fits a side return — the depth needed is 1.15m and most passages are under a metre. If you have a cargo bike, look at Mews Bay or Mews Boundary instead and we will tell you honestly at survey.

Options in detail

What each one actually includes

Every option on this page, what it includes, what it needs from the house and the bit worth knowing before you tick it.

Integrated lighting£240

What you get. One LED strip under the roof tray, wired to a PIR sensor at the door. Comes on when you open up and goes off a couple of minutes after you leave.

What it needs. A fused spur at the front of the house. If there is no outdoor supply there already, running one is extra and we price it at survey rather than guessing.

About 4W, so it costs pennies a year. It is the difference between finding your lock in December and swearing at it.

Steel floor tray£340 · any unit

What you get. A steel tray that forms a solid floor inside the unit, so bikes and bins stand on a clean, level surface rather than the ground beneath.

What it needs. A reasonably level surface. We check the ground at survey.

Units come with an open base as standard. The tray is worth adding over gravel, soil or uneven paving.

CCTV£420

What you get. One weatherproof camera on the roof line looking down the run. 1080p, night vision, motion alerts to your phone.

What it needs. Wi-fi that genuinely reaches the front of the house, and the same fused spur as the lighting.

Records to the camera’s own card as standard. Cloud storage is a subscription with the camera manufacturer, not with us — we take no cut and we hold none of your footage.

E-bike charging£280

What you get. A weatherproof 13A socket inside the unit, RCD protected, on its own spur. Charge the bike where it stands instead of carrying a battery through the house.

What it needs. A fused spur from your consumer unit, installed and certified in your name by our registered electrician.

London Fire Brigade advises storing and charging e-bikes in a safe external location such as a garage or shed, and never on your escape route — a hallway or beside the front door. This puts the battery outside the house, on a hard flat surface, in a steel box. It does not make a lithium battery risk-free: use the manufacturer’s own charger, let the battery cool before plugging in, and do not charge unattended or overnight.

EV charging pointFrom £1,400 · any unit

What you get. A 7kW home chargepoint built into the unit, with the cable managed inside the structure so nothing trails across the pavement.

What it needs. An electrical survey before we can confirm it. Some houses need a consumer unit upgrade; some need the distribution network operator notified. Both are quoted separately and never absorbed into the headline price.

Installed and certified by our registered electrical contractors. Government chargepoint grant eligibility changes periodically — we will tell you what is current at survey rather than promise something that has since closed.

Sedum roof£600–£780 · £990 on Mews Boundary

What you get. A shallow biodiverse sedum mat laid into a steel tray with a pebble drainage margin. Flowers through the summer.

What it needs. Nothing from you. It is laid at installation.

Cut back once a year. It holds rainfall back from the drain in heavy weather, and a planted roof is a far easier case to put to a planning officer than a bare steel one. Automatic irrigation is available if you have an outside tap, though sedum rarely needs it.

Planted trough£640–£990 · £1,250 deep on Mews Boundary

What you get. A deeper tray, filled and planted at installation. Lavender and rosemary on a sunny frontage; grasses, box and low shrubs on the deep version.

What it needs. Sun. If your passage or frontage is in shade most of the day, take the sedum mat or the flat top instead.

On Mews Boundary the depth is doing real work: the planting sits at eye level from the pavement, so the run reads as a hedge rather than a structure. On a sunny frontage add automatic irrigation — a shallow tray dries out far faster than open ground. MewsCare covers the annual cut back, feed and any replacement planting.

Automatic irrigation£340 · planted roofs only

What you get. A drip line laid through the growing medium, with a pressure reducing valve and a timer at the tap. Runs for a few minutes early morning, which is all a sedum mat or a planted trough needs.

What it needs. An outside tap within reach of the unit. If there is not one, fitting a garden tap is plumbing work — we can arrange it or you can, but it is not included and we will say so at survey rather than after.

Drip systems are generally exempt from a hosepipe ban provided they have a pressure reducing valve and a timer and are not hand held — which is exactly how we fit them. Exemptions are set by each water company and at least one restricts mains-fed drippers outright, so check yours rather than take our word for it. Sedum survives a normal British summer unaided; irrigation is for the run of hot weeks that now turns up most years, and for lavender in a shallow south-facing trough, which dries out far faster than the same plant would in the ground.

Ground anchors£120 · £180 on Mews Boundary

What you get. Steel anchors bolted through the base into the slab beneath, so a bike is locked to the concrete foundation.

What it needs. A solid base — concrete, paving on a proper sub-base, or the footings we pour.

It is the cheapest thing on this list and the one a thief actually cares about. Can also be fixed to the store frame, if required.

Bin bay£440 · £540 on Mews Boundary

What you get. An open-topped bay at one end, sized for two 240L wheelie bins with the lids clearing the roof line.

What it needs. Enough run. On a short unit the bay comes out of the bike space rather than adding to the length.

Bins are the reason most people finally do something about the front garden. Worth measuring yours — councils vary and some now issue a third.

MewsCare£199–£299 a year

What you get. An annual visit: inspection, hinge and lock service, rust touch-up where needed, planting cut back and re-seeded, and priority call-out for the rest of the year.

What it needs. Nothing.

Renews annually at the same rate and you can cancel any time. The 10-year manufacturing guarantee stands either way — MewsCare is maintenance, not an extended warranty, and we would rather say so than let it look like one.

Sapele slats£840 · £1,180 on Mews Boundary

What you get. 44mm x 19mm vertical sapele hardwood slats on a powder-coated steel frame.

What it needs. Oil every couple of years to hold the colour, or leave it to silver. Life expectancy is longest with regular treatment.

Sapele is a durable, dense West African hardwood with good natural resistance to rot, decay and insects, and it is harder than mahogany. Fitted as vertical slats that shed water, it typically lasts 30 years or more, and longer with regular oiling. Timber is not covered by the 10-year manufacturing guarantee.

RAL colour match£250–£350

What you get. Powder-coated to any RAL colour rather than our standard RAL 7016 Anthracite Grey, RAL 9003 Signal White, RAL 6021 Pale Green or RAL 9005 Jet Black.

What it needs. Just the colour code or name that we are matching. Farrow and Ball, Railings, no issue.

We bring samples to the survey. Choosing a colour off a screen is how people end up with something that fights the brickwork.

Questions

The things people ask first

Do I need planning permission for side return bike storage?

Usually not, and this is the one product where that is generally true. A structure to the side or rear, behind the front elevation, under 2.5m and within the usual limits normally falls within permitted development. But it depends on your property, and conservation areas, flats and previously extended houses all change the answer. We will tell you at survey; if you do need consent, our service is £1,200 including the council’s own £548 fee. The application is managed by an ARB-qualified architect all the way through to the outcome. Should further submissions be required, this will incur additional charges. The planning service is only available with a Cycle Mews unit, not as a standalone service.

Read our full guide to planning permission for front gardens

How narrow can the side return be?

The 600mm depth works in a passage of about 1.2m, because you still need room to walk past and to open the doors. Below that we would rather tell you it will not work than sell you something you resent. Send us a photo with a tape measure in it and we will give you a straight answer before anyone visits.

What about the meter box, the drain and the step?

All normal, all dealt with at survey. Cut-outs are made in the fabrication so the run sits flush rather than standing off the wall. Gas and electricity meters must stay accessible and we will not box one in.

Will a cargo bike fit in a side return?

Rarely. Cargo depth needs 1.15m and most side returns are under a metre wide. We will say so at survey rather than sell you a unit your bike does not go in.

Can it go against a rear garden wall instead?

Yes, and it often does. The same unit works against any wall — rear garden, courtyard or side return. It costs you no garden because it stands against something you already have.