Mobile car wash in Primrose Hill

Gentle on the paint, invisible on the street

A neighbourhood this photogenic deserves a car wash that leaves no trace: no van across a pastel terrace, no hose over the pavement, no gutter running with suds towards the canal. The Yikes rig is a cargo e-bike that stands in a doorway's worth of space, carries its own water at about a quarter of the typical volume, and produces zero emissions on the journey.

The wash itself matches the postcode: a careful, top-down hand wash with clean mitts, the method that protects good paintwork rather than swirling it, with interior valeting and ceramic protection available in the same visit.

The price of living under the hill's trees

Primrose Hill cars park under some of the loveliest and stickiest trees in London: lime sap from late spring, bird mess concentrated wherever branches overhang bays, and autumn leaf stains on bonnets and roofs. Left to bake, all three etch lacquer. Washed regularly and gently, they never get the chance.