Leyton sits between the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and Walthamstow, and its streets tell the story of a Victorian railway suburb whose terraces never went out of use. Walk off Francis Road — now a gentrified strip of independent cafés and delis — and you find Grange Park Road, Colworth Road and Newport Road lined with two-up two-down houses built for Great Eastern Railway workers in the 1880s. Like most of E10 they have narrow hallways, straight steep staircases and small back additions that were never sized for a modern corner sofa. A large share have since been split into two flats, so a single job can mean a shared front door, a communal hallway and a first-floor landing to clear before the van is loaded. We measure the awkward turns in advance, bring straps and dollies for the stairs, and size the crew to the property rather than guessing.

Parking in Leyton is controlled across most residential streets, and the main arteries make it worse. Lea Bridge Road and Leyton High Road carry heavy through-traffic and bus lanes, so a van parked carelessly picks up a ticket or blocks a route within minutes. We arrange a bay suspension where a property allows it, and where it doesn't we know the quieter side streets around Coronation Gardens and Grove Green Road that give a workable few minutes of loading access. The conservation area near Coronation Gardens has tighter restrictions again, and we plan around them.

Transport shapes the day too. Leyton on the Central line and Leyton Midland Road on the Gospel Oak to Barking Overground make this a popular first home for people leaving flat-shares further into town, so a lot of E10 moves are one-bed and two-bed jobs on tight chains. Fast access to the A12 and the North Circular keeps longer moves out towards Essex efficient. Whether it's a terrace near the Bakers Arms or a conversion flat off Francis Road, we've done enough Leyton moves to know the parking, the stairs and the timing before we arrive.