About The Bow Locks
25 Years On London Doors —A Family Locksmith TrustedBy London's Letting Agents.
You do not want a locksmith. You want to be back inside, secure, and told the truth about what the job costs. That is what we have been doing across London for a quarter of a century — from £48, typically within 30 minutes, with a 3-year warranty on the work.
City & Guilds qualified · DBS-checked · Available 24/7, 365 days a year
25 years
Serving London
30 mins
Typical response
24/7 · 365
Always available
3 years
Warranty on work & locks
From £48
Priced before we travel
Our story
Started by Billy Evans. Run today by his son.
The Bow Locks was founded by Billy Evans and is owned today by his son, Chris Evans, who was trained by the renowned ex-locksmith and safe cracker Terry Staddon. That lineage is the reason the company opens locks that other firms drill, and the reason safe work is a genuine specialism here rather than a line on a website.
Twenty-five years on, we are a team of four working out of E16 4RF, London, covering London north and south of the river with a typical response time of 30 minutes. Our locksmiths are City & Guilds qualified and DBS-checked, and the person who arrives at your door is one of ours — not a subcontractor picked up from a call centre rota.
We help three kinds of customer. Householders and tenants who are locked out, broken into, or living with a lock that has started to fail. Landlords, letting agents and property maintenance companies who need lock changes, documented access and communal door work handled reliably across a portfolio. And businesses whose shutters, shopfronts and premises have to be secure at the end of every shift.
Our specialisms follow from that: emergency lockouts and gaining entry, lock changes and upgrades to current British Standards, uPVC and composite multipoint repairs, burglary repairs, and safes. What we do not do is cars — we are a property locksmith, domestic and commercial, and we say so rather than turning up unprepared.
The short version
- Founded by Billy Evans, owned by Chris Evans
- Chris trained by ex-locksmith and safe cracker Terry Staddon
- 25 years of experience, a team of four locksmiths
- Based in E16 4RF, London, covering London
- The only London locksmith contracted to major letting agents and property maintenance companies
- Domestic and commercial property only — no automotive work
Answered 24/7 · From £48
How we work
Six standards we hold to on every job
Most complaints about locksmiths come down to three things: a price that changed, a door that got destroyed, and a fault that came back. Our standards exist to remove all three.
Non-destructive entry first
Drilling a lock is the last resort, not the opening move. Where a lock can be picked or bypassed, it is — so you keep your door, your lock and your keys.
The price is agreed before we travel
You are told what the job costs on the phone before we travel. Prices start at £48, and if the job on site turns out to be different we agree the revised price with you first. All payment types are accepted — card, cash or bank transfer.
Qualified and vetted, every visit
Every locksmith on the team is City & Guilds qualified and DBS-checked. That matters when the door being opened is your home, or your tenant's.
Fixed properly, not patched
We diagnose the door, the frame and the lock together, because the cause is often alignment rather than the mechanism. Correcting the cause is what stops the repeat call-out.
Backed for three years
Every job and every lock we fit carries a 3-year warranty. If something we installed fails within that period, we come back and put it right.
Property locksmithing only
Domestic and commercial premises are all we do. We are not an automotive locksmith, and we would rather tell you that than take a job we are not specialists in.
The people
The family and the locksmiths behind the van
Founded by Bill, run today by his son Chris, and worked by the same small team of City & Guilds qualified locksmiths who have been on London doors for years.
Bill Evans
Founder
Started The Bow Locks 25 years ago and set the standard the team still works to.
Chris Evans
Owner & contract manager
Bill's son, trained by ex-locksmith and safe cracker Terry Staddon. Runs the letting agent and property maintenance contracts.
George
Locksmith — City & Guilds qualified
Lock changes, upgrades and multipoint repairs across north London.
Harry
Locksmith — City & Guilds qualified
Mortice and timber door specialist, fitting locks to current British Standards.
Jay
Locksmith — City & Guilds qualified
Emergency call-outs and non-destructive entry, day or night.
The Evans family
Family-run since 2001
Three generations of the same family behind every job we take on.
On the doorstep
Handing over the new keys
The end of most jobs: a working lock and a set of keys back in the customer's hand.
Proof, not adjectives
What we can actually evidence
- 25 years of trading experience across London
- A team of four, City & Guilds qualified
- All locksmiths DBS-checked
- Typical 30-minute response time, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
- 3-year warranty on all work and all locks fitted
- Prices from £48, quoted before we travel, all payment types accepted
- The only locksmith company in London contracted to major letting agents and property maintenance companies
Where we work
London-wide from our E16 base
We cover the capital north and south of the river, with dedicated pages for the areas we attend most often. If your area is not listed, call — we almost certainly cover it.
Talk to the locksmith who will actually do the work
One call, a price before we travel, and a City & Guilds qualified locksmith typically 30 minutes away. From £48, 24 hours a day, with a 3-year warranty on everything we fit.