Moving From Ireland to the UK: One Firm, Both Sides of the Irish Sea

Moving from Ireland to the UK goes best when one firm packs your home, carries it across the Irish Sea and stores it if your new place isn’t ready. That is how we do it: we are a Dublin family removals firm, members of BAR and the International Association of Movers (IAM), and we hold an International Road Haulage Licence.

We have been moving homes since 1982, and the Hanway family has run the business across three generations. This post covers what to look for when you are moving house from Ireland to Britain, whether that is London, Manchester or a village in Wales, and why fewer hand-offs make for a better move.

The problem with piecing a UK move together

There are plenty of ways to get a household from Dublin to Britain. You can hire a van and drive it yourself. You can book one firm to pack, another to carry and a self-storage unit at the far end. You can send some things by courier and sell the rest.

Each of those can work. The trouble starts when something changes, and on a move something nearly always does. A tenancy start date slips. A ferry is rebooked. A buyer’s solicitor is slow. When three or four businesses each hold one piece of your move, every change means three or four phone calls, and nobody is in charge of the whole thing.

With one removals firm, there is one quote, one plan and one number to ring. The people who packed your kitchen know which boxes hold the kettle and the bedding. The same firm that loads the truck in Dublin is the one answering for it when it is unloaded in Britain.

That is the single idea behind this post. For a move from Ireland to the UK, ask one question before anything else: can this firm pack, move and store for me, from start to finish?

Our trade memberships

We are members of:

• BAR, the British removals trade association
• IAM, the International Association of Movers
• FEDEMAC, the Federation of European Movers Associations
• the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA)

We also hold an International Road Haulage Licence. For a move to Britain, the BAR membership is the one to look at first.

We are licensed and we carry goods in transit insurance and public liability insurance.

Packing a whole house for the trip

A move to Britain is a long day or more on the road and a sea crossing in between. Boxes get stacked, furniture gets strapped in and the load needs to stay put until it reaches the other side. That is why full packing is worth it on a move of this kind.

Our packing and unpacking service means we pack the house for you here, and unpack at the other end if you want us to. You can also buy moving boxes and packing materials from us if you would rather pack some of it yourself.

Our customers have told us how this works on moves abroad. Michal Bierestowski reviewed us in December 2023 after we relocated his home from Ireland to Germany with our full packing service. He reported no delays and no damage. Mary Kelly reviewed us in September 2024 after we packed her belongings in Ireland and shipped them to two different addresses in the US. She said everything arrived in perfect condition.

Neither of those was a UK move, but the work at the Irish end is the same. We pack it properly here so it arrives in one piece there.

When your UK home isn’t ready on moving day

Dates on a move to Britain rarely line up neatly. You might have to be out of your Dublin home before the keys in London or Glasgow come through. You might be starting a new job and renting short term while you look for somewhere to live.

This is where having our own storage helps. All of our storage is our own, on site, not a partner’s facility. We store household and business goods, short term and long term, and you can get to your things by booking a visit. Read more about our storage service.

So if the UK end isn’t ready, we pack and collect as planned, store your things with us, and deliver once you have the keys. One firm holds your belongings the whole time.

We do the same on moves within Ireland. Fintan Murphy’s review from May 2024 tells how Joey and the crew arrived on time, stored his furniture until the keys were ready, and delivered the same afternoon the keys came through. He also said the price was as quoted.

Moving to London from Ireland

London has its own page on our site: removals from Dublin to London.

A few things are worth sorting early when you are moving to London from Ireland:

• Parking and access at the London end. Tell us about the street, any stairs, lifts or narrow hallways at your new address, so we can plan the right size of truck and crew.
• What you are really bringing. If your new home is smaller than the one you are leaving, a clear-out before the move means you pay to carry less.
• A date you can live with. If your London start date might move, ask about storage at the same time as your quote, not the week before.

We also move people from Dublin to Manchester, Birmingham, Scotland and Wales. You can see all of those routes on our Dublin to UK removals page.

What to sort out before you go

We look after your belongings. Other parts of a move to Britain are for you to check with the right official bodies, such as rules on bringing goods into the UK, tax and registering with a doctor. Those rules belong to the governments in Dublin and London, so check them on their own websites for the current position rather than relying on a removals firm’s blog.

On our side, here is what helps us give you an accurate quote:

1. Both addresses, or the area you are moving to if you haven’t found a place yet.
2. The size of your home now, and roughly how much is coming with you.
3. Any large or special items, such as a piano, fine art, antiques or a wine collection. We move all of these.
4. Your dates, and how firm they are.
5. Whether you want packing, storage or both.

Our office is open Monday to Saturday, 8am to 5pm. During those hours, we aim to come back to quote requests within an hour, so the sooner you send these details, the sooner you have a price to plan around.

If there is furniture you won’t bring, we can clear it too. We hold waste collection permit NWCPO-25-13139-01, valid in all 26 counties, so nothing we clear is dumped illegally. Usable furniture from our clearances goes to Restore.

What a UK move costs

We don’t publish fixed prices for moves to Britain, because every one is different. The size of your home, where you are going in the UK, how much packing you want and whether you need storage all change the price.

What we can promise is a clear quote with no hidden fees. Fintan Murphy’s review said the price was as quoted, and that is how we work on every job. We have helped more than 12,000 customers and hold 4.8 stars from 42 Google reviews.

Questions people ask

Can you move to the UK from Ireland?

We can move your household there. We run removals from Dublin to London, Manchester, Birmingham, Scotland and Wales. Your own right to live and work in the UK is a matter for the UK and Irish governments, so check their websites for the current rules.

Can you store my things if my UK home isn’t ready?

Yes, we can store your things if your UK home isn’t ready, in our own storage on site, short term or long term. We store household and business goods, and we can collect on your moving day and deliver once your UK home is ready.

Will you pack everything for me?

Yes, we can pack everything for you: our full packing service covers the whole house, and we can unpack at the other end too. We also sell moving boxes and packing materials if you want to do some of it yourself.

Moving from Ireland to the UK with one firm

Moving from Ireland to the UK is easier when the same people pack your home, take it across and keep it safe if your dates slip. We are a family firm that has done this work since 1982, with BAR membership and an International Road Haulage Licence behind us. As our motto puts it: faith may move mountains, Hanway can move anything, anywhere. See all our routes abroad on our international removals page.

Get a free quote or ring us on +353 85 194 9801. Tell us where you are going and when, and we will come back with a clear price.