What Are the Best Linen Services?
A linen service will lend you linens items such as tablecloths, placemats, napkins, towels, bed sheets and pillowcases. When these items are soiled, the linen service will wash and dry these linens for you and then provide you with clean linens.
A linen service is not the same thing as a laundry service, as a laundry service will wash and dry your items only, without lending you any linen products.
Outsourcing your laundry to a linen service will be fast and efficient – saving you the hassle of having to clean, dry and replace dirty items all by yourself. Relying on a linen service also decreases energy bills for companies, as it keeps the costs down. You may be wondering what are the best linen services near you. Continue reading our article for as we hope to try and cover all questions related to the best linen services.
The best linen services are also ideal for companies that do not have room for in-house laundry facilities as they have the capacity to take on big jobs.
You don’t even need to pre-wash your linen items before handing them over to a linen service: the linen service will do all the work for you!
There are many companies that require a linen service to collect their dirty linens and replace them with clean linens on a regular schedule. These include:
- Restaurants, caterers, bars, pubs, nightclubs, banqueting venues and events companies – The fast-paced hospitality industry goes through countless linen items a day, such as aprons, chef’s wear, kitchen cloths, towels and chair covers.
- Hotels – Hotels are a huge customer of linen services, as they require a constant supply of fresh towels, bed sheets, pillowcases and duvets.
- Salons and spas – Towels, bathrobes and bathmats are a staple in beauty parlours, so a linen service will speed up the process of keeping these items clean for clients.
- Medical facilities – Hospitals, clinics, labs and care homes are strict on hygiene and sanitization, so they use a linen service to maintain a clean supply of medical scrubs, lab coats, surgical towels, patient gowns and bedding.
- Gyms, saunas, sports clubs and stadiums – Many exercise facilities and sports teams use a linen service to clean their towels, team shirts, shorts, karate gis, leotards and so forth.
- Uniform services – Any company which provides a uniform might require a linen service to keep the uniforms pristine. These could be the Armed Forces, the automotive industry, electrical services, delivery drivers, construction companies and so on.
- University halls of residence and private schools – University accommodation providers and boarding schools often use a linen service to keep bedding clean for large populations of students.
- Fancy dress shops and rental clothing stores – Shops that rent their clothing to customers can get their items professionally cleaned at a linen service.
- Offices and conference centres– Business spaces require clean furnishings such as tablecloths and napkins, so many of them turn to a linen service for this need.
What are the best linen services?
It can be tedious trying to discover the perfect service that can provide the ideal solution to your needs. We have compiled a top 5 list of the best linen services available in the UK to help narrow down some of the best linen services available for both domestic and commercial use in the United Kingdom.
Below, we will spotlight a few of the best linen services across the UK:
Love2Laundry
Love2Laundry is London’s leading commercial laundry service. We cover London, Manchester, Birmingham, Bolton and Bury. We collect, clean and return laundry at a time and location of your choice.
We provide a full set of bed linen and towels in single, double and king sizes, from £10.00 + VAT per set.
Also, we provide a one-stop shop for Airbnb cleaning solutions taking care of pillowcases, duvet covers, hand towels, bath towels and bed sheets plus anything else in between.
We also have hotel-grade toiletries for all the essentials that your guests need, from shampoo and shower gel to conditioner and soap, starting from £2.00 + VAT per set.
Additionally, we offer extra home essentials including bath mats, kitchen cloths, and toilet paper, from £1.00 + VAT per set.
A verified customer recently reviewed Love2Laundry with the following feedback: “The online booking system was very straightforward to use. It worked really well and ran to schedule. We’re also really pleased with the communication updates and the service quality. Thank you Love2Laundry!”
We agree with the plethora of 5-star reviews and have placed Love2Laundry at the number one spot on the best linen services in the UK list.
Find out more about Love2Laundry’s dry cleaning and laundry services by visiting our website here.
Download our app on the Apple App Store here or Google Play here.
Express Linen Services
The Blackpool-based company covers the North West of England and North Wales. It was first established in 1927 and was the first linen hire service in Blackpool.
The company provides a laundering service, event table linen hire and soft furnishing product sales. Around 150 staff work at the company and process up to 500,000 pieces of linen per week. Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, they have processed up to 170,000 healthcare pieces.
Universal Laundry Services
Based in Rochdale, Universal Laundry Services is a company which provides bed linen, bathroom linen and table linens to hotels, restaurants and hospitality trades, on a hire basis.
Covering Greater Manchester and Yorkshire, the company supplies bespoke linens or offers linen from their own stock. The family-operated business has been running for over 40 years.
Awash Commercial Laundry
Based in Berkshire, the company covers Newbury, Oxford, Reading, Swindon and surrounding areas. They provide laundry services, dry cleaning, commercial linen hire and garment hire.
The company also caters for one-off hires, weddings, parties and corporate events, in case you need to rent extra stock for a large event or have your stock laundered.
Midland Linen Services
Based in Birmingham, the company provides table linen for restaurants, boutique hotels, conference facilities, universities and hotels.
They also cater for special occasion linen hire for weddings and celebrations. For regular linen hire customers, their stock is kept specially for their use.
What is the importance of proper linen management?
It is very important to keep linen items clean and replace them with fresh ones, especially if they are for public use.
In hospitals and clinical environments, linen items such as bedding, patient gowns and medical scrubs must be safe to touch and use. After a patient has worn a hospital gown, it will be stored away until it is professionally cleaned. This is because the hospital wants to avoid the risk of cross-contamination, to keep patients safe.
Contaminated surfaces can lead to an increased risk of transmission of pathogens to patients, so dirty linen can contaminate patients, staff, the environment or other linen. In fact, a patient’s used linen is a perfect breeding ground for bacteria and viruses, as the patient’s body could be warm and damp under the linen bedding.
For this reason, washing linens are essential for health and safety purposes. It is also best practice to ensure good hygiene by washing hands frequently and sterilizing medical equipment.
How to handle linen that is dirty or contaminated
On hospital wards and in care settings, soiled linen is when the patient is infectious or has contaminated the bed linen with blood or bodily fluids.
Clinical staff are trained to remove soiled linens and transport them using trolleys, to keep themselves and their patients safe from cross-contamination.
Handling soiled linen incorrectly could disperse microorganisms in the hospital environment.
To handle soiled linen, follow these tips below:
- Always wear disposable gloves and a disposable apron when handling soiled linen.
- Wear a face mask for extra precaution.
- Place soiled in an impermeable bag immediately after removing it from the bed.
- Never carry soiled linen against your body. Always place the dirty linen in a designated leak-proof container or in sealed bags.
- Do not shake the linen but roll it up carefully to prevent contamination of the air and surfaces.
- Do not place dirty linens on the floor or any other surfaces such as inside a locker or on a tabletop.
- Do not re-handle dirty linen once it has been bagged.
- Do not overfill the laundry machines to more than two-thirds full, as this may not remove stains properly.
- Wash your hands after disposing of soiled linens.
- Dispose of your gloves and apron after you have finished handling soiled linen.
- Store clean linen in a clearly labelled, clean, dust-free, closed cupboard, to prevent airborne contamination.
- Do not store inappropriate items in the containers designated for soiled linens, such as other laundry items, used equipment, needles or clinical waste.
What temperature do you wash linen sheets?
To wash your linen sheets, set the temperature of your washing machine to around 40 degrees Celsius. The water must be hot enough to kill the bacteria.
Wash white linens separately from coloured linens.
If there are any stains that are tough to remove, pre-treat these by soaking the linens in a bowl of warm water and rubbing bicarbonate of soda into the stains.
If laundry services with hot water are not available, immerse the soiled linens in boiling water and detergent or disinfectant solution. Then, rinse with clean water and allow the linen to fully dry in the sun.
Once the linen is decontaminated, it must be stored separately from contaminated linen.
To find out more about how to wash linen, read our blog article here.
Can you iron linen sheets?
Yes, you can iron linens to remove wrinkles. Iron your linen while the fabric is slightly damp from a wash.
You can do this by turning your linen sheet inside out and folding your linen sheet into quarters before ironing.
