MJ Backhouse Pest Control

04/11/2026

If you're responsible for pest control on a commercial site, winter is the season that tests every part of the plan. Rodent activity increases, buildings become more attractive, and the margin for error gets smaller. ❄️⚠️

A maintenance package is what most of our commercial clients rely on to stay ahead of it. Regular visits on a schedule built around your site, proactive monitoring, treatment where needed, and full reporting every time. Nothing left to chance, nothing left until it's already a problem. It's the difference between managing the risk and simply reacting to it!

If you'd like to know what a package could look like for your business, just drop us a message. 🐀👇
🔗 https://www.mjbpestcontrol.co.uk/contact

30/10/2026

When schools are empty, it is often the perfect time to focus on the things that are harder to tackle during a busy term. 🏫🔧

Pest control is one of them. With fewer people on site, there is more opportunity to carry out thorough inspections, identify vulnerabilities and complete preventative work without affecting day to day operations.

In our latest blog, we explain why school holidays can play an important role in long term pest management and how a little planning now can help prevent bigger issues later. 🐀👀

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The first day back after the summer holidays is not when pest problems in schools begin. It's when they get noticed. Six weeks of empty corridors, unchecked kitchens and no daily footfall is exactly the window that rats, wasps, birds, cockroaches and stored product insects need to move in and establ...

28/10/2026

Nobody wants to share their property with a flock of pigeons. 🐦😅

Once birds become comfortable in a location, they can be surprisingly persistent. That's why effective bird control is about making the area far less attractive to return to, while protecting the property for the future.

Feedback like this is exactly what we aim for. Practical solutions, lasting results, and one less thing to worry about. 🙌🏠✨

23/10/2026

Routine precautionary thermal fogging in action. 🚫🐜

Thermal fogging is a highly effective treatment for helping prevent both flying and crawling insects, especially in larger commercial environments where pests can hide in cracks, crevices and hard-to-reach areas. The fine fog disperses through the space, helping to target areas that standard treatments may not easily reach.

A proactive approach like this supports hygiene standards, reduces the risk of infestations and helps keep operations running smoothly. Regular treatments can make a real difference in keeping pest activity under control before it has the chance to spread. 🪰🛡️

21/10/2026

One site is manageable. Add a second, third, fourth location and the whole approach starts to show its cracks.

Coordinating visits across locations. Chasing reports. Making sure nothing's quietly developing at a site that hasn't had a scheduled check recently. For facilities managers and operations teams it's one of those things that takes up more headspace than it should. 🗺️😵‍💫

Remote pest monitoring is what's changing that...

Sensors installed in key risk areas across each of your sites detect activity the moment it happens, not at the next scheduled visit. Everything feeds into a single system. Reports are straightforward. Response times are faster. Nothing slips through the gaps between locations.

What it means in practice is that pest control stops being something that needs constant chasing and becomes something that's simply being handled across all your sites simultaneously. ✅

If that sounds like an upgrade on your current setup, we'd be happy to walk you through how it works. Get in touch and let's have a chat. 👉 https://www.mjbpestcontrol.co.uk/contact

20/10/2026

It's Rodent Awareness Week and if rat activity hasn't been on your radar recently, it probably should be. 🐀🍂

Infestations across the UK have been rising consistently for several years and the trend isn't slowing down. What most people don't realise is that up to 80% of urban rat infestations originate from the drainage system. They're not wandering in through an open door. They're travelling through pipe networks and entering buildings through gaps as small as 15mm, completely out of sight. 🔦

That's what makes them so persistent. Treatment reduces the activity but if the entry point stays the same, the problem comes back through the same route. Every time.

The businesses that break that cycle have the right monitoring in place, know their vulnerabilities, and work with someone who understands how rats actually move. 🏢

After 38 years across Yorkshire, that's something we know inside out. If you'd like us to take a look at your site, just give us a shout. 👇
🔗 https://www.mjbpestcontrol.co.uk/contact

16/10/2026

Having a pest control contract is one thing. Proving it's actually working during an inspection is another. 📋

A lot of food businesses assume having the contract in place is enough on its own. Inspectors want to see the evidence behind it too, visit records, logs, proof that it's genuinely being followed rather than just paid for, and that gap catches more businesses out than you'd think.

We've covered exactly what documentation gets checked, the most common violations found on site, and one area that has nothing to do with the kitchen at all. Full breakdown on the blog. Link in bio. 👇
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Pest evidence is one of the fastest ways a food business can watch a good hygiene rating slip away and it's often something that was entirely avoidable. Pest control violations during a food safety inspection rarely come from a single dramatic infestation. More often they're small, missed signs that...

14/10/2026

Here's the thing about rodent entry points. They're rarely obvious. If they were, someone would have sorted them already. 🐀

The ones that get missed most often on commercial sites are the small ones. A gap where a pipe enters the wall that was never quite sealed properly. A drain cover that doesn't sit flush. A crack in the brickwork at ground level that's been there so long nobody notices it anymore.

October is the month when these things matter most. As temperatures drop outside, rodents that have been perfectly happy living outdoors through summer start actively looking for a way in. 🍂

A quick walk around the outside of your building with fresh eyes is genuinely worth doing this week. Check where pipes and cables enter the building, look at the base of any external doors, check drain covers and grilles.

Not sure what you're looking for or want a professional eye on it? That's exactly what we're here for. 👇
🔗 https://www.mjbpestcontrol.co.uk/contact

09/10/2026

A throwback to a large-scale pigeon netting project at York University 📍

This wasn’t just about keeping pigeons away, it was about protecting a busy site from the knock-on problems birds can create behind the scenes.

Rooftop areas like this can quickly become hidden hotspots for nesting, fouling and debris. That means more cleaning, more maintenance callouts and potential disruption for the people managing the building. So by installing a tailored pigeon netting system, we helped create a protected zone that blocks access without interfering with the look or use of the space. 🐦❌

A practical solution for a busy site that needs long-term protection, not short-term fixes. ✅

05/10/2026

If you manage stock, this is something worth knowing. 📦👀

Stored product insects can affect a wide range of goods and are often discovered later than expected. The challenge is recognising the signs early and understanding how they develop in the first place.

In this blog we dive into what stored product insects are and why they are important to be aware of in commercial environments. Take a look if you want to stay one step ahead. 🏢✨
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You might not see them in your stock room. You might not notice anything wrong until you open a bag of flour or find webbing in a spice jar. Stored product insects are one of the most costly and underestimated pest problems in food businesses across the UK and the particular difficulty with them is....