A gallery is cleaned around three things: opening hours, the art and the calendar. The bulk of it happens in the hours before opening, while the floors can take a machine and the washrooms can be reset with no visitors waiting.
While the gallery is open, a cleaner may look after the washrooms, the cafe and the entrance, which take the visitor peaks at weekends and in school holidays. Our cleaners never touch artworks, plinths carrying work or the inside of display cases; those stay with your technicians and conservators. Around the works, they dust by hand instead of spraying, keep liquids away from walls and plinths, and follow any rules your lenders set. The calendar matters as much. A private view leaves glasses, crumbs and footprints for a clean that night or early next morning, and a changeover leaves dust and packing debris to clear before the next show opens.
A gallery asks first who will be in the building after hours. Our answer starts with how our people are employed, managed and equipped, set out below against a typical cleaning firm.
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London's arts buildings range from listed museums with stone floors and long corridors to white-box galleries in converted warehouses and small project spaces above shops. Each comes with its own security: escorted access, alarm codes, key holders and rooms that are out of bounds during a hang. Everyone we send is directly employed and is trained in your building before a first shift, including which rooms they may enter and what they must never touch.
A visitor notices a dusty bench or a smeared glass door long before a stained floor. So our audits are built around what visitors see, room by room, from the entrance to the last gallery.
The audit follows the route a visitor takes, from the entrance through each gallery to the washrooms and cafe, and scores each space on our app. You receive it to read and sign.
A scuffed skirting, a sticky cafe table or a missed washroom is recorded with who is handling it and the date it was cleared.
A fault that keeps coming back means the method is wrong, so we change the way that job is carried out in your building and show the team.
150
96%
137
92%
Gallery cleaning is charged hourly. What moves the quote is the floor area open to the public, the hours you are open, the offices and stores behind the scenes, and how often you hold private views and changeovers.
Deep cleans between shows from:
£34
per hour
Install dust and debris cleared
Timed between the de-install and the hang
Floors brought back before opening
Daily gallery cleaning from:
£20
per hour
Done before the doors open
Kit, products and uniforms provided
Rooms checked along the visitor route
Gallery window cleaning from:
£21
per hour
Entrance doors and frontage glass
Our own window cleaners
Case glass outside only, if agreed
Partnering with Bayleaf for our housekeeping services has made a notable difference.
Their attention to detail and commitment to excellence elevate our guest experience to new heights.
Site Manager
W Hotel
The BFM team understand our culture and values, which is what sets us and them apart.
Their experience and unrivalled service delivery has helped out people and business to deliver class-leading customer experience and helped our clients to achieve amazing things too. I highly recommend them.
CEO
Uncommon
Bayleaf FM support and invest in their cleaners ensuring they are all rewarded and acknowledged for their efforts.
They consistently deliver ensuring the highest standards are met at all times, with the added benefit of working with people that you can trust.
Director of Construction
Serpentine Galleries
BFM’s attention to detail and commitment to maintaining the highest cleaning standards within our flagship St James’s Street store truly sets them apart.
I highly recommend them to any premium retailer seeking a company that goes the extra mile.
F&B Manager
Holland & Holland
A gallery's cleaning is mostly the morning clean, with floor care before big openings and window cleaning booked on its own cycle.
Before opening, gallery floors are dust-mopped or machine-cleaned, benches and handrails wiped, entrance glass polished, and the washrooms, cafe and shop cleaned and restocked. Cleaners dust around frames and plinths by hand without touching the works, and empty the bins in offices and back-of-house.
Gallery floors are often polished concrete, oak boards or old stone, and every scuff shows under gallery lighting. Concrete is machine-cleaned and buffed, timber is damp-mopped with very little moisture, and stone gets products that will not etch it. Heavier floor work is booked between exhibitions or out of hours.
Natural light matters in a gallery, and so does the frontage that brings people in off the street. Bayleaf's window team cleans entrance glass, shopfronts and reachable windows outside and in, with any high-level or rooflight work planned around opening hours and the works hung nearby.
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Gallery cleaning covers the public floors, entrance and reception, visitor washrooms, cafe and shop, offices, stairs, lifts and back-of-house rooms. Most cleaning happens before the doors open, while floors can take a machine and washrooms can be reset with nobody waiting. Between exhibitions we add deep cleans, and after private views we clear up and reset the rooms; windows are cleaned when the calendar allows. We agree methods and products surface by surface: stone, oak boards or polished concrete each get their own. Bayleaf cleans a few galleries, museums and arts venues in London, so the work is planned building by building.
No. At a gallery or museum, our cleaners do not touch artworks, plinths carrying work or the inside of display cases. Those stay with the venue's own technicians and conservators. Around the works, cleaners dust by hand instead of spraying, keep liquids and sprays away from walls and plinths, and follow any rules the venue's lenders set. If something looks damaged, marked or moved, the cleaner reports it rather than handling it. Which rooms a cleaner may enter, and what must never be touched, is covered in training before a first shift.
Still need help? Email info@bayleaffm.com
Yes. After a private view or late opening, the clean is done either the same night once guests have gone, or early the next morning before the doors open. Glasses and bins are cleared, crumbs and footprints taken off the floors, and the washrooms and entrance reset for the first visitors. Which option suits depends on the venue's access and alarm arrangements and on when the gallery next opens. Late and out-of-hours cleans, including after events, are part of the service for galleries and other arts venues in London.
Yes. Once the venue's technicians have finished a de-install or a hang, cleaners clear dust, offcuts and packing debris and clean the floors, so the rooms are ready for the opening. The clean is timed between the de-install and the hang, or after it, and floors are brought back before the doors open. Rooms are cleaned only when the technicians say they are free. Packing waste is bagged and put out for collection; arranging the collection itself is handled by our partner.
Still need help? Email info@bayleaffm.com
A London gallery or museum usually needs its public areas and washrooms cleaned every day it opens, mostly in the hours before the doors open. Washrooms and the cafe may need checks through the day at weekends and in school holidays, when visitor numbers peak. Floors need machine work more often in busy months. Deep cleans are best placed between exhibitions, when the rooms are empty and nothing is hung. The right pattern depends on the floor area open to the public, the opening hours, and how often the venue holds private views and changeovers.
Only the cleaners trained on the building hold keys or alarm codes at a gallery, museum or arts venue. Every site has a named account manager, contract manager and site manager, so the venue knows who is responsible for access, alarms and anything that goes wrong. Cleaners follow the venue's own security procedures, such as escorted access and key holding, and stay out of rooms that are out of bounds during a hang. Enhanced DBS checks can be arranged where the venue asks for them.
Still need help? Email info@bayleaffm.com
Reviewed by Jorge Hernandez, Operations Director, Bayleaf Facilities Management.
First published 19 March 2025 · Last updated 15 October 2026
Bayleaf FM has cleaned London commercial property since 2001. ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015 certified under Citation certificate 460282024, valid to 13 August 2028.