Leverton & Sons Ltd (Camden Town)

The Leverton family has been arranging funerals for people in this part of London since 1789. Yes, they’re now into their eighth generation; they’re steeped in heritage, drenched in history. This makes them an attractive-seeming proposition. After all, a good old family business is exactly what most of us hope to find when we’re looking for a proper funeral director.

What you don’t want, though, is a barnacled, backwards-looking business existing in a dusty Dickensian time warp, the sort of place where everything is done as it always was. Heritage is good, obsolescence is bad.

Leverton’s, we are delighted to tell you, is not a firm that sits complacently on its laurels. It is not only progressive and dynamic, it is also, as you will see, excitingly innovative. Leverton’s may look back with satisfaction and pride on a distinguished past, but it looks to the future with purpose and energy. This is an intelligent, modern business. It needs to be. Demographics in London alter very quickly and an undertaker needs to be able to respond to and meet the diverse, ever-changing needs of all the different communities in their area.

In case you’ve picked up on the fact that Leverton’s has been chosen to do some extremely prestigious funerals (it has), do not, please, suppose that it is extremely expensive, that it’s the undertaker of choice for ‘them’ not ‘us’. Nothing could be further from the truth. Leverton’s looks after all the people in this part of London, whoever they are, whatever their needs. What’s more, they treat everyone exactly the same.

So if you’re on a budget, you won’t find them expensive. If you want to arrange a very simple funeral, or a direct cremation, they’re there for you. They are very open. They are one the few traditional undertakers who posted their prices on their website long before it became a requirement in 2021.

There are five branches. Headquarters is at Camden Town in a fine building in Eversholt Street. It’s a homely, friendly old place where you feel agreeably removed from the bustle of everyday life. You will meet your funeral director and make your arrangements in one of the rooms downstairs. You won’t go upstairs — but we did, because we insist on going everywhere and seeing everything. This is where all the funeral directors work amid historic portraits of Levertons. And it’s where Allan, the logistics maestro, organises the people and the cars, etc, for upcoming funerals.

The branches — at Muswell Hill, Hampstead, Golders Green and Kentish Town — are smaller and looked after by just one person with whom you’ll arrange the funeral, and who will most probably conduct it on the day. Levertons do everything they can to ensure that one funeral director looks after you all the way from making the arrangement to being there on the day of the funeral — a big, big plus point.

Someone who has died is driven to the mortuary at Chalk Farm. There, they are looked after by Peter, Tony and their team, and made ready for their funeral. If you want to visit the person who has died, they will be driven from there to your branch. If you want to play your part in washing and dressing them, you can, by arrangement, go down to Chalk Farm and they will either help you or leave you to it — whatever you want. They’ll be delighted to see you and support in you in any way they can. And they make an excellent cup of tea.

The mortuary, for us, is the most important part of any funeral firm. It is the heart of the business, the place which embodies its values and ethos. We were very impressed by what we saw. It is bright, spotless, professionally equipped and staffed by the right sort of people.

We spent time talking to people who work here, especially Peter and Tony. You’ll probably never meet them, but what they do is incredibly important. And don’t they know it. Both of them are people of great heart who take their work extremely seriously. Standards of care are very high. They live round here, and every once in a while someone they know comes in to be looked after. Everyone is treated with kindness and respect — everybody is ‘one of us’. Peter and Tony are both rounded characters whose strong seriousness is harnessed to an excellent sense of humour. They are precisely the sort of people you would want them to be.

We visited all the branches and met all the managers. We liked them all very much and satisfied ourselves that they will give you all the time you need. Leverton’s is a good firm to work for, so they attract the best people. You can see photos and contact details for all of the team here.