In this work we study the classical Landau–Levich problem of dip-coating. While in the clean interface case and in the limit of low capillary numbers it admits an asymptotic solution, its full study has not been conducted. With the help of an efficient numerical algorithm, based on a boundary-integral formulation and the appropriate set of interfacial and inflow boundary conditions, we first study the film thickness behaviour for a clean interface problem. Next, the same algorithm allows us to investigate the response of this system to the presence of soluble surface active matter, which leads to clarification of its role in the flow dynamics. The main conclusion is that pure hydrodynamical modelling of surfactant effects predicts film thinning and therefore is not sufficient to explain the film thickening observed in many experiments.