JWF

Thanks for all your lovely input and suggestions! I'm new to the whole thing so all of this information has been incredibly helpful. We are slowly and sadly realizing that maybe London is a bit out of reach- we would be happy to sacrifice tons of comfort just to live in London (we are young and stupid!), but if it's completely impossible then we have to be realistic. How does one CC around London? Do you cruise until you find a spot to moor? Do you have to call ahead? Can you reserve spots? Can you moor anywhere? I used to live next to the canal in Camden and I remember there always being tons of room in the canal, but I don't know anything about where people are allowed to moor and I'm sure there must have been reason as to why it wasn't always completely full. I just have such vague questions that it's very difficult to google the answers, input from this forum has been invaluable and I so appreciate it!

Well, the boat will probably be a home first and a florist second I suppose. Lovely bookshop though! I would so love to have a flower shop that is similar but it's so complicated in London. Any ideas of a relatively big city where this would all be more possible?

Beautiful blog, John! Thanks for the link, will bookmark.

That is SO EXCITING. Thank you so much!

So helpful. I've been googling and googling for days! I hope that you all don't mind me constantly tapping your limitless information. Yes, London is "the dream". My husband and I met there and in my short year living in Camden I decided that it was my soul-mate. Grungy, dirty, over-priced.. my kind of living! I feel like I'm joking but I'm actually not because my time there was absolutely brilliant. It has a weird sort of charm. However, depending on where the hubby gets a job, we don't necessarily have to moor exclusively in Central London. It's sort of one of those things were we will just have to wait and see what happens (which is the worst because I am an over-thinker/planner/type-A kind of person).

Hi there! I'm not sure what board to post this to, but I just have a general question that I've been having trouble finding an answer to. My husband and I own a floral boutique in Canada and are planning on selling in two years time to start a floating florist in the Regent's canal. I've looked into business licencing in London and I don't see any immediate issues there, but are there any immediate issues from the CRT? Other than licensing, are there other reasons why this might not be the coolest thing in the world? We have a plan for layout and set-up- we just don't really know all that much about boats. Would a standard, widebeam Dutch barge offer a space on top that would be suitable for multiple people to stand on at once? If not, is it possible to reinforce? We will very likely be having the boat custom-made. Also, this stand would be seasonal so weather isn't really a concern. Thanks in advance!

Hi there! My husband and I have big dreams and very little knowledge- recipe for disaster? I've been lurking these forums for a couple of weeks now and have finally decided to take the plunge and ask some questions/join the discussion at the risk of sounding naive and silly. A little bit about us: Currently we are in Canada and own a floral boutique. In two years all of our debts are paid off, we will be able to sell the shop for a pretty decent amount of money and plan on CCing London with a floating flower stand on top of the boat. We are planning on getting a widebeam Dutch barge and would like to moor in areas with high walk-by traffic and sell bouquets and bunches. Fingers crossed that there aren't too many barriers in doing this, but really the flowers are secondary to wanting to live on a boat in London. Anyway, looking forward to being a part of the community!