Kingston upon Thames Moorings

[rawsondsr]

Planning a trip to Kingston on Thames to see some family in mid July, and just wondering what mooring is like there?

 

Is it plentiful or busy?

 

Suggestions welcome!

[OldGoat]

1 hour ago, rawsondsr said:

Planning a trip to Kingston on Thames to see some family in mid July, and just wondering what mooring is like there?

 

Is it plentiful or busy?

 

Suggestions welcome!

Plentiful - No

Busy - yes

Any potentially free space is taken up by permanent liveaboards because it's difficult to remove them.

Beware of the Hampton Court side of the river as any mooring / contact notices have been vandalised and the whole stretch  is managed by this lot-

https://www.where2moor.co.uk/ 

who  have a reputation for issuing expensive penalty notices if you don't register on arrival.  The first night is free

 

 

On the Kingston  side, TVM run a couple of moorings in the area - first night is free, £5 thereafter - see the map on their web site above. Find the mooring and ring them up even if you're just staying overnight.

https://www.thamesvisitormoorings.co.uk/home/

 

 

It's a great shame - ruined by folks who don't give a **** - so everyone suffers.

 

 

Edited June 4, 2019 by OldGoat
Clarity (?)

[WJM]

I never have any problem finding a mooring in KuT. If you are just passing through for a couple of nights you will be fine. Outside the John Lewis store is a regular of mine. There are usually spaces upstream of the bridge on the Hampton Wick side too. There was plenty of room there on Sunday.

 

If you don't want / cant find a mooring in KuT the lock moorings at Teddington usually have plenty of spaces. It is a pleasant walk up to the town from there. But they are around £5 a night.

[ditchcrawler]

3 hours ago, OldGoat said:

Plentiful - No

Busy - yes

Any potentially free space is taken up by permanent liveaboards because it's difficult to remove them.

Beware of the Hampton Court side of the river as any mooring / contact notices have been vandalised and the whole stretch  is managed by this lot-

https://www.where2moor.co.uk/ 

who  have a reputation for issuing expensive penalty notices if you don't register on arrival.  The first night is free

 

 

On the Kingston  side, TVM run a couple of moorings in the area - first night is free, £5 thereafter - see the map on their web site above. Find the mooring and ring them up even if you're just staying overnight.

https://www.thamesvisitormoorings.co.uk/home/

 

 

It's a great shame - ruined by folks who don't give a **** - so everyone suffers.

 

 

I thought the EA had taken it back in house

[mark99]

Kingston..... lots of mooring in my view. Dont however rock up 5pm on  Saturday good weather in the hols and expect plenty of choice.

[OldGoat]

38 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I thought the EA had taken it back in house

If life were so simple!!

EA have taken back those moorings adjacent to the locks and some others that they own (I don't have a list)

DE manage some other riparian owned sites - for example Hampton Court and Reading - see their website which looks remarkably like TVM's...

TVM manage some  sites in the Kingston area and has kindly retained the original list of sites as a service to boaters, which was the aim in the first place...

 

For those that don't know - whereas on the canals, CaRT own the track and the towpath, on a river where there is PRN, the water is 'owned' by the navigation authority but the land underneath the water and the sides are owned by 'all manner of folk' who can control mooring, landing etc as they wish. On the Thames - because it is a busy, pleasant and much used waterway, I'm keen that it is used and enjoyed by all who are prepared to follow the few rules and not be put off by a few local challenges. That is what TVM started out to provide - but local politics have since intervened....

 

Is that clear? (It isn't to me) 

 

[David Schweizer]

4 hours ago, OldGoat said:

Plentiful - No

Busy - yes

Any potentially free space is taken up by permanent liveaboards because it's difficult to remove them.

Beware of the Hampton Court side of the river as any mooring / contact notices have been vandalised and the whole stretch  is managed by this lot-

https://www.where2moor.co.uk/ 

who  have a reputation for issuing expensive penalty notices if you don't register on arrival.  The first night is free

 

 

On the Kingston  side, TVM run a couple of moorings in the area - first night is free, £5 thereafter - see the map on their web site above. Find the mooring and ring them up even if you're just staying overnight.

https://www.thamesvisitormoorings.co.uk/home/

 

 

It's a great shame - ruined by folks who don't give a **** - so everyone suffers.

 

 

I agree, it is a great shame. I used to love mooring at Hapton cCourt right outside the decorative gates, and there is a really good Chinese Restuaraunt only ten minutes walk away,

[mark99]

Never had a problem mooring either at Hampton Court or Kingston. 

 

 

[OldGoat]

2 minutes ago, mark99 said:

Never had a problem mooring either at Hampton Court or Kingston. 

 

 

Yes - but that's past tense.....

This month there has been a prolongued discussion on the YBW Thames site where a boater had moored 'recently' on the barge moorings at HCP, saw no notices and later received a penalty notice from District Enforcement. The battle is ongoing.

I'm a Thames boater FFS and have some handle on the situation..

 

The River has been quiet for years, but now increasing use by unlicence boats whose owners give no care for simple rules, who think that others owe them a living are spoiling this and other waterways for everyone else.

It gets "my handle" above.

 

Pah!

 

[mark99]

Calm down man. O. Poster do not be put off. Be sensible turn up mid afternoon and you will be fine.

 

Worst case stay overnight at Teddington pay for the night.

 

Kingston has the most moorings available I have seen on the Thames. 

Edited June 4, 2019 by mark99

[MtB]

1 hour ago, OldGoat said:

 

The River has been quiet for years, but now increasing use by unlicence boats whose owners give no care for simple rules, who think that others owe them a living are spoiling this and other waterways for everyone else.

It gets "my handle" above.

 

Pah!

 

 

A side effect of lockies no longer being full time and user-operated electric powered locks.

 

Back in the day, unlicenced boats were rare as hen's teeth as they had to move 'out of hours, and that involved bout 500 heavy turns on 4 huge wheels about 3 ft in diameter to transit one lock.

 

Now unlicenced boats can travel pretty much whenever they like without being apprehended as there are no lockies to check them and out of hours working a lock DIY is quick and easy with the leccy pumps. 

 

[magnetman]

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?520819-Hampton-Court-Place-Moorings-BEWARE

 

Thread on Thames forum I noticed while I was out in the dinghy. 

 

This refers to the palace moorings. The Kingston "barge walk" moorings on the Hampton Wick side are also owned by Royal parks so may well be subject to the same enforcement. 

 

Apparently DE parking enforcement are still getting up to date owner information from the EA. 

 

Quite unrelaxing. Best to cover the boat name with some wet towels. 

[Lily Rose]

22 hours ago, WJM said:

I never have any problem finding a mooring in KuT. If you are just passing through for a couple of nights you will be fine. Outside the John Lewis store is a regular of mine. There are usually spaces upstream of the bridge on the Hampton Wick side too. There was plenty of room there on Sunday.

 

If you don't want / cant find a mooring in KuT the lock moorings at Teddington usually have plenty of spaces. It is a pleasant walk up to the town from there. But they are around £5 a night.

 

We moored there last year expecting to pay £5 but that turned out to be for boats up to (I think) 12 metres/39 foot. For our 45' narrowboat it was more, £9 if memory serves. 

 

[Dave123]

I was in Kingston and Hampton Coudt last Summer and again in the late Autumn briefly and had no problems...even on the August bank holiday. Stayed a week and there was plenty of space the whole time on the barge walk and John Lewis sides of the river. As has been said, it is a part of the river with ample moorings so I really wouldn't worry.

[MtB]

23 hours ago, Lily Rose said:

 

We moored there last year expecting to pay £5 but that turned out to be for boats up to (I think) 12 metres/39 foot. For our 45' narrowboat it was more, £9 if memory serves. 

 

 

Dare I suggest this is a small price to pay for having the mooring kept clear of CMers?

 

If one could moor a 45ft boat for £5 a night, the whole mooring would be full of permanent liveaboards I suspect, all paying £1,800 a year for one of the best and most desirable mooring spots in the whole of the UK!

 

 

[Lily Rose]

23 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Dare I suggest this is a small price to pay for having the mooring kept clear of CMers?

 

If one could moor a 45ft boat for £5 a night, the whole mooring would be full of permanent liveaboards I suspect, all paying £1,800 a year for one of the best and most desirable mooring spots in the whole of the UK!

 

 

Wasn't complaining, just pointing out that it was more than £5. I was happy to pay it to be there.

 

Also I believe it was the usual EA maximum of 3 nights so presumably not conducive to continuous mooring.

 

[mrsmelly]

The Thames has some of the cheapest moorings available. Its strange really that its so cheap. Ususaly a tenner a night or less. As with all things mooring start looking for one at 1130 not 5pm and you will be fine.

[magnetman]

3 hours ago, Lily Rose said:

Wasn't complaining, just pointing out that it was more than £5. I was happy to pay it to be there.

 

Also I believe it was the usual EA maximum of 3 nights so presumably not conducive to continuous mooring.

 

How long people remain moored on private land on the Thames has nothing to do with the EA. Its between land owner or their agent and the boat owner. If the boat is used for residential purposes then obviously the local authority may become interested. 

 

EA is a navigation authority and they also manage flood risk so will potentially be interested if boats are sinking or coming adrift. 

 

Other than that if the land has a registered owned and existing mooring rights then its impossible for EA to enforce a maximum stay. 

 

EA do own some Riverside land on the Thames but it is a very small proportion of total available mooring land.  

 

[Lily Rose]

We're talking about the bollards above the lock for which you pay the lock keeper. As I recall it was 3 nights max as per all the other EA moorings. Surely therefore not private land.

[Dave123]

The bollards above Teddington lock will be EA land but the moorings on both sides in Kingston are not EA...mix of Royal Palaces and town council I would guess...fortunately Kingston are still one of the more welcoming Town Councils along the river. ?

[Lily Rose]

4 minutes ago, Dave123 said:

The bollards above Teddington lock will be EA land but the moorings on both sides in Kingston are not EA...mix of Royal Palaces and town council I would guess...fortunately Kingston are still one of the more welcoming Town Councils along the river. ?

Ok, I should have said "I", not "We".

 

I was specifically referring to the £5 or £9 payment for the bollards and it was that post that magnetman was quoting when he was talking about private land being nothing to do with the EA. I never said it was.

 

Over and out!

[Toly]

Who knows how much mooring near Kingston upon Thames or down there for boat 10 meters? For month..

[Dave123]

Not been there for a year now. A month is longer than permitted afaicr. 5 days was the max. You'd have to shuffle around between sites over the month. Unless you get trapped by more rain and red boards coming back up...?‍♂️

The marinas around there tend to be full and only want fibreglass boats anyway...but maybe the boat yards would fit you in if that is what you are looking for?

[magnetman]

Rick Stickney manages the midstream moorings by Stevens Ait. This is just downstream of the Boaters pub by the rowing club. Not sure if he has anything available but may be worth asking. You need a dinghy for those moorings as they are trot moorings (midstream piles). It's only a stone's throw to the Kingston side riverbank so not too bad. 

 

Rick's number is in his welding services website. Also good for mobile welding jobs. 

 

https://www.tandfwelding.com/

 

These moorings (spin the street view camera around and you can see the midstream moorings). 

 

90 Lower Ham Rd
90 Lower Ham Rd, Kingston upon Thames KT2 5BB

https://goo.gl/maps/4VGrxcNvo8ogjoV77

 

 

Edited January 31, 2020 by magnetman