Tolladine boat builder?

[Ewan123]

Does anyone know much about Tolladine as builders? I've read that they were bought by Black Prince and also that they often had wooden cabin structures.

 

I was wondering about their reputation regarding things like hull quality and how well they handle.

[David Mack]

They ceased to exist years ago, so original build quality will be much less important than how well it has been looked after.

[Athy]

22 minutes ago, David Mack said:

They ceased to exist years ago, so original build quality will be much less important than how well it has been looked after.

A quick fossick around the internet revealed details of two, built 1976 and 1977, so a lot could have happened to them since then. One, I noted, had an RN engine, suggesting that these were not boats built down to a price.

   Tolladine is apparently a district of Worcester, so perhaps that's where they were built.

Edited November 19, 2020 by Athy

[David Mack]

18 minutes ago, Athy said:

 

   Tolladine is apparently a district of Worcester, so perhaps that's where they were built.

https://canalplan.org.uk/place/qt17

[Graham Davis]

27 minutes ago, Athy said:

A quick fossick around the internet revealed details of two, built 1976 and 1977, so a lot could have happened to them since then. One, I noted, had an RN engine, suggesting that these were not boats built down to a price.

   Tolladine is apparently a district of Worcester, so perhaps that's where they were built.

They were built in a unit that backed onto the canal in what is now the Blackpole Trading Estate, Worcester. (Friend had a unit just by them)
I have a feeling they closed down in the early 80s, but I don't think they were taken over by Blackprince.

[malp]

A liquidation notice for Tolladine Boats appeared in the London Gazette 15th January 1981.

[Ewan123]

10 minutes ago, Graham Davis said:

They were built in a unit that backed onto the canal in what is now the Blackpole Trading Estate, Worcester. (Friend had a unit just by them)
I have a feeling they closed down in the early 80s, but I don't think they were taken over by Blackprince.

My mistake regarding Black Prince,  I misread this old post.

 

On 06/05/2020 at 21:42, John Brightley said:

I can confirm much of the above. We hired Haigh Hall from Coles Morton at Wigan in 1981 or 82 (I've got the brochure and photos packed away and will dig them out and confirm the year when I get the chance). I think they'd started there in 1980.  81 and 82 were years of a bad recession so they were struggling to get boats rented out -they were so desperate they advertised two weeks for the price of one. We had a great couple of weeks - we went from Wigan round the Cheshire Ring and up the Caldon. The boat was very nice and we had no problems.

The company went bankrupt soon after. Many of the boats were owned by a Scandinavian company so they just took their boats and opened the base at Worcester which I think had been Tolladine (one of the companies bought out by Black Prince). Another interesting fact - many of the boats built by Coles Morton -including the Wigan boats -were only 6'6" wide, as this was the width of a standard piece of steel and they were cheaper to build that way.

 

Edited November 19, 2020 by Ewan123

[Ewan123]

1 hour ago, David Mack said:

They ceased to exist years ago, so original build quality will be much less important than how well it has been looked after.

 

47 minutes ago, Athy said:

A quick fossick around the internet revealed details of two, built 1976 and 1977, so a lot could have happened to them since then. One, I noted, had an RN engine, suggesting that these were not boats built down to a price.

   Tolladine is apparently a district of Worcester, so perhaps that's where they were built.

I'm looking at one for sale from 1980, so definitely much potential for mistreatment since!

 

It's in London and got that look of modern interior combined with missing a few crucial details on the ad, caution definitely to be applied.

[Graham Davis]

2 minutes ago, Ewan123 said:

My mistake regarding Black Prince,  I misread this oldpost.

 

 

That company I suspect was Viking Afloat, who had a base in Lowesmoor Basin in Worcester. 
We hired from them on the Saturday before they went bust, and when we picked the boat up the guy we dealt with, who I knew, gave us a bigger boat than we had booked, made sure we had extra gas and the diesel tank was full, and told us to "b##ger off" quickly and not tell him where we were going. We did Tardebigge, down the North Stratford, up through Knowle, down to then up Farmers Bridge and then back to Worcester. When we got back the yard was closed down and lots of the boats had restraint orders nailed to them.
Never got our deposit back however, but I seem to remember some of our belongings got wrapped in some woollen blankets to get taken back to the car.

6 minutes ago, Ewan123 said:

 

I'm looking at one for sale from 1980, so definitely much potential for mistreatment since!

 

It's in London and got that look of modern interior combined with missing a few crucial details on the ad, caution definitely to be applied.

I would suggest extreme caution!

[John Brightley]

Tolladine built quite a lot of boats in the '70's and early '80's, and hired them out as well. They were mid-market boats at the time, though as David Mack points out above this will be less relevant now because of the age of the boat. When Tolladine closed, some of their old boats were operated by Black Prince for a while.

[Bee]

I always thought they were good looking boats. Elderly now and probably not original steelwork underwater but definitely worth a look I'd say.