canal boat escapes, Barnoldswick.

[RichardH]

Hi All 

Stumbled across this discussion when we received a call for a holiday and I checked the 'net to see where the CBE name was still in existence. 

 

It wasn't covid that caused us to close the business. It was ultimately the risk of the water levels on the Leeds/Liverpool and our business not having other options to make money e.g. day boats, marina related income, boat building etc. 2010 knocked us for 6 when BW closed the canal for 12 or so weeks. 2011 was a poor year, presumably due to customer confidence and whilst we opened a base on the Lancaster to split the risk, it was so marginal it was a struggle to make a livable income. 

 

We ran the RYA helmsmans course which helped when boats were idle but ultimately we decided to start winding down in 2015 having run for 8 seasons. 

 

In terms of boat disposal, 3 boats were sponsored. 2 went back to their owners, Florence (ABC Built) went to Pennine and is now 'Eshton' 

 

Rosa May went to Nottingham Boat Sales and illegally sold - for which the owner of the business went to court. 

 

Grace and Isabel went to a hire company in Droitwich but were sold a couple of years after that. 

 

Strumble was a tough sale and is moored just a couple of miles away on the L&L. 

 

I still offer boat handling coaching - think less tick box than RYA for people wanting to build confidence on some of the basics and have been an inspector for British Marine for the Hire Boat Handover Scheme since 2015 which has enabled me to keep in touch with the industry. 

 

If we had kept going, it is fair to say 2022 would have been the final straw with the canal being closed from July. Who can run a business with that level of risk?

Edited February 10, 2023 by RichardH

[Guest]

44 minutes ago, RichardH said:

Hi All 

Stumbled across this discussion when we received a call for a holiday and I checked the 'net to see where the CBE name was still in existence. 

 

It wasn't covid that caused us to close the business. It was ultimately the risk of the water levels on the Leeds/Liverpool and our business not having other options to make money e.g. day boats, marina related income, boat building etc. 2010 knocked us for 6 when BW closed the canal for 12 or so weeks. 2011 was a poor year, presumably due to customer confidence and whilst we opened a base on the Lancaster to split the risk, it was so marginal it was a struggle to make a livable income. 

 

We ran the RYA helmsmans course which helped when boats were idle but ultimately we decided to start winding down in 2015 having run for 8 seasons. 

 

In terms of boat disposal, 3 boats were sponsored. 2 went back to their owners, Florence (ABC Built) went to Pennine and is now 'Eshton' 

 

Rosa May went to Nottingham Boat Sales and illegally sold - for which the owner of the business went to court. 

 

Grace and Isabel went to a hire company in Droitwich but were sold a couple of years after that. 

 

Strumble was a tough sale and is moored just a couple of miles away on the L&L. 

 

I still offer boat handling coaching - think less tick box than RYA for people wanting to build confidence on some of the basics and have been an inspector for British Marine for the Hire Boat Handover Scheme since 2015 which has enabled me to keep in touch with the industry. 

 

If we had kept going, it is fair to say 2022 would have been the final straw with the canal being closed from July. Who can run a business with that level of risk?

 

Thanks for the update. I was surprised to read Strumble was a tough sale. It was a lovely little boat. Or did you mean it was tough to let her go?

[RichardH]

20 minutes ago, M_JG said:

 

Thanks for the update. I was surprised to read Strumble was a tough sale. It was a lovely little boat. Or did you mean it was tough to let her go?

Very tough to let her go. It was nice to bump into Doug Moore aboard Firefly last year coming through Bunbury locks. 

[howardang]

I was born in a small village very close to Barnoldswick, in Yorkshire (where my father was the village Bobby) - in fact my birth was registered in Barlick, as it is more commonly known by the locals - which made me one of the chosen few,  a Yorkshireman, something of which I have always been very proud!. However, horror of horrors, a few years ago it was decided, during a period when boundaries were being tweaked, that Barnoldswick was to be taken over by the enemy, and it is now part of Lancashire!!! I am still coming to terms with it some time later nut thank goodness, no-one can take my original heritage away from me (I hope). 😉

 

Howard

[jonathanA]

RichardH can fully sympathise with you. We bought our boat in 2010 and spent our first summer trapped in the marina. (Actually we didn't because we could still cruise between Blackburn and Barrowford, but we were often the only boat moving.)

 

I think you gave us a price for a boat handling course and I have a feeling that the closure in 2010 made that impractical. 

 

We then had to put up with the almost yearly threat of a repeat closure until 2018 did it for us and we moved west of Wigan flight.

 

No one could run a viable business under those conditions. 

 

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, howardang said:

I was born in a small village very close to Barnoldswick, in Yorkshire (where my father was the village Bobby) - in fact my birth was registered in Barlick, as it is more commonly known by the locals - which made me one of the chosen few,  a Yorkshireman, something of which I have always been very proud!. However, horror of horrors, a few years ago it was decided, during a period when boundaries were being tweaked, that Barnoldswick was to be taken over by the enemy, and it is now part of Lancashire!!! I am still coming to terms with it some time later nut thank goodness, no-one can take my original heritage away from me (I hope). 😉

 

Howard

 

Similarly I was born in Middlesbrough which in 1959 was in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The Eye Hospital in the town (now flattened and the site is now a Travelodge and an Aldi) was called North Riding Infirmary.

 

Then in 1974 the area where I was born and still lived was kicked out of Yorkshire and Cleveland County was created. Booo..

 

I still think being born in Yorkshire counts though.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, jonathanA said:

No one could run a viable business under those conditions. 

 

Which is a real shame because Barlick is close to arguably one the best, most scenic parts of the UK canal system. It was a great choice to locate a hire base there, until of course the water shortages came along.

[IanD]

4 hours ago, RichardH said:

Hi All 

Stumbled across this discussion when we received a call for a holiday and I checked the 'net to see where the CBE name was still in existence. 

 

It wasn't covid that caused us to close the business. It was ultimately the risk of the water levels on the Leeds/Liverpool and our business not having other options to make money e.g. day boats, marina related income, boat building etc. 2010 knocked us for 6 when BW closed the canal for 12 or so weeks. 2011 was a poor year, presumably due to customer confidence and whilst we opened a base on the Lancaster to split the risk, it was so marginal it was a struggle to make a livable income. 

 

We ran the RYA helmsmans course which helped when boats were idle but ultimately we decided to start winding down in 2015 having run for 8 seasons. 

 

In terms of boat disposal, 3 boats were sponsored. 2 went back to their owners, Florence (ABC Built) went to Pennine and is now 'Eshton' 

 

Rosa May went to Nottingham Boat Sales and illegally sold - for which the owner of the business went to court. 

 

Grace and Isabel went to a hire company in Droitwich but were sold a couple of years after that. 

 

Strumble was a tough sale and is moored just a couple of miles away on the L&L. 

 

I still offer boat handling coaching - think less tick box than RYA for people wanting to build confidence on some of the basics and have been an inspector for British Marine for the Hire Boat Handover Scheme since 2015 which has enabled me to keep in touch with the industry. 

 

If we had kept going, it is fair to say 2022 would have been the final straw with the canal being closed from July. Who can run a business with that level of risk?

 

I remember 2010 well, we had a hire booked on the L&L -- not from you, from Rosewood Narrowboats, who this closure killed off... 😞

 

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/8402464.reedley-holiday-firm-fires-parting-shot-canal-bosses/

https://narrowboatworld.com/2355-had-enough-of-the-lal

 

The only positive side was that they moved their boats to Nantwich after the closure, from where we had a very pleasant week going to Llangollen and back.

[RichardH]

5 minutes ago, IanD said:

 

I remember 2010 well, we had a hire booked on the L&L -- not from you, from Rosewood Narrowboats, who this closure killed off... 😞

 

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/8402464.reedley-holiday-firm-fires-parting-shot-canal-bosses/

https://narrowboatworld.com/2355-had-enough-of-the-lal

 

The only positive side was that they moved their boats to Nantwich after the closure, from where we had a very pleasant week going to Llangollen and back.

We knew Nigel well. Good bloke. When he packed up in 2010, we took one of his (Green Man) to the Lancaster. 

[IanD]

8 minutes ago, RichardH said:

We knew Nigel well. Good bloke. When he packed up in 2010, we took one of his (Green Man) to the Lancaster. 

 

Just to prove that it always rains in Wales... 😉

 

Edited February 10, 2023 by IanD