Hire Boat Base, Welford Arm

[Heartland]

Was there an early Hire Boat base at the end of the Welford Arm ?

[OldGoat]

I don't 'really' know - but to get the 'discussion' going -

No - it was a basin for working boats to load / unload,

then whe there was no working traffic - somebody (ABC ?)  saw a business oportunity.

 

Now I wait an inrush of locals to disagree....

 

[ditchcrawler]

In recent years there have been hire boats working from there, ie. the last 20

[Rose Narrowboats]

Black Prince were there in the Ed Rimmer era.

[sueb]

Roger Jeffries was involved with a hirebase there many years ago. I will try and find out more. It was over 40 years ago, soon after the arm was reopened.

More info. Welford Canal Boats in the 1970's   Tit Willow was bought for a hire boat. The partners were Phil Gardner; Bob Atkins and John Phillips and Roger. All dead now.

It was taken over by Black prince in the 1980's

 

Edited January 16 by sueb

[mrsmelly]

13 minutes ago, Rose Narrowboats said:

Black Prince were there in the Ed Rimmer era.

Ed Rimmer!! Now theres a name well known to may of us.

[magpie patrick]

Nicholsons Guide no 1 - South East lists "Welford Canal Boats" who offer "Steel narrow boats for hire, also built for private customers (and fitted out), gas, diesel, water (petrol station 300 yards way), moorings" - it's not the first edition guide as it's priced at £1.50 on the front cover. By 1989 (Guide no. 2 Central - 4th edition) the yard is listed as Black Prince

[Jerra]

Wasn't that were "Just Boats" were in the mid 70s?

[Rose Narrowboats]

52 minutes ago, Jerra said:

Wasn't that were "Just Boats" were in the mid 70s?

They were always at Crick as far as I remember.

[Heartland]

This image was taken in 1974

 

If it helps

 

What happened to NANCY is another related question

 

 

Edited January 17 by Heartland

[Dav and Pen]

The arm was reopened in I think 1969 after the restoration work carried out by the Old Union Canal society and I did some shoveling there. The understanding was that the Society would manage the arm and its boat owning members would have priority. In fact I left a little cruiser for a winter .

the society had an annual rally and dinner dance at The Wharf pub and one of the most memorable things was seeing Joe and Rose Skinner waltzing . 
 

BWB renaged on the deal and leased it to the boat company.

 

 

 

Edited January 17 by Dav and Pen
Content

[Stroudwater1]

Managed to find this advert in the Waterways series Canal book of 1973. It’s one of the larger adverts at half a page. 

[Derek R.]

No phone number!

Spencer House, West End recently:

 

https://tinyurl.com/y5nwbpb7