the bramwith coffee boat.

[Guest]

God you are stupid.

 

Get your cake elsewhere I ain't feeding you any longer.

[Northernboater]

God you are stupid.

 

Get your cake elsewhere I ain't feeding you any longer.

Stupid LOL, just as I thought you know very little about the area you boat in or what actually happens on the Northern network, Keep the worthless topics/posts going it makes you look like you know what your on about to the inexperienced boater.

[Guest]

Stupid LOL, just as I thought you know very little about the area you boat in or what actually happens on the Northern network, Keep the worthless topics/posts going it makes you look like you know what your on about to the inexperienced boater.

No matter how many chances I give you to understand the folly of your posts you still don't get it.

[peterboat]

As an aside we have a lovely cafe boat in the centre of Licolb at the minute. On a commercial mooring with the correct licensing for those who care.

 

They do excellent coffee and cakes as well as breakfasts and we wish them all the best.

 

Their mooring isn't in our opinion the best mind. Lincoln council have installed them some sliders in the quay wall however the boat has a habit of getting snagged and not rising with the water. We have seen it at some scary angles already . A sinking in the making as we come into the winter season !

Yes we used it in september it was good and we all enjoyed it

 

Peter

 

PS Cal we did fit through the glory hole without dropping the wheelhouse only half inch to spare each side though things were twitching!!!

And the point is to support local Northern traders on the water? You would have to eat a lot of Black Forrest Gateaux and drown yourself in coffee to support this business, work out the costing's for yourself and they don't even include the cost of the 60ftx12ft or maybe 14ft new J.Wilson sail away shell that's the bright yellow one that's there. this business just doesn't make sense or add up in this location.

 

Will you be popping down every weekend for coffee and cake?

 

You call me Dim, why don't you sit down and work the maths out to see if this business in this location is a viable proposition, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to know the answer if you know the area and the Northern waterways.

We had a look at that shell Lesley who was with us has the No 2 Gonzilla thats our pet name for the Brigatine or whatever its called and we thought it was a copy She should know as she helped design it with Jonny to be honest the stern looks different

 

Peter

[Northernboater]

Yes we used it in september it was good and we all enjoyed it

 

Peter

 

PS Cal we did fit through the glory hole without dropping the wheelhouse only half inch to spare each side though things were twitching!!!

 

We had a look at that shell Lesley who was with us has the No 2 Gonzilla thats our pet name for the Brigatine or whatever its called and we thought it was a copy She should know as she helped design it with Jonny to be honest the stern looks different

 

Peter

It's a Jonathan Wilson Shell bought as a sail away guaranteed, maybe the owner had a say in the rear end as everyone is bespoke to the owners requirement, painted in Bright yellow

Edited October 16, 2013 by Northernboater

[Guest]

It's a Jonathan Wilson Shell bought as a sail away guaranteed, painted in Bright yellow

It looks well too.

[Northernboater]

It looks well too.

There a great design far more space inside then a Dutch barge replica and better looking then a widebeam, but bright yellow??

[Guest]

There a great design far more space inside then a Dutch barge replica and better looking then a widebeam, but bright yellow??

I guess the colour choice was to do with wanting to get noticed..

[MtB]

Anybody trading without a trader's licence, legit mooring etc is just taking the p1ss in my opinion. It may not matter to you but it matters to all the other traders who play it by the book.

 

MtB

[Captain Fizz]

My sentiments exactly Mike.

[Guest]

Anybody trading without a trader's licence, legit mooring etc is just taking the p1ss in my opinion. It may not matter to you but it matters to all the other traders who play it by the book.

 

MtB

My sentiments exactly Mike.

 

We don't actually know that this guy has now not got one though, its just here-say.

 

Plus the mooring situation has changed too.

 

OK it may not originally have been legit as a traders mooring but as I said earlier he is now moored in a completely different spot and I suspect this aspect has been rectified now too.

Edited October 16, 2013 by The Dog House

[Northernboater]

 

We don't actually know that this guy has now not got one though, its just here-say.

 

Plus the mooring situation has changed too.

 

OK it may not originally have been legit as a traders mooring but as I said earlier he is now moored in a completely different spot and I suspect this aspect has been rectified now too.

Quick update what I've heard through the grapevine, he has now sorted most of the problems out with CaRT and has now got some official moorings for his boats and is trading legite, the only problem now is the parking issue as the only parking around there seams to be for the boaters at Bramwith, he's plan is for the large boat to be a restaraunt in the future and has aplied for the relevent licenses(alcahol) But as everyone says he is just in the wrong place especially with the parking issues and footfall.

Edited October 16, 2013 by Northernboater

[Boating lass]

Having read all your posts, although they are old. As a fellow moorer at bramwith lock I feel the need to enlighten everyone to the true nature of the couple running the coffee boat. They are at present & have been since day one of getting their trade mooring by the access gates to the leisure moorings, traded with complete disregard for their mooring terms & conditions & planning permission. They do now have a trade mooring but they have no planning permission for the wide beam, for the fence or paving,are only permitted to sell drinks & snacks are not permitted to have more than 2 tables, are not allowed any signage apart from 1 A frame that must be in close proximity to their boat & have no displayed licence or mooring permit for their new wide beam since its arrival which they have completely fitted out on the mooring despite this not being permitted. They had no permission to trade from the amenities block at the time they started trading from cart or planning permission & they still have no permission from cart to allow their customers to use the toilet block yet as another blogger commented made access to the amenities very difficult for other boaters.

They have & do systematically go out of their way to block the access road & gates to the other mooring users either with their van, keeping people waiting whilst he unloads, or when taking deliveries despite him being able to park on the grass verge opposite his boat with only the width of a single track road to cross. When asked politely by other moorers & cart to please not block the access road, his reply being a shouted "because I can!, I do what I want when & where I want & non of you or waterways can stop me" then becomes abusive & insulting, but he does tend to save this for the females & then on other occasions when the women are leaving the moorings by road he entices his customers to block & slow our leaving by driving at walking pace in front of us with their car & stopping & starting on the road or walking down the centre of the road if they are on foot making no attempt to move aside. He especially enjoys intimidating the elderly women accessing the gates to & from the moorings & blocking access to an elderly disabled couple on a regular basis.It has got so bad any lone female dreads going to the gates, myself included. They encourage cyclists visiting the cafe to prop their bikes on the fence or lay them to obstruct the single track access road & gate used by the other moorers.

They have driven away many long term moorers with their bullying ways driving many into depression, even knowingly damaging one couples car on a regular basis with their van door in the car park. They seem to take great pleasure in choosing one woman after another to intimidate in an attempt to insight a reaction from their partner, but thankfully being unsuccessful as we have all chosen to go down the official route rather than react as he would like & as he falsely accuses us of to his customers. Having successfully driven away all but one moorer from his side when he was previously moored on the leisure moorings before getting a trade mooring.

Bramwith lock moorings were a nice look out for each other, anything I can do to help, old style community before they arrived & his arriving speech shouted from his boat as he came to the moorings was "I am your new commander & you will do as I say & I will do as I please" little did we realise what they had install for us. He has had numerous visits from the police who have warned him about his attitude & behaviour (he even called one boater a nonse in an attempt to insight a reaction one night as said man was opening the gates for his wife, because she felt too intimidated by them to go through alone).

Yet they will smile & be polite when your giving them your money & drinking your coffee & eating your cake, the majority of which are purchased from the supermarket ( yes they have been seen in sainsburys on a regular basis stocking up) & trying to convince you that they are the innocent victims of a selfish community that doesn't want to share the countryside.

Please take time to talk to the other friendly moorers & listen to our side of their stories before jumping to conclusions, & by all means enjoy the country side as much as we used to. Because we are not the only ones this couple has set out to make lives difficult because they were also removed from strawberry island boat club & Doncaster moorings for their unacceptable behaviour. It is not the coffee boat we object to or the restaurant they are just in the wrong location bramwith lock is just not a suitable place for these businesses it cannot accommodate the increase in vehicles due to lack of parking & poor roads, especially on match days & we feel their are many safety issues regarding the sighting of the mooring & all we have asked for since their arrival is consideration for the other canal & mooring users & the enviroment. But are the canal & river trust listening to our plight the trade department most certainly are not, they simply rub their hands & close their ears.

[Guest]

Edit - Actually - belay that suggestion because if correct then it will likely make the situation worse.

 

Interesting post though.

Edited February 6, 2014 by The Dog House

[peterboat]

Yes very interesting for me too I wondered where all the boats had gone and now I know. We had a similar problem on our moorings a few years ago but Dave untied his ropes and waved him goodbye sounds like you need a similar solution

 

Peter

[Southern Star]

I've encountered a few men in the past who wouldn't say boo to a goose to me or any other male, but scream vitriol when dealing with any female, all I can say is that if Boating Lass' account is accurate and I heard this cafe owner speaking to my girlfriend like this, then I would seriously batter the man, by which I mean broken nose, missing teeth etc.

[Bettie Boo]

Knowing the location and the amount of walkers and boaters you get there I would be surprised if he's making money a simple "think about the costs" makes you wonder, rough example of the costs I should imagine would be:

 

Moorings for two 57' boats £3000-£4000 (C&RT moorings at Bramwith lock cost £2000+)

License and Trade License £2300

Insurance on boats and

business insurance £1000

Fuel and running costs £1000

Total approx. £7500 per year ish????

 

These are just figures that I can estimate on the running costs of a 60' narrowboat but not knowing exact trading pricing/policies they may not be exact, but what I do know is that you would have to sell a lot of cake with your tea and coffee to even break even never mind make a profit or living and this is not going to happen at Bramwith lock.

Ever so slightly but that actual bottom line "profit" lays in the tea & coffee. Very small profit margin in cake / pastries unless prices are extortionate or sold in large volumes.

[Captain Fizz]

Where did I put my box of limpet mines?

[Grace and Favour]

Where did I put my box of limpet mines?

Behind you!

[Northernboater]

I've encountered a few men in the past who wouldn't say boo to a goose to me or any other male, but scream vitriol when dealing with any female, all I can say is that if Boating Lass' account is accurate and I heard this cafe owner speaking to my girlfriend like this, then I would seriously batter the man, by which I mean broken nose, missing teeth etc.

 

I've heard from friends in the area that he locked himself in his boat for a few days the other week as there was someone who was going to do exactly that to him and funny thing it wasn't a woman.

 

Who's to blame for letting the situation escalate to this, if all the accusations are true why have CaRT's Northern business manager and mooring officer let it get to this? surely there are guide lines he needs to follow to operate a business and these must be monitored in order for him to keep his trading agreement and business license.

[Boating lass]

Thanks for the support everyone it is nice to know the boating community does pull together.

I have to defend our leisure mooring officer because we have bombarded him with phone calls, texts & photos of what's going on here & he has been very supportive & taken a lot of flack from us all.

But basically his hands are tied as theirs is a commercial mooring. He supported us when they triple moored with two narrow boats & a wide beam side by side & got things changed but that just resulted in his mother & father bringing their boat shark here onto a vacant leisure mooring that a couple were being made to wait to move on too despite being the winning bidders, then being moved off there they moored on the canal side behind the coffee boat & the wide beam & so we had four boats double moored & over staying.

The coffee boat was still going up to the amenities block on a weekend then & his parents on shark even took it upon themselves to clear other boats from the amenities becoming abusive when denied. It took over three months for CaRt to move them on, in the mean time they joined in the barrage of abuse from threatening to throw the contracted grass cutter & his equipment into the canal if he cut the grass on the leisure mooring they had decided to occupy free of charge. To his mother shouting, swearing & threatening leisure moorers across the water, what a lady she is not!

As for the commercial moorings officer, what a joke he is! He doesn't listen, treats us like we are some kind of northern hilly billies, he came to a meeting so we could all air our grievances & was nothing short of pig ignorant even returning to the coffee boat couple & referring to the leisure moorers as Animals. He just doesn't seem to see beyond the fake nicety the coffee boat couple put on despite the photographic evidence we've supplied, the police visits & knowing they do not have planning permission & continue to constantly break any terms & conditions set out for them or other waterways users. He refused to give us a copy of their terms & conditions until we took it higher. And they continue to flout these, so he just turns & blind eye & then suddenly terms have changed.

Ironically he was the man that CaRT sent to carry out a further investigation of the problems being continually caused by his own customer, so no surprise that nothing's altered there. Perhaps it's difficult for him to admit he is wrong & the commercial mooring he created for them is totally wrongly placed & this area is just not suitable nor can it safely accommodate a cafe & the traffic it brings let alone a restaurant that is pending, that he hasn't agreed to.

Our complaints have now been pushed through many managers at CaRT until they have now reached the top, yet still we have received no resolution & so has now gone to the ombudsmen.

But CaRT are not the only ones turning a blind eye, Doncaster Council has also chosen to ignore our complaints & even though say they "agree the coffee boat couple are operating outside their granted planning permission on numerous issues, they cannot serve notice as the council doesn't work weekends, so they have not personally seen any infringements".

But the fight goes on!

[peterboat]

Hi Boating Lass all is now clear I had a run in a few years ago with Shark, they had took up residence on a lock mooring! Marcus my young very large GSD convinced them of the folly that they were doing and when we came back 2 days later they had moved up to pastures and glowered at us as we moored up for dinner I do miss Marcus he was so good at sorting things

 

Peter

[luctor et emergo]

Untie the ropes. They will soon get the message.

[patty-ann]

wow, its a shame when disputes reach these proportions. No party will climb down and lose face. Those who intimidate and bully get away with it as sense and reason non existent in their world. Its their voice and only theirs they hear. No winners on this if the authorities do not act, one can see why people take justice into their own hands. You will be dammed if you do and dammed if you don't.

[Boating lass]

The latest on the behaviour of Mr Michael Milsom, one of the proprietors of the coffee boat at bramwith lock.

On wed 5th the Milsom's were told to cease trading by Doncaster councils planning department as they are not operating under the terms of their planning permission.

As retaliation for this he yet again blocked the road to the gates at Bramwith moorings whilst unloading his van, when asked by an elderly boating couple (who had just returned from a doctors appointment as they are not well) MR Micheal Milsom became abusive but eventually moved his van.

So when the couple had parked in the car park & got out of their car they were confronted by an aggressive & angry MR Milsom who said to the disabled gentleman (who has to use two walking sticks) "Your lucky your a f*****g cripple or I would put you on your back".

This has consequently been reported to the police & CaRT.

The police visited Mr Milsom AGAIN regarding his actions.

Regardless of the order to cease trading the coffee boat has been open all weekend & they & their customers have called upon every Tom DICK & Harry (most of whom didn't even know where the coffee boat was so have been asking for directions from the locals) to sign their PETTY-ITION.

But the Milsoms failed to tell their loyal (LOL) customers that they had been told to cease trading, so probably wasn't even covered on his insurance.

And sign away they did, until approached on their way past by other boaters & locals informing them of the Milsoms true behaviour & personalities.

One couple replied "Oh, they never told us that! We WOULDN'T have signed had we known" & suggested they would sign a petition by us against them to void their previous signatures, which had been gained under misinformation.

One of the boaters opposite the coffee boat have claimed right of reply by hanging a big bright yellow banner from the side of their barge stating, MR & MRS Milsom are only upset because they have been made to comply with their terms & conditions, & inviting visitors to the coffee boat to come & chat with the other boaters near the coffee boat to hear the other side of the story.

However the Milsoms called the police & CaRT in protest of the banner, apparently they didn't like the fact they have been named & shamed.

But after a police & CaRT visit the Milsoms were informed that the banner is in no way derogatory & there for could stay put.

Well MR Milsom will be spitting his dummy out now as he doesn't comprehend the word NO!!!!

Let's see what happens next?

Seriously considering an e-petition any suggestions were I could find the best support on this.