Rosewood Narrowboats, which has been running for 5 years, has a fleet of seven narrowboats between 45 and 60 feet in length, catering for parties of between 4 and 8 people.
The company is based at Reedley Marina, near Burnley, which was in the middle of the closed section of canal. In order to continue in business and not to let customers down, the company's operation was transferred to Nantwich on the Shropshire Union Canal in Cheshire.
Nigel Feeney, who runs the family company, said that transferring everything to Nantwich had been a big upheaval and that a lot of time was spent travelling down there from Blackburn four times a week to turn the boats around.
The business will continue to run until the end of the season but will then close. The main factor behind the decision was the closure of half of the Leeds and Liverpool this year and the risk that this could be repeated in future years. Water supply has been an ongoing problem and there have been restrictions on lock use in previous years.
"It was a carefully thought out decision," Nigel told us. "We had to weigh up the risks, and I did not have enough confidence that it would not happen again."
"We have been selling holidays on the Leeds and Liverpool, and 99% of our customers want to go up over the summit to enjoy the scenic rural part of the canal. Our bookings have dropped off and the canal closure has damaged future bookings."
Nigel said that operating at Nantwich had worked quite well but had been costly in time and money. He had looked at the possibility of re-locating permanently but that would have needed a move of house because of the travelling time involved.
"We are doing this out of passion," said Nigel. "It has taken time and effort to get to where we are, but we can't drive the business forward when things like this happen that are out of our control."
The news comes just as boats start moving again on the canal. The section between Wigan and Colne re-opened last Friday and the remaining 20 miles between Barrowford Locks and Gargrave re-opened today. The sixty mile stretch was closed on August 2nd when reservoir levels reached exceptionally low levels.
Photo: Rosewood Narrowboats
Hope this is not the start of a trend.
ReplyDeleteIf I ever get to go to England I would love to rent a Narrow Boat for a week. I hope the canals have water in them though when I vist them.
ReplyDeleteVery worrying - a direct result of the problems with BW's management of this stretch of canal.
ReplyDeletewe need more use of this part of the canal network and losing a business that brings lots of new people to the canal is a big shame, coupled with the boaters permanently moving to other parts of the network its not good...
Good luck to Nigel and the team whatever they do next.
We took their Pendle Drifter from Burnley to Swanley Marina in July and had a very enjoyable week - very sorry to hear they haven't survived and hope they find something else worthwhile to do.
ReplyDeleteMight have been nice if Nigel hadn't let other customers as Reedley down when he made his move!!
ReplyDeleteSad news.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck Nigel, Mark and the rest of the team.
Margaret & Peter
nb Gecko
Nigel,
ReplyDeletegood luck and it's a pitty that you've stopped
Inspite of all the issues during our four week travel me and my wife and two friends had a marvelous trips up and down the hills all together ~ 200 locks
Pieter and Paulien Meijers
Pieter.meijers@online.nl
the Netherlands
We bought Pendle Rose from Swanley Bridge Marina and have been slowly bringing her South. The company may not be trading but the boats live on to continue bringing happiness...Graham Brooks
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