The Long, Arduous Destruction of London's Canal Boat Life
And a visit to The Reliance pub in Islington
Amidst the plethora of clubs, bars, and novelty venues in Shoreditch, The Reliance pub stands out as a tried and true local. The pub lives within a building that reflects the rich industrial history of the area near the City of London. Once home to Maund’s, a shop fitter and carpenter, it evolved into a furniture works in the late 1940s, then housing mantle manufacturers Bronitt & Carmell, and later transitioning into a ladies’ coat manufacturer by the late 1960s. By 2004, a ship enthusiast had taken over the storefront and used parts of his own boat, The Reliance, to put together The Reliance Pub. With wooden panels, long bar and exposed brickwork, The Reliance is the perfect place to sit down, order and pint and set down some thoughts on important things happening around London. Such as….
The Canal + River Trust’s Crackdown on Continuous Cruising Narrowboats
If this topic sounds familiar, it is. I wrote about The Narrowboat and the people who call the houseboats on the Regents Canal that runs through the centre of London from Notting Hill, Maida Vale, Regents Park, Camden, Islington and Hackney and which forms the basis of the pre-automobile transport system about a year ago.
I love the canals. Whenever I have time and a train to catch, I walk the canals from my home in Angel, Islington to to walk to Kings Cross. It’s about a mile or so, and almost every day I see a different line of boats, or a new paint job on a centuries-old vessel. I watch twenty-somethings at nights and on weekends painting of otherwise cleaning up their new homes, or sitting on the stern or the roof, enjoying a bottle and a spread of cheese. I marvel at the ecosystem that has formed on the canals: bakeries, bookstores, pubs and restaurants, grocery stores — everything a narrowboat homesteader needs to survive. I pet the dogs and cats who stroll around the canals, and take photos of all of it consistently.
The U.S. has a couple of canal systems: the Gowanus in Brooklyn, the C+O Canal in Georgetown outside Washington, D.C., and the Erie Canal, which connects the Hudson River to the Great Lakes. But nothing compares to the 2,000 or so miles of canals that spider web the UK from the English Channel to Scotland. And until I visited Amsterdam in 2018, I hardly knew anyone who made their homes on a canal.
But almost as soon as I moved to Central London in early 2022 from Southwest London, I started documenting the canals and the people who lived in them. Many of the older narrowboat owners had long lived on the Regents Canal, due to previous homelessless, divorce, eviction or some other unfortunate circumstance that befell them. After plunking down about £50-100k on a boat, they had an option: pay £20k a year for a permanent mooring in one of the boatyards around Islington/Camden, or obtain a “continuous cruising” license for £2k a year and move the boat every two weeks. But new canal residents — Gen Xers, millennials and even Gen Zers — have chosen the boating life due to a lifelong dream, such as Rowan Farrell from Manchester, or simply because the “London bump” has made housing prices in London virtually unaffordable.
Either way, a boat and a license or a mooring is significantly less than the minimal £24k per year on housing. “Sometimes it’s so quaint, like when you wake up on the London water and see a row of ducks or a big fish,” Farrell told me in 2021, sitting over the back door of his boat. “Sometimes, it’s very tiring, like when you wake up to the construction around King’s Cross due to the tech companies and expensive condos going up around there. .”
Since living near the canals, I have noticed two things: the age of the boat owners decreasing; and the animosity between them and the Canal River Trust (CRT), the national charity that manages the 2,000 miles of English canals, deepening. I have also noticed boats disappearing by the dozens, either moved to “friendlier” areas outside of Central London or replaced by little islands of pond grass and other flora found on little islands the size of a boat. As the months passed from 2023 to 2024, so did the patches of grass, while the power and water hookups started to disappear. Boats that used to line the toepath from Kings Cross to my road are now two and three deep into the canal, sharing hookups and steps to land. “The Canal and River Trust, which was founded by Tories under (David) Cameron, have been removing waste disposal points and electricity hookups until the boats are three deep and the waste starts to pile up so people start to say ‘these boats are a nuisance and we need to get rid of them,’” says one of the owners of Words on the Water, a popular bookstore on the canal near Kings Cross train station. “This way, they can reduce the number of people on the canals or force them into permanent moorings and take more property taxes.”
The New York Times last week wrote about the increasing problem between the Canal + River Trust, the continuous cruising boaters and the developers of the land around the canals, namely Kings Cross. “The option is almost too appealing — a new wave of residential boaters is stretching London’s canal support system past its limits,” the Times reported. Three years ago, I spoke to a Canal + River Trust Boating Manager, Matthew Symonds, who said the number of residential boats in London has ballooned by 86 percent over the past decade, to more than 4,000. Boats with continuous cruising license have more than tripled. As a result, anyone overstaying their two weeks are getting moved along or brought before the legal authorities, as seen also by the changing of signs posted around the canals. The residents have always called this the Canal + River Trust’s “culling” capaign.
The Times has reported that “Even so, the Canal & River Trust is not taking action to limit the number of boats, said Fran Read, the organization’s national press officer. ‘There is plenty of room, even in hot spots like London, where boat numbers are more concentrated,’ Ms. Read said.” The evidence lately points to everything counter to that statement. Right now, the war between the Canal + River Trust is present, but not overt, although culling rally announcements and For Sale signs have been posted on the boats with more frequency.
For my part, the canal boats add to the life and the virbrancy of the canals. What was once a polluted waterway with coal and steel boats running up the waterways during the day and practical desertion during the night has evolved into a area lined with shops and restaurants and life and laughter every night. Runners, cyclers, tourists and shoppers at Angels and King’s Cross have increased ten-fold. People stand outside the Word on the Water bookstore to pick up the latest Zadie Smith or even listen to the weekly Friday afternoon concert. Toe path lighting, more charging and water ports, as well as additional rubbish bins and monitoring would not only improve the local affinity toward the canals, but also help young people stay productive in the city they call home. Lastly, the Canal + River Trust would nuture another element of attraction and tourism to the city. It’s a win-win for everyone involved — and continues to keep this new Londoner interested and excited about her community.
Towpath, not toepath.