Oakley Court

thamesS23

thamesS23

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www.spotonprint.net
Does anyone know if you can still moor up at Oakley Court these days, and go and have a drink in their bar or garden.

Only reason I ask is I was told by someone that it is now a members only bar - although I believe this only applies to the newly developed area (that looks stunning), set away from the hotel. I was hoping to pull up in a few weeks with some guests and have a drink there.
 
Went past yesterday but can't remember if there were any customer boats I think it was a a charter boat and a day hire electric.

Will be passing again later today I'll have a look and see if it looks like they want people stopping.
 
Last time we went past in May there definitely were some boats stopped there, be good to get the latest from OITD as it will help our decision whether to go up or down on the next week away :)
 
Yes they still have moorings up the top end by the big willow tree. "Moorings for hotel patrons only"

Further down there are some platforms with tent things which have no mooring signs on.

I took a couple of photos from the window of my pleasure conveyance.





First one is no mooring second one is mooring.

There is ample room for visiting vessels.
 
Thanks OITD looks like its still the same, we have always said we must try it sometime but it looks a bit like if you actually attempted to moor there one of the penguins would rush out and tell you to leave, as its always fairly empty.
 
As I understand it....

There is a fence running up the lawn, perpendicular to the river, about two-thirds of the way across the property, measuring from the hotel buildings.

Everything downstream of that fence - which, as @thamesS23 says, looks very smart - is part of the Soho Club empire.
Everything upstream of the fence is hotel "business as usual".

So, moor between the fence and their boathouse (minding the shallow bit), and you should be in order.
 
Yes there is a reasonably pleasant Dutch barge up the top by the boathouse as well.

Didn't notice a fence but there was signage indicating a reserved space for Fringilla which is a Dutch (Van Lent?) Charter cruiser based below the sounding arch in Maidenhead.

This white sign with black writing seems to indicate the point above which public mooring is permitted.
 
I was travelling past there with a hire boat a few weeks ago. The hire boat moored up at Oakley Court. I was working my way through Bray Lock (no keeper), when said hire boat turned up, and they said that they were turned away as it’s now a members club only.
 
Maybe they meant patrons ie people who are spending money at the place.

The signage says patrons only. Presumably this means it's not just a public mooring.

Which is reasonable.
 
So after visiting Windsor today for lunch, as planned we pulled up at Oakley Court on the way back at about 4pm. The soho house side (downstream) was packed and looked lively and full of atmosphere. No other boats moored up, but we did and headed into hotel. After looking around (no one sat inside, and the inside bar empty of people and drinks behind the bar), we went to sit down outside on the terrace, near to where there were 3 or 4 other tables sat so we could have some drinks.
Waitress came over and said have we booked. Replied no, but said we just want a few drinks if possible.
‘I’ll have to check’ she said and scurried off. Next thing a manager came over and said ‘I hear you haven’t booked’. Again, no, we just wanted to have a quick drink.
Was then told ‘this is a dining hotel only and we don’t serve drinks unless you are having a meal.’ Apparently this is nothing to do with covid but there new permanent policy. It help explain why there was no one else sat out on the lawn, which used to be packed.
They were actually quite rude in the way they dealt and spoke to us.
I suspect that they make so much money by leasing half their premises to Soho House club, that they don’t need any other customers.
I would recommend that everyone avoids going there.
 
thamesS23 said:
So after visiting Windsor today for lunch, as planned we pulled up at Oakley Court on the way back at about 4pm. The soho house side (downstream) was packed and looked lively and full of atmosphere. No other boats moored up, but we did and headed into hotel. After looking around (no one sat inside, and the inside bar empty of people and drinks behind the bar), we went to sit down outside on the terrace, near to where there were 3 or 4 other tables sat so we could have some drinks.
Waitress came over and said have we booked. Replied no, but said we just want a few drinks if possible.
‘I’ll have to check’ she said and scurried off. Next thing a manager came over and said ‘I hear you haven’t booked’. Again, no, we just wanted to have a quick drink.
Was then told ‘this is a dining hotel only and we don’t serve drinks unless you are having a meal.’ Apparently this is nothing to do with covid but there new permanent policy. It help explain why there was no one else sat out on the lawn, which used to be packed.
They were actually quite rude in the way they dealt and spoke to us.
I suspect that they make so much money by leasing half their premises to Soho House club, that they don’t need any other customers.
I would recommend that everyone avoids going there.
Click to expand...

There’s a great account on Twitter called Fesshole. About things you did and can only admit now.

25 years ago that Place annoyed me in the same way so we were passing one night and two tables were left un cleared.

We moored up slowly and quietly and stole all the silverware on the tables. To this day the two silver tea pots sit in the garden as part of a display and make me giggle each and every time i see them.
 
We stopped mooring at Oakley as we hit the bottom a couple of times. Also had quite an unpleasant exchange with a skipper of Fringilla when he tried to nudge us out of the queue for the lock - so that’s another good reason not to stop there.
 
If they had wanted your business, and it sounds like they didn't, it could have been handled so much better...

A simple "Of course you can have drinks sir, but for future reference we take bookings for dining only"

Never been there and not going to after hearing that.
 
We were also going to hold our company global conference there, paying top dollar too as there was a 'wedding' happening that weekend, quite a big one. We had already tried to buy out the bookings at Cliveden only to be told no amount of money would work! yes is was THAT wedding.

Long story short they were equally useless at pulling a quote together for 60 people so we eventually took our business to Goodwood and had a spectacular time!
 
Phoned to book a table a few weeks back and asked if it was ok to moor overnight. Told, politely, that we could not stay on board overnight but we’re welcome to take a room instead.
Not quite the point of having a cruiser?! Sadly, will not be visiting any more.
 
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