Shillingford Bridge Hotel - shock!

I have sent the following email to customer care at the Shillingford:

Your management may care to read the comments on the Thames Boaters Forum about changes to mooring charges at the Shillingford Bridge Hotel:

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=280434

I have to say that I for one will certainly not be mooring there in future if these high charges persist.
 
Am I missing something?

Brayman said that following the meeting with the manager the £20 stayed but you receive 20% discount on bar and restaurant bills.
Dinner for 2, I guess,would be around £50 each so total £100. 20% discount is £20, so mooring fee refunded!
I would suggest that admin would be simpler for the hotel if they reverted to a refund of the mooring fee!!

Certainly don't disagree that they should charge for moorings if you don't use the hotel. Why should they allow use of their frontage for no benefit?
 
No one is saying they shouldn't charge, but £20 is very expensive for the non-tidal thames.

Before this, I think the moorings at Sonning (Uri Gellars place) used to be one of the most expensive at £10.
 
Sounds reasonable compared to £9.00 a nigt on a bouy or the barge at Queenborough and get yourself ashore by dinghy. All tide landing is another 50p per person to get back to your dinghy unless you use the old groyne.
Brightlingsea is £10.00 per night on the pontoons in the creek, £2.00 each way on the trot boat or once again use your di9nghy.
At least you can step ashore at Shillingford.
 
of course some of the best moorings on the thames are some of the free ones.

Wargrave marshes is one of my favourite free spots. Clivedon was another (either the islands or the path), but they now have someone coming out to collect the moorings fees.
 
I have yet to brave overnight anchoring!

Have done it several times when just wanting to stop for lunch, but not done it overnight yet, I suppose because in reality, there is always somewhere to moor on the thames.

My favourite anchoring spot, is just before cookham lock - take the right hand channel up the hedsor back water and drop anchor before the wooden bridge
 
While not wishing to start an argument.

Why All this fuss about £20.00,from people who will happily cough up that to park a small bit of tin a fraction the size of a boat in some dreary location for a day(or more likely a week) with no view at all and at least 10 mins away via a scruffy smelly bus from where you actually want to be.Many will handover that sort of money or more when parking at the O2,SBS or whatever.
So whats an airport car park got,that the river bank has,nt. ?
Lots of things that were once free now cost money and businesses are going to raise money from wherever and whoever they they can ?
 
In the past - always a welcoming smile from Gordon.

Our berth was in the holiday park cut just below Shillingford Bridge (guess "Nenesse" is still there). Load up on a Friday evening and pop her up to the hotel moorings (or if full a futher 100m up on the left). Bar meal in the evening and a few beers chatting to others. Order the paper from the hotel and pick it up Saturday morning, some ice for the G&T's for later - SWMBO deciding if were going to go up or down.

There was sign up; could have been a £5 or £10 - refundable if you ate there. we never paid.

Are they only charging for overnighting or is there a charge if you stop for a couple of hours for lunch?

Sounds worse than "Parking Eye" charges :-(
 
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Hint/Tip;
what we've done in the past; call up the cafe just above Benson Lock and ask if you can stop for the night - and have breakfast in their cafe the following morning.
It's a short walk up to the garage if you want some cans of fuel and a short walk into Benson to a couple of pubs.
 
steve_clayton said:
In the past - always a welcoming smile from Gordon.

Our berth was in the holiday park cut just below Shillingford Bridge (guess "Nenesse" is still there). Load up on a Friday evening and pop her up to the hotel moorings (or if full a futher 100m up on the left). Bar meal in the evening and a few beers chatting to others. Order the paper from the hotel and pick it up Saturday morning, some ice for the G&T's for later - SWMBO deciding if were going to go up or down.

There was sign up; could have been a £5 or £10 - refundable if you ate there. we never paid.

Are they only charging for overnighting or is there a charge if you stop for a couple of hours for lunch?

Sounds worse than "Parking Eye" charges :-(
Click to expand...

There's no sign up now, you just get a shock when a young girl comes down and asks for your money. It is only overnight that they charge.
 
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UPDATE

As we were passing Sillingford on our way back down from Abingdon I thought I would check to see if the new regime was in operation.

I'm pleased to say that it is and although I think it still is a bit steep it is good to see that constructive criticism has improved matters.

It is 8 days since our last visit and only six boats have been in overnight, quite a reduction on previous years in my experience.
 
Its easy. Use the network, tell eveybody and just boycot the place. Boaters bring a lot of money into these sort of places (not me as I never pay for moorings). Eventually they will learn.

Regards.

Alan.
 
Good Value for money

We have been on the river now for 5 years and have often stayed at Shillingford Bridge Hotel moorings. Have had meals there 5/6 times a year whilst staying the moorings.
We have today booked moorings for 2 nights as collecting family and have just had an excellent meal in the bar/restaurant and speaking as a hotelier for 30 years found it very good value for money , even BEFORE the 20% mooring discount.
My wife and I can recommend this hotel/moorings very highly and if anyone thinks the charges are high I suggest they are not used to staying on 'proper moorings' with electricity included.
Tonight four boats are moored and all 'owners' have been in the hotel bar/restaurant.
I also noticed quite a few using the toilets who are moored along the bank side and not paying mooring fees or spending money in the hotel. I met some in the locks and saw them moor so this is not an assumption.
Are these the people who are complaining. Obviously they must think it right that other people pay for their use of amenities.
Those that are not prepared to pay leave spaces for those of us who are, unless of course they use the moorings and electric whilst having a half of beer and then move before the mooring fees are checked in the evening.
 
Sigh, another statistic for the evening news.

Whether we are entitled to lick the boots of the hotellier is irrelevant, we are customers and that kind of attitude will have a sad ending especially in current economic climate.
 
JColinTurner said:
I also noticed quite a few using the toilets who are moored along the bank side and not paying mooring fees or spending money in the hotel. I met some in the locks and saw them moor so this is not an assumption.
Are these the people who are complaining. Obviously they must think it right that other people pay for their use of amenities.
Those that are not prepared to pay leave spaces for those of us who are, unless of course they use the moorings and electric whilst having a half of beer and then move before the mooring fees are checked in the evening.
Click to expand...

No those aren't the people who are complaining, for the last 15 years we have stopped at Shillingford several times a year and always eaten there when we have. £20 per night is not value for money. Admittedly the food has improved this year, but so have the price increased - even so the number of times the bar has run out of beer is beyond a joke. They need to do something to attract boaters, not frighten them away.

A lengthy post for your first post Mr JCT!
 
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