St Katherines Dock

oldgit said:
Pretty certain St Kats has been "owned" by a long list of "investment funds" , it would have been funded by borrowing money on the open market and the interest on same needs paying, some of my pension might have been invested there and need decent return to pay for my boating.

"City Developments Ltd. (CDL)—controlled by billionaire Kwek Leng Beng—said Thursday it had acquired the historic waterfront landmark St. Katharine Docks in Central London for £395 million ($486 million) from funds advised by U.S. private equity giant Blackstone."

Suspect many of the quoted good value ports and and marinas abroad are still owned by the local authorities.
Very few left in public ownership in UK, Ramsgate ? most flogged off for pennies in the 1980s .
St Kats used to be owned by the GLC and we all know what happened to them.
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Poor management and poor decisions don't justify a rip-off, just explain to some degree why it happens.. The UK as a whole isn't fairing too well for visitor pricing.
 
I fail to see how a marina can increase prices by 100% … just pure price gouging…
Imagine being a berth holder … I priced 10m up last year £12k for the year …. This year £24k please … wonder the outcry if that happens to other home berth “ free market “
 
Cavalierbond said:
I fail to see how a marina can increase prices by 100% … just pure price gouging…
Imagine being a berth holder … I priced 10m up last year £12k for the year …. This year £24k please … wonder the outcry if that happens to other home berth “ free market “
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We have an empty space behind our boat good for up to 14m, the boat that was there has moved to a different berth, occupying the two berths where our last boat was and the one that was behind that, they were both sold and moved, one to Ghent and the other to Antwerp.
:)
 
oldgit said:
While we are on the subject.
Biggin Hill charges £500 quid to land ones private jet.......................
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I was in the control tower at Wick Airport, the RAF Jaguars were doing approach training with touch and go without the touch part :) the controller had a big pair of binoculars and watched carefully to see if the wheels touched the ground, if they did then he could charge the RAF for a landing fee.
 
Cavalierbond said:
I see your rather snide point but show me a plane you can buy for £5000 …. That works !!
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On a budget ?, join a local club syndicate or buy a share in an aircraft , or use "Wingly" .
Explore the Kent Coast
£45 to land this at Biggin or £23.00 at whats left of my local airport.EGTO.
£1500 or £50.00, only difference is what you rock up in ?
Never heard any pilot whinging about some 3 million quid machine landing in front or behind him/her, something unique to boat owners perhaps.
Personally prefer the old French rag and stick machine.

Last week in St Kats parked in the shadow of one of the last big Sealines produced, the "significant other" of the owner deigned to engage me in conversation,among the subjects raised, the trip round, the challenge of not making a complete cock up of mooring and how expensive Kats was these days.
Impressed by the number of crew he had aboard, who immediately departed on arrival, presumably back to whatever salt mine the skipper owns.
Gor Blimey Guv.
:)
 
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oldgit said:
On a budget ?, join a local club syndicate or buy a share in an aircraft , or use "Wingly" .
Explore the Kent Coast
£45 to land this at Biggin or £23.00 at whats left of my local airport.EGTO.
£1500 or £50.00, only difference is what you rock up in ?
Never heard any pilot whinging about some 3 million quid machine landing in front or behind him/her, something unique to boat owners perhaps.
Personally prefer the old French rag and stick machine.

Last week in St Kats parked in the shadow of one of the last big Sealines produced, the "significant other" of the owner deigned to engage me in conversation,among the subjects raised, the trip round, the challenge of not making a complete cock up of mooring and how expensive Kats was these days.
Impressed by the number of crew he had aboard, who immediately departed on arrival, presumably back to whatever salt mine the skipper owns.
Gor Blimey Guv.
:)
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My point being that st Kats has gone up by 70-100 percent … and that will knock out a lot of cheap boaters from visiting a marina that is top draw … and where they get this increase from .. apart from blatant price gouging …
Not sure why you are comparing it to a share in a plane … shall i sell my boat and get a share in another
Honest question .. if your home marina raised prices by that amount would you be happy ?? Or pay it ?
 
Sticky Fingers said:
I still don’t understand your point. Why would you expect a Marina in central London to accommodate you or anyone else for peanuts? That’s not ‘price gouging’. If you don’t like the price, don’t go.
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The trouble with this position is that it ultimately becomes extreme capitalism. Just as is why should a marina in central London be 'peanuts' or translated, decent value? Just because it's London why does it have to be extortionately expensive? Those used to London (as I was) may shrug our shoulders to a 10 quid pint or a 100/200 quid nightly mooring but that just excludes a huge percentage of the boating community. As my friend who has just arrived in North Spain will testify, the UK has become extremely expensive, and frequently, unnecessarily so. So as much as I don't expect something for nothing, this very 'modern' British angle of if you don't like it, don't buy it, doesn't wash either. It's just capitalist segregation, that all business should squeeze every cent possible, so investors get the absolute maximum return for their investment. It's a very narrow perspective, and you could argue is why SuperYacht sales are strong, whilst more modest boaters are hanging up their boots. It sucks the soul away from the average-Joe boater.
 
Fire99 said:
The trouble with this position is that it ultimately becomes extreme capitalism. Just as is why should a marina in central London be 'peanuts' or translated, decent value? Just because it's London why does it have to be extortionately expensive? Those used to London (as I was) may shrug our shoulders to a 10 quid pint or a 100/200 quid nightly mooring but that just excludes a huge percentage of the boating community. As my friend who has just arrived in North Spain will testify, the UK has become extremely expensive, and frequently, unnecessarily so. So as much as I don't expect something for nothing, this very 'modern' British angle of if you don't like it, don't buy it, doesn't wash either. It's just capitalist segregation, that all business should squeeze every cent possible, so investors get the absolute maximum return for their investment. It's a very narrow perspective, and you could argue is why SuperYacht sales are strong, whilst more modest boaters are hanging up their boots. It sucks the soul away from the average-Joe boater.
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I agree … I don’t expect anything to be “ cheap “ nowadays esp with boating .. and it did a luxury / 1 st world problem ..

Maybe wrongly I was working on the double formula … Walton for me is £35 a night so £70 a night in st Kats was fair play …

To then go up 100 percent … not 5 or 10 percent in line with most things nowdays .. sticks in the throat ..

I understand the “ if you don’t like the price it don’t go” … but it’s not like a brand of coffee .. it’s in my option's the best marina in the country .. but the are like arse oles I suppose ..
 
Cavalierbond said:
My point being that st Kats has gone up by 70-100 percent … and that will knock out a lot of cheap boaters from visiting a marina that is top draw … and where they get this increase from .. apart from blatant price gouging …
Not sure why you are comparing it to a share in a plane … shall i sell my boat and get a share in another
Honest question .. if your home marina raised prices by that amount would you be happy ?? Or pay it ?
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I have booked three nights in August. It’s £296 and is cheap accommodation in London. That would be about £36,000 a year as a visitor so one-off for a years berth seems ok. It’s not just any old marina. A cheap hotel in Ramsgate (or other provincial location) and a room at the Tower Hotel cannot be compared. Cheap boaters don’t stay at expensive places - that’s the way it is.
 
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