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The Branch is not the most interesting part of London's
waterways, but the boring industrial and suburban sections are broken by some
playing fields and golf courses. The channel is wide and deep, so one can make
good progress, but beware of a breaking wash caused by silting at the edges in
some stretches.
Southall
Immediately West of bridge 20 and the Hambrough
Tavern is a stretch of bank that looks like a good mooring.
Unfortunately there are underwater obstructions next to the towpath which make
mooring all but impossible.
Yeading
Just over 2 miles from Bull's Bridge is Willowtree
Marina . They offer most facilities (including diesel) and a very
small chandlery. To use their facilities, moor on their wharf on the main line
and then either use your mobile to ring for service (the number's on their
sign) or walk round the footpath to the marina entrance and go to the office.
There is a bistro restaurant there which Wendy & I tried a
few years ago and found excellent.
Just past the marina is Willowtree Park
,
where there are very pleasant off-side moorings: probably the nicest on the
Branch. The park is very good for an overnight mooring, but if you want to
leave the boat for a while you'd probably be safer paying to go into the
Marina, as there are often a lot of kids around in the park. There's not
particularly good access to public transport.
Northolt
At Northolt is one of the bases of High Line
Yachting. .
I'm not up-to-date as to what facilities they may or may not offer passing
boaters.
Greenford
Good moorings lie immediately west of the bridge by the
Black Horse , alongside the pub garden. The
latter is a Fuller's house, has been recently re-built and is a member of the
Les Routiers organisation. The bar food is very good. The water point by
the pub garden wasn't working for a while, but it's back in order now.
Alperton
Opposite West London Motor Cruising Club (immediately West
of Piggery Bridge ) is a reasonable overnight mooring. Just the other
side of the bridge, a large Sainsbury's has its own moorings. The pub
across the cut from here is the Pleasure Boat
:
fairly ordinary and (on some occasions) with over-load music (but I've not
tried it since its most recent change of management). Alperton tube station is nearby.
Harlesden
If you want an overnight pub stop, the Grand
Junction Arms is reasonable. The pub itself is a busy Young's house and quite
pleasant. It does food. You can moor to the pub garden on the off-side but
towpath moorings have to be some distance away because the towpath is concrete
slabs covering high-voltage cables. This is also a convenient place to connect
with public transport at Harlesden station (BR and
Bakerloo line).
Kensal Green / Ladbroke Grove
Another big Sainsbury's with its own moorings is possible for an overnight mooring if
you don't mind a bit of noise on the towpath. I'd not recommend it as a place
to leave a boat unattended for longer than a shopping stop.
Little Venice
The official BW visitor moorings are on the towpath side immediately west of the Toll Office and
Browning's Pool. Warwick Avenue tube station
(Bakerloo line) is very close. If you can find a space near the Toll
Office (not always easy to do) then this is a good safe mooring to leave the
boat for a while (14 days allowed free of charge). But if the moorings are busy
and you have to be some distance away from the office (beyond the next
footbridge), I'd advise against doing so (especially in school holidays), as
there have been problems at times with youthful vandals. The moorings near the
office are covered by CCTV. The Toll Office used to be the BW office for London
Region, but this has now moved round the corner into Sheldon Square, with
is public access point on the boat Jena, moored on the arm
between the Pool and Paddington Basin. The sanitary station by the
Toll Office also provides a card-operated pump-out, for which cards are
available from Jena.
Several pubs are close by. On the off-side by the footbridge
is the Waterway (formerly the Paddington
Stop). In its latest incarnation it is more of a restaurant than a
pub, but does do a bar food menu as well as the full restaurant one. It serves
no real ale. The Bridge House is canalside by the Toll Office,
but its latest refurbishment has taken it rather up-market and fashionable in a
youth-oriented way. Many local boaters prefer the Warwick
Castle (from the Toll Office, cross the canal by the road bridge and
go up the alley-way slightly to your left across Blomfield Road). Both do food
but I'm not up-to-date about the times at which they do so. In the
Warwick I'd recommend bitter drinkers to try the London Pride.
A little way to the north, between Warwick Avenue tube station and Edgware Road
there is a small area of shops with a few restaurants, including a branch of
Cafe Rouge, which I'm quite fond of. If you're moored near the
footbridge, there is also access to some local shops by crossing the bridge and
going straight ahead down Formosa Street.
Officially there's no mooring in Browning's Pool
,
but some people do moor there overnight. If you moor on the east side, by
Rembrandt Gardens, you won't be in the way of the restaurant boats that run
late into the evening, but beware of a rough footpath that has been badly
damaged by tree-roots. Unfortunately the gates from the gardens to the road are
locked at night. In the daytime on weekdays you'll certainly be moved on if you
moor in the pool.
The arm to Paddington Basin
has some spots for overnight mooring, towards the basin end. A long section of
the towpath here past the new Paddington Central development has been re-opened
to the public after many years and makes a direct pedestrian connection to
Paddington station (BR and various tube lines)
and, via London Street, to the various bus routes along Praed Street.
Eventually the paths on both sides of the arm will connect to the basin, and a
facilities block for boaters is promised. BW London Region's information point
is on the barge Jena moored half-way along this arm. There are
a number of eating places in this new development, and the Union
Bar, a rather foody, up-market pub.
Paddington Basin itself is now a major site for
redevelopment work. Nearly all the new buildings are already complete. There are
plenty of visitor moorings on the walkways around the basin and on the T-shaped
pontoons, but boats aren't allowed to breast up. Up to seven nights' mooring is
allowed before you have to move on, but you're welcome back again after a
further seven nights away. There are security patrols day and night who are
boater-friendly. Several bridges (some of them new) and alleyways to Praed
Street give good access to Paddington Station and the nearby streets. This has
become one of my favourite mooring spots in London.
OTHER PAGES IN THIS SECTION |
MAP |
PHOTOS |
FACILITIES |
The Grand Union Main Line South of Watford
(including the Slough Arm) |
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The Paddington Branch |
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Top of this
page
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The Regent's Canal |
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The Lower Lee |
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The Bow Back Rivers |
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The Thames Tideway |
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|
Tideway site |
Residential moorings in
London |
 Guided towpath walks
(external link
to London IWA site)
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