Boating firms count cost as bad weather hits hires

BOAT hire companies in Henley have reported a loss in trade for the summer season due to poor weather.

Hobbs of Henley in Station Road and Henley Canoe Hire in Mill Meadows spoke of repeated closures at the start of the season due to heavy rain.

Both companies said they were unable to allow customers to board boats during periods when there was astrong stream and while “red board” warnings were issued by the Environment Agency.

When these boards are displayed it means strong currents make the river difficult and dangerous to navigate.

Hobbs, which was due to reopen from the beginning of May, missed out on weeks of revenue and it had to reimburse customers for cancelled trips.

The loss in trade forced the company into withholding investment to help the boat yard run efficiently.

Deputy manager Lewis Clifford said: “We had atrocious weather in the first two months of opening. That did affect us a lot with the boat hire. It has been the longest period of not being able to operate that I’ve seen in 15 years.

“We had red boards all the way through until early May this year so the whole of the Easter holidays was a write-off for us. We’ve had to make major cutbacks in certain ways with what we buy and spend on. The company has lost loads of money with that for the first two months.

“Every year, we try to make new improvements to the boats and buy new boats but this year we won’t be able to do that.

“The amount of staff we’ve recruited, we’ve had to watch how many we’ve had over the summer period so we’ve had to make cutbacks there unfortunately. Buying new products to make the boat yard run smoother, we’ve had to cut back on that as well.

“Last year, the weather was bad as well but it wasn’t as bad as this year. We’ve had to give money back because customers are entitled to a refund if the river is on red boards.”

Isla Wilson, 21, who works at Henley Canoe Hire, predicts that the company has lost about a month’s worth of income due to bad weather.

She said there were times where the company had to shut the cabin because of the conditions and that they delayed their usual opening in April.

Miss Wilson said: “We weren’t able to open when we wanted to just because of the weather. It’s been quite a wet summer this season.

“The weather affects the condition of the water. At the start of the year, this cabin had about a metre of water in it so it was quite flooded here and that was more of a reason why we weren’t able to open when we wanted to.

“The sales have been affected but more due to the weather conditions and the condition of the water. There’s been a lot of rain and a lot of bad weather. The cabin was flooded as well in the first couple of months of the year.

“There’s definitely times when we’ve had to shut the cabin because there has been no point having us here. We might shut up early if we find that no one has come over in a couple of hours.

“The year after covid, when everyone was happy to get back out, that’s when it was absolutely insane here. We had rows and rows of canoes.

“We had about eight staff members in the cabin all at once. That was our busiest year. That’s what we compare everything to. This year has been more quiet.

“There’s been a handful of times where we’ve had to shut it because of bad weather or the river levels aren’t doing so good. I would say about five times or so.

“If the stream is strong or it’s really windy, the levels might be a lot higher as well. It’s not safe for anyone to go out. That has usually been the reason we’ve had to shut especially towards the start of the season.

“We’ve lost about one month of income. We wanted to open sooner but because of the conditions of the river we weren’t able to.We usually start around Easter time. I think we opened around May or June time. That’s when we started opening. Normally we would open in April.”

This year, the UK had its sixth wettest April since records began in 1836, according to provisional statistics from the Met Office. The UK experienced 55 per cent more rainfall than an average April, with 111.4mm falling across the month.