Mooring at Salford Quays

[NilesMI]

I thought I'd post this in case anyone else is thinking of stopping off in the Manchester/Salford area for a while as I did recently.

 

I made arrangements to moor at Salford Quays and while initially it was quite tricky to find out who to contact, in the end it was easy enough to do. Basically, I wanted a place to stop for a week or so and specifically in the Salford area as I had events to go to at the Lowry and Old Trafford.

 

Salford City has provided limited, but perfectly acceptable moorings at Central Bay within Salford Quays. It is adjacent to the watersports centre and a few mins walk from Salford Quays Metrolink. The facilities are just water and toilets and there is room for 1 boat of 55' length and one of up to 62'-ish. In principle the moorings are free of charge for 72hrs, but a longer stay can be arranged, subject to availability, and there will generally be no charge for leisure use.

 

The sting in this tale is getting access to the Upper Reaches of the Manchester Ship Canal, upstream of the Lowry footbridge, for which special conditions apply. The conditions (insurance and so forth) are not as strict as for the main part of the MSC and shouldn't be a problem for most canal boaters. For those without a full Bridgewater licence there is a fee payable and prior booking to use Pomona Lock which links the Bridgewater to the Upper Reaches. The current fee is £27.50, each way. You may also need to pay £40 for the extended visitors licence. This makes the "free" moorings look quite expensive for just 72hrs, but if a stay of longer than a week can be arranged it is more reasonable. So I stayed for 10 nights and it cost me £95, which I thought OK, because: location, location.

 

The Quays was a perfect mooring site for me for the time I wanted to be in Salford. Although there was activity during the day and early evening at the watersports centre, it did not disturb me and at night it was quiet and trouble free. There is a maintenance manager on site in the mornings and he was very helpful. Even managed to find me a 14lb sledge hammer (don't ask).

 

If you want to enquire about mooring at this site, in the first instance you should contact Andy Mullen at Urban Vision Partnership. His email is; Andy.Mullen@urbanvision.org.uk He has asked me to say that while there is no minimum notice period, the more notice you can give, the better. He has said it would be nice to see more visitors coming to stay by boat.

 

For access through Pomona Lock, contact Bridgewater on their usual email address; Bridgewatercanal@peel.co.uk or (between 2pm and 4pm weekdays) by phone on; 0161 629 8200 and ask for "Bridgewater". I found them fairly easy to deal with, the payment was done over the phone and their guys were there bang on time to get me through Pomona, onto the wide open spaces of the Upper Reaches, and back.

Edited June 23, 2016 by NilesMI

[junior]

I thought I'd post this in case anyone else is thinking of stopping off in the Manchester/Salford area for a while as I did recently.

 

I made arrangements to moor at Salford Quays and while initially it was quite tricky to find out who to contact, in the end it was easy enough to do. Basically, I wanted a place to stop for a week or so and specifically in the Salford area as I had events to go to at the Lowry and Old Trafford.

 

Salford City has provided limited, but perfectly acceptable moorings at Central Bay within Salford Quays. It is adjacent to the watersports centre and a few mins walk from Salford Quays Metrolink. The facilities are just water and toilets and there is room for 1 boat of 55' length and one of up to 62'-ish. In principle the moorings are free of charge for 72hrs, but a longer stay can be arranged, subject to availability, and there will generally be no charge for leisure use.

 

The sting in this tale is getting access to the Upper Reaches of the Manchester Ship Canal, upstream of the Lowry footbridge, for which special conditions apply. The conditions (insurance and so forth) are not as strict as for the main part of the MSC and shouldn't be a problem for most canal boaters. For those without a full Bridgewater licence there is a fee payable and prior booking to use Pomona Lock which links the Bridgewater to the Upper Reaches. The current fee is £27.50, each way. You may also need to pay £40 for the extended visitors licence. This makes the "free" moorings look quite expensive for just 72hrs, but if a stay of longer than a week can be arranged it is more reasonable. So I stayed for 10 nights and it cost me £95, which I thought OK, because: location, location.

 

The Quays was a perfect mooring site for me for the time I wanted to be in Salford. Although there was activity during the day and early evening at the watersports centre, it did not disturb me and at night it was quiet and trouble free. There is a maintenance manager on site in the mornings and he was very helpful. Even managed to find me a 14lb sledge hammer (don't ask).

 

If you want to enquire about mooring at this site, in the first instance you should contact Andy Mullen at Urban Vision Partnership. His email is; Andy.Mullen@urbanvision.org.uk He has asked me to say that while there is no minimum notice period, the more notice you can give, the better. He has said it would be nice to see more visitors coming to stay by boat.

 

For access through Pomona Lock, contact Bridgewater on their usual email address; Bridgewatercanal@peel.co.uk or (between 2pm and 4pm weekdays) by phone on; 0161 629 8200 and ask for "Bridgewater". I found them fairly easy to deal with, the payment was done over the phone and their guys were there bang on time to get me through Pomona, onto the wide open spaces of the Upper Reaches, and back.

Any photos?

[NilesMI]

I have a couple of photos.

 

Never posted photos before. Can someone tell me the easiest way of getting them up on the forum?

[cuthound]

Click on "More Reply Options", press "Choose File" to browse to the location of the photo and the press "Attach This File".

 

Edited to correct the effects of premature posting.

Edited June 23, 2016 by cuthound

[ValandPete]

Thanks for this detailed info.

 

Val

[NilesMI]

Thanks cuthound.

 

So the first photo here is of my boat at the Salford Quays mooring. I put Euro 2016 bunting up, just for fun.Take Five is 54' long.

 

The second shows the watersports centre, with space for another boat to be moored. Water and toilet are housed in a control tower building adjacent to that mooring.

 

In the third photo, the brick building to the left is a Holiday Inn Express. They were quite happy to have a boat moored next door.

 

The final photo is not great quality. I include it just to show the scale of the former docks. Taken from the Lowry footbridge towards Central Bay, the brick building is the Holiday Inn and if you squint really hard you can just about make out the boat moored in front.

 

 

 

[Tim Lewis]

Thanks cuthound.

 

So the first photo here is of my boat at the Salford Quays mooring. I put Euro 2016 bunting up, just for fun.Take Five is 54' long.

 

The second shows the watersports centre, with space for another boat to be moored. Water and toilet are housed in a control tower building adjacent to that mooring.

 

In the third photo, the brick building to the left is a Holiday Inn Express. They were quite happy to have a boat moored next door.

 

The final photo is not great quality. I include it just to show the scale of the former docks. Taken from the Lowry footbridge towards Central Bay, the brick building is the Holiday Inn and if you squint really hard you can just about make out the boat moored in front.

 

 

 

 

 

I've seen it busier :-)

 

 

 

 

 

IWA National, 1998

 

Tim

[NilesMI]

Well, exactly.

 

Such a wasted opportunity. The Quays could be home to historic vessels of all kinds, moorings for visitors, events...

 

Instead, it's dock after empty dock.

 

I have to say that due to the collapse of the new lift bridge on the MSC, there was no prospect of any boats arriving from that direction during the time I was there. But talking to the maintenance guy, it seems even those are very few and far between.

[Bunny]

We have cruised up from Weston Marsh lock to Salford Quays a few years ago and overnighted at the 'factory girls' before locking up to the Bridgwater . Apparently you didn't need a. Msc Boat safety . ?. Not easy for narrowboats to visit at the moment from the other end because of A.the lift bridge at Salford is out of action and B. Weston Marsh lock being closed ..... but a cracking trip on a warm day . Bunny.

[adam1uk]

On 6/23/2016 at 19:04, NilesMI said:

If you want to enquire about mooring at this site, in the first instance you should contact Andy Mullen at Urban Vision Partnership. His email is; Andy.Mullen@urbanvision.org.uk He has asked me to say that while there is no minimum notice period, the more notice you can give, the better. He has said it would be nice to see more visitors coming to stay by boat.

 

For access through Pomona Lock, contact Bridgewater on their usual email address; Bridgewatercanal@peel.co.uk or (between 2pm and 4pm weekdays) by phone on; 0161 629 8200 and ask for "Bridgewater". I found them fairly easy to deal with, the payment was done over the phone and their guys were there bang on time to get me through Pomona, onto the wide open spaces of the Upper Reaches, and back.

How much notice do the Bridgewater need for Pomona Lock -- and are there fixed times they'll come and operate it, or are they flexible?

I quite fancy spending a night at Salford Quays, not least because I have plenty of colleagues working in that area that I've never met!