NO booze boats! That’s the call from dozens of people living on the Regent’s Canal who are fearful of drunken “boorish behaviour”, crashes, shouting, urination, and “flashing”, if an application to license alcohol sales for a new fleet of skippered-boats is approved.

GoBoat has applied to sell alcohol to customers from its base in Merchant Square, Paddington.
Its “luxe” service would be under “professional supervision” and aimed at small groups that ­“value a serene and well managed boating experience”. Alcohol sales on the boats was previously banned following a campaign, but the company said it had prepared a “controlled, high-quality” new service that would stop a repeat of problems from the past.

But dozens of objections flooded in from people living in boats in Lisson Grove and close to the Maida Vale tunnel.

One said: “A group of people successfully campaigned to get alcohol banned on Goboats and since then there have been no problems. The idea that alcohol should return, let alone that Goboats should be selling it, is completely insane.”

Another said there had already been a problem “with customers drinking on board the boats” and “boorish behaviour”, and added: “We residents on the canal have quite enough to deal with… cyclists, pedestrians, dog-owners allowing their pets to defecate all over the towpath, without rowdy, anti-social behaviour by GoBoat punters. The sober ones have enough trouble steering and controlling the boats… drunk ones are a menace we can do without”.

One objector said: “On multiple occasions, individuals urinated on my boat, engaged in drug use, and exhibited inappropriate behaviour such as public nudity.”

Writing in support, one boat-dweller said: “For myself, I like to see the canal being used. It needs the interest and investment or it is at risk of failure. I am sure GoBoats can mitigate the extremes a bit, and they are rare.

“The water needs to attract all, it needs diversity, and a bottle of something on the slow sojourn to Camden is too perfect to deny to people.”

The Hyde Park Estate Association objection said: “Last year I witnessed a poor driver (no drinking then) that steered his boat into a ducks’ nest that had some chicks in it… I had shouted to be careful of a duck nest but they were unable to turn in time and knocked the nest and the chicks fell out.”

The South East Bays-water Residents’ Association is also objecting, along with the London Waterbus Company.

GoBoat, in a letter to boat owners, said: “The alcohol licence has been applied for due to our introduction of a new premium boating service – GoBoat Luxe… this new offering will operate… with a strong focus on safety, professionalism, and respect for the local community and environment”, adding, “Unlike our self-drive boats, which will remain strictly alcohol-free, GoBoat Luxe will operate with a trained and qualified skipper onboard and will allow limited alcohol consumption under professional supervision”.

Westminster City Council’s licensing committee is set to hear the application next week.