Best Shipyards in United Kingdom

Thanks so much Richard and team. Our boat was stored here in the boatyard for the best part of 2 years. All the staff without exception have made a contribution to a really positive experience. Boatwork pratically every day is sometimes daunting especially in the middle of winter. It makes a difference to be greeted by a smile, helpful and professional service. In addition to this the businesses on site have been excellent too. A special mention for Nathan Bone and Lewis Marine as well as a friendly and helpful chandlery. A great cafe as well. Thanks guys you're all awesome.

Amazing service. I’m a visitor and they have looked after me so well, super impressive. It’s the first time I have ever seen a marina team have the boat tucked away in the stack before I have unloaded my bags into the car!! Definitely recommend. Matt A. Moonraker.

I started utilising YHQ drystack for the first time approximately 4 years ago and have stored 4 boats there in total over that time. It took me just over 6 months to secure a place after being placed on their waiting list.

I cannot praise them enough at YHQ! They are professional, courteous, friendly and regularly go above and beyond what you could expect from a marina.

From Lorna and Julie in the office who are always on hand for bookings, logistics and finance, to the lads in the yard, Rich, Steve, Mitch, Kev, Lee, Paul and Tom, who all work so incredibly hard and are so helpful at all times. I do not think I have ever seen any of them without a smile on their face and ready to help!

In short, a fantastic facility, with a fantastic team who's service, in my view is unrivalled and I can say this with confidence having moored at other marinas over the years - they just don't compare to the Dry stack. No wonder there is always a waiting list to get a place here!

Thank you so much to everyone for always making my life so much easier.

Lovely boat yard/buildings

Great cafe on site along with marine engineers etc and shops.

The staff have always been absolutely amazing. Very polite friendly and helpful.

My boat has been here over a year with absolutely no problem at all.

Lovely location. I would love to see the menu being updated. Very limited for a vegan, however, I’ve never eaten anything I didn’t like there. Staff are all wonderful. Toilets are a bit of a pain to use at the back of the car park but I think that will change hopefully when the Mess Room get their own!

AVOID MK AFLOAT
Terrible experience with this company from start to finish.
We arrived shortly after 9.30am as directed in the confirmation email, parked in the designated parking then waited patiently for 10-15 minutes for another group to be checked in and leave in their boat.
When the guy became free to greet us he said we'd probably get a parking ticket for not putting our details in the machine in time. If it was that urgent why wouldn't he shout that across to us whilst we stood there waiting?!
The boat itself was filthy and has obviously had no cosmetic maintenance in years.
The guy gave us brief instructions on how to drive the boat, including not to go over 4mph as its illegal and we'll get reported and lose our deposit. I asked if the boat is capable of going over 4mph. He said it is and there's no way of knowing if you are, as there's no speed gage! Just judge it by "the waves at the back"...
He didn't mention that you need to slow down when you pass parked barges, which I remembered as an important detail from hiring from Cosgrove before.
He gave brief advice on how to park at the edge of the canal, but did not mention at all how to park when we return the boat to the mooring, which you approach head on. He also said he'd never driven it himself as he has a massive barge out on the canal.
He also said to return the boat at 4.15/4.30pm for "cleaning", even though the confirmation email clearly said we had it hired till 5pm.
When we did return the boat, I assumed that the approach was to drive slowly and then the tyre at the front would bounce off the edge to bring you to a complete stop.
For some reason, it turns out the tyre is too high to make contact, and so I did knock into the edge. The guy came out shouting in a really aggressive way which made my whole family uncomfortable and really spoilt the day.
There was a small amount of damage to the concrete, which has obviously happened MANY times before as you could see filler had been applied in numerous places along the canal edge.
I didn't receive my deposit back, but I was most frustrated that I didn't receive an email confirming that my deposit was being kept and detailing the costs as to why. We had to phone twice before we were told that we were not receiving it. A company should not be able to keep your money without providing written confirmation.
I honestly think they give as little guidance as possible to create situations where they can 'justify' keeping deposits. Avoid at all costs.

Awful company, awful people, sketchy management that like to stalk people and put them against each other.

Avoid at all costs.

First time renting a barge on the Grand Union canal and it was totally amazing. Both MK Marina, and Nick were amazing. Super easy online booking system and very cost effective. If you live anywhere close to Milton Keynes and you haven't tried it.. then DO IT!! Everything was well run, perfect and 5* isn't enough!

Earn a living here, go on buy one if you can afford it

Booked the day hire on Mary Jane and it was an amazing experience. None of us had driven a barge before but the guys are fantastic friendly bunch who made sure we were well informed and got us on our way. The boat has just enough basic utilities so take a packed lunch if you don't want to leave the boat or stop off at one of the pubs. Either way we had a Fantastic day and will be booking again.

Would give 0 stars for having to work with a SCAM car park company called PARKING EYE. Ridiculous fine for mistakenly entering the car park during the night. Pathetic Legalised Robbers!

Horrendous company to work for . The apprenticeship is best avoided as is the college they use for the training. Both are an absolute shambles.

Amazing place, really worth visiting an open day.

We loved this place, the river was lovely to roam up and down, fun for all the family. Everyone had a go at steering, even the little ones. Great places to stop. Had a fridge in the kitchen to store all cold drinks. Would recommend to others .

We have hired two boats through MK afloat over the last 12 months. Always a fantastic day and friendly service. We motored as far as the Black horse pub in Great Linford for lunch each time. The boat turns round on the sixpence which means you can turn almost anywhere on the canal. Fun, laughter and games on the way back. Two great days had by all - thanks in part to glorious weather each time.

AVOID. USED THE COSGROVE NARROWBOAT COMPANY - GREAT SERVICE, CLEAN BOATS AND NONE OF THIS RUBBISH.

I can't believe I didn't read the reviews before booking. Booked a boat a month before the date. ONE HOUR before we were due to collect, we were told that the engine had a minor problem so we could not have a boat. No real apology and they even said "we might refund you". As 10 of us had taken time off work, we were not going to re-book (and we wouldn't use them either way after this experience) so I demanded a refund. I was told they "would see". I got an email later that day saying they would refund me and it would be requested "immediately". 6 days later I asked how long this would take and received a reply 2 days later telling me was told it would take 14 working days to come through. After 15 working days of waiting (and no refund of my £200) I asked again, where it was. I was told it had been processed but two weeks after the booking. We are now almost 6 weeks after the booking and no refund. They've ignored emails but have just finally replied to say "check with your bank". What nonsense. My credit card company will chase them now.

Thankfully, the Cosgrove Narrowboat company sorted us out straight away so we did get a boat on the day and said they had taken a lot of disgruntled customers from this shower.

I've since seen MK Afloat's boats on the canal. I don't know if 'Afloat' is ironic as they look like they've been underwater. I'm not surprised that our booking was cancelled. I'm surprised they can ever get them going.

We had a fabulous day out in the Easter Holidays. 5 of us and our dog rented one of the canal boats for the day and Chris was absolutely fantastic at every turn.

The service was superb start to finish and the children had a fabulous experience helping to pilot the boat.

We will definitely be back to have another go and can't recommend Chris and the business enough.

Absolutely Fantastic 👍👍👍

I have been watching these fine boats in Plymouth and Monaco where they have a shop selling the boats. Would Love to do a Documentary on one

We've been using Yacht Haven Quay to store our during the winter for a couple of years & cannot rate it highly enough.

The staff are very helpful & friendly.

The cafe is great.

The chandlery whilst not carrying a massive stock is very knowledgeable & helpful

Worst place rude and no any respect

Not a great company to work for. Total disregard for human lives within its compounds. This company has made people homeless due to their hire and fire policy. A bit grubby as well.

Went to the Poole Harbour Boat show on 9/6/18 where Princess Yachts had a display area.

My partner has a condition which means her back sometimes goes into spasm, during these episodes she finds it difficult to move around and needs to stop and rest until it passes. She suffered from such an episode whilst looking at a large Princess boat. As the boat had a lot of space on it, she thought it would be ok for her to sit there for a bit and rest.

A while later she was told, by a Princess boats employee, that she would need to get off as as some people wanted to look at the boat. She politely asked the Princess employee if she could have a hand off the boat. At this the Princess employee made a big rude fuss and started questioning her about how she managed to get on the boat if she was not well etc... In the end another lady that was there helped my partner off the boat.

The unpleasant, and completely unnecessary, fuss created by the Princess employee was very embarrassing for my partner, and she said she was close to tears by the end of the experience.

When my partner told me about all this a while later, I went back to the Princess area and had a go (verbally of course) at the Princess staff there about the way my partner had been treated. I of course make no apologies for this, it was the least they deserved. At this, the two Princess employees, both male, and both substantially taller and bigger built than myself, accused me of 'threatening them' and called show security staff. The show security staff in turn told me I had to leave the show and threatened to call the police. Of course I had done nothing the police would have any interest in whatsoever so I was not impressed by their threat, but by that point I no longer wanted to be there in any case so just left.

To sum up, I find it disgusting that these people pitch up at a show that is billed as a public event, and then treat people like this. Clearly, the reality is that they are actually there to sell their expensive boats to rich clients. If you are not one of the above, they really don't want you on their boats and their pontoons, and they can be very thoughtless and unpleasant in getting rid of you. Absolutely disgusting, and begs the question; why are they there, at a public event, in the first place?

Really high standard dry-stack with excellent facilities. Staff is very professional and friendly.

Just ensure you don't show up too late if you want to have your boat lifted out of the water. On busy days you have to be there at least an hour before they leave.

A first class facility in a great location. Keeping my boat on dry land is so much better; easy to work on, no need to anti foul, no need to worry about bad weather. Perfect. Great cafe too, new loos and showers, loads of parking and a "happy to help" staff who always put my boat in the water at the drop of a hat. I have been here for seven years now and would not consider changing.