venetianmarina.co.uk Avis 

As someone who doesn’t usually leave reviews I felt strongly enough on this occasion to highlight concerns
After recently mooring at Venetian for a short time
This is my personal experience

I complete lack of health and safety policy.
No ladders available in case of falling into the water.
No procedure whatsoever in the event of fire.
The main walkway is in such bad condition quite frankly its serious trip hazard which is worrying considering you’re next to water !
Sudden evictions with no warning or explanation.
The office is an uncomfortable experience especially if you raise any concerns, you definitely don’t feel welcome.
The worse of the marinas behaviour relates to the sad and sudden death of a long term resident, a complete lack of compassion and empathy was evidenced by all.

The cafe and chandlery are run by great people and I hope this review doesn’t affect them

As a mooring customer of over 2 years with Venetian, leaving them a poor review is not something I relish as some of their hardworking staff have been lovely in that time, but regrettably, their management style has proved to be extremely sharp and this leads to very poor treatment of their customers. So 1* is the only option.

This year alone 3 boats have been evicted without (in my humble opinion) good cause or notice and a gentleman who sadly died on his boat had his boat unceremoniously dumped on the canal without any regard for C&RT's charity status who will now have to pay and manage these actions. Whilst they are not necessarily legally obligated to help that situation, morally (in my view) they should have done the right thing for a long term customer. It's is abhorrent to think an organisation would think this is ok.

They are obviously well geared up to sell boats, if this is their primary business they should be honest and stick to that as, from my perspective, their current duty of care to the residents and visitors is significantly lacking.

It's a real shame because they do so many things right, but fundamentally trust has been broken which is down to a thorough lack of respect to those that live on their facility.

*PLEASE NOTE THESE COMMENTS ONLY EXTEND TO THE MARINA - THE CAFE AND CHANDLERY ARE INDEPENDENT AND SHOULD BE SUPPORTED AS SMALL BUSINESSES - guess this has been made all the harder due to these issues.

Nik Lambert from covers and canvas is a scammer.
Avoid doing business with him he cannot be trusted.

1st time buyers and we couldn't have made a better choice!
We have just bought our very first narrowboat, Lucky Spud and we are extremely pleased that chose Venetian Marina to buy her from.
They were very helpful and they walked us through the whole buying experience showing and telling us what was what.
Even though Lucky Spud already had a BSC, they made sure she had new one before we set off. This meant a brand new woodburner and shower unit as the old one's were unusable. This was at no extra cost to ourselves.
We did have an issue with the fuel tank after we had set off, so we rang Venetian who then sent out their engineer to us, who then arranged for a tank clean and fuel polish. This took a long time for the guy to complete but the engineer stayed on late on a Friday, to make sure the fuel system was bled through after he was finished. He also gave me some great advice on how to keep our engine, plus other systems, in tip top condition. I can't thank him enough for this and his time.
In fact, everyone we met at Venetian Marina were very friendly and helpful, from the
staff and the residents too.
The couple who run the Chandlers there, were very knowledgeable as well and gav some great advice to us newbies too.
I can also recommend the cafe there as well as they make a great cup of coffee, cakes and more! Should you want to visit.
To summarise, our whole experience at, and of, Venetian Marina was an extremely positive one and we would recommend them to anyone and everyone!
A very big thank you goes out to Zoe and her team, Brian, Nigel and Rob, for all their expertise on all things narrowboaty.

Avoid this place like the plague! Superfically pleasant but scratch the surface and it's anything but. I was excited to purchase my first narrowboat which was moored at Venetian marina. Upon arrival, after a 4 1/2 hour drive, I was immediately hassled for a photograph for their promotional literature (which I declined) but no offer to show me to my boat or help getting started connecting water and electricity, which as a complete newb didnt know how to... and just left to figure it out for myself. While many residents are friendly, there is an undercurrent of cliquey resentment and hostility. Within days complaints had been made about my 2 lovely dogs, which are friendly, and although young and energetic, well behaved and don't bark. They were also well liked by everyone who took the time to meet them. The issue seems to have been that I walked them off the lead down the gangway where I was moored, although when I reached the end I put them straight on the lead. The reason I did this, as I explained to the management, was because the gangway is very narrow and whilst on leads, my dogs had almost tripped me up and put me in the water several times, so was dangerous. At all other times they were secured on leads. While my dogs are friendly and socialised, many there are aggressive and bark at all times of day and night. My dogs were even attacked a couple of times, although did not respond. To compound this someone concotted a story they had savaged a duck but did not provide any details, let alone time or date. Even though nobody else on the entire marina, made a similar observation, this anonomous complaint was taken at face value by the management. Although I naturally protested their innocence, and in light of the lack of any actual evidence, was asked to leave. Futhermore I was hassled for rent after 4 days in even though the agreement was 1 week free mooring with the purchase of the boat. Also there is a railway line right by the marina, so along with trains hurtling by, diggers doing construction work and barking dogs this place is not peaceful at all. Completely ruined my excitement and joy of purchasing my first narrowboat and introduction to the lifestyle.

Dont even get me started about Nik at Covers and Canvas (Dodgers, Pram Covers etc) based within the marina who, although superficially affable, turned out to be an unreliable cowboy, producing sub-standard work who ripped me off. In April, I wanted cratch and pram cover. I also wanted a dodger with mesh vents. After originally saying June he then said July for the pram and cratch. He made a dodger without vents claiming he was out of mesh, but would finish it as soon as mesh arrived. I paid him in full at this time in good faith. After a few days I noticed the dodger was slightly wonky. After a month of no contact I returned to his shop asking about the vents and asked him to rectify the misalignment, also when my slot for rest of work was. He again said he didnt have the mesh and would sort out the misalignment when he had mesh but would let me know. 2 weeks later after more silence, I texted him a polite reminder regarding my slot for the pram and cratch covers which he ignored. I texted again next day just his name as a nudge... again ignored. Then a popper (I had wanted the turn latches but he had insisted on poppers) broke on the dodger, so I texted him following day, and simply said I wasnt happy and was coming to see him (because I didnt want to discuss everything by text). He immediately texted me back, claiming that the dodger was 'perfect', cancelled the pram and cratch cover work and told me never come to the marina ever again and blocked me. You have been warned!

Whats not to love about this Marina .
Great services
Fabulous staff
And a brokerage that sells in weeks
Jason is ya man
5 star service
And an added huge plus
Dees tea room ... cakes to die for .

Moored Here for 2 years… thought it was a friendly marina…!! How wrong was I..!! Let’s start at the professionals in the so called office…!! Absolutely zero customer service between the paying residential moorers, and the main office…! In fact they have been told not to make friends with the moorers … this is not how you run a customer based company…! It doesn’t come close to ANY friendly relations business I have come across…!!? If you set 1 foot wrong, or you protect your dog…!! YOU ARE BOOTED… very sad..!! And then they lie about CCTV coverage…!!? Do yourself a favour and avoid this place for long time mooring….!!
My pleasure

Excellent one stop service station.
Reasonably priced fuel, well stocked chandlery and very friendly service.
The on site boat cover man repaired by catch cover zips on the same day.
The on site cafe is very good as well.
Full marks all round.

Venetian Marina is the sister Marina to my residential Berth and the place where I bought my narrowboat, Whilton Marina. I was passing by and wanted to take a look. It looks very neat and tidy and had quite a lot to offer although the café was closed due to illness when I visited. I had a small problem with my stern gland but Nigel (Engineer) sorted it out and everyone was so nice, friendly and helpful. I also managed to get a Tesco delivery and fill up with diesel, so it really was the ideal stop. I would highly recommend this marina.