Commercial Use of Boats

Any boat that is kept or used on the waterway for anything other than purely private use requires a business licence. These fall into two categories:

Leisure Business Craft - any boat that is used for a 'leisure' purpose, eg holiday hire, trip boats, community or social club activities, educational purposes or boats that are for hire by the day or hour

Trading Craft - a boat where trade is carried out, ie the making or selling of goods or services. Trading craft may trade from one or many locations. Occasionally, members of the public may board the vessel to take advantage of the trade, eg a café boat or floating gallery, but trading vessels will never carry passengers while in transit.

All business licences are subject to the approval of British Waterways. Initially, you will be asked to submit a written proposal outlining the nature of your proposed trade, the location(s), hours and dates on which you want to trade, how you will provide for the parking, refreshment and other needs of visitors to your business, how you propose to advertise the trade and how you will dispose of any commercial waste generated by your business.

Many businesses also require planning permission and other statutory consents.