Crick 2025 was as brilliant as ever, with stunning boats on display, and fantastic entertainment enjoyed in great company. ABBA tribute band ‘Revival’ brought the ‘disco fever’ to the crowds on Saturday night with some great outfits on display, including Liza’s funky trousers!
On Sunday, Stuart teamed up with Paul from Lockgate Stoves in the Kings Lock Chandlery Cup kayak race, taking line honours in the final, but coming in runners-up after a technical disqualification.
Later on, Dan Budd performing as Robbie Williams proved to be a fantastic showman, and was even compared favourably to the real thing by our own Take That and Robbie mega-fan, Kathryn Price.
We had an amazing time catching up with customers and trade friends. Thank you for the warm hospitality – we always love being part of the Crick buzz!
This year saw some interesting developments in the world of inland waterways boating. Electric propulsion (inc hybrid, and hydrogen fuel cells) looks to be growing in popularity, and lots of people were talking about Water Freedom’s on-demand water filtration, and the Cinderella incinerating toilets!
A definite first for us was seeing Adrift Boats HDPE narrowboat, and we will be watching with interest to see how this develops within such a traditional marketplace.
A key focus for us is letting buyers know that finance is available for those looking to start a new life on the inland waterways, as many still aren’t aware, and Crick provides us with the perfect opportunity to do just that.
This year, we had QR code displays on a wide number of boats and stands, and handed out the Haven Knox Johnston, ‘Guide to buying a narrowboat’ featuring our advice on finance. Both proved very popular and really helped to get the message out there that finance is available for inland waterways, including for liveaboard use.
Favourite Boat in Show is always hotly contested, and this year the competition was very strong. In the end, the fantastic Gothic ‘Vampirate’ from Norton Canes took top place, but runner-up ‘Daisy’ from Braidbar Boats was also very popular, with lots of visitors to our stand saying she was their dream narrowboat and perfect in every way!
Third place was well deserved by Ovation Boats with ‘Breaking Bad’, a high spec build with lots of clever features.
Inland waterways lending remains in demand, including in the liveaboard sector, with an increasing number of buyers exploring finance to stretch up to the next level, rather than settle for a boat that isn’t quite right for them.
We also saw growing interest from new boat buyers seeking finance for both full build stage payments and smaller top-ups for upgrades.
As always, we want to thank every single person who came to visit us at our stand – we love attending shows like this as it gives us a rare opportunity to meet as many of you as possible face to face, and share our passion for boating with like-minded people.
If you did speak to us at our stand, and are keen to get started, make sure to contact us today.