Boats With a Story

Every skiff in our fleet is a real wooden boat — built in the traditional Thames way and cared for by hand in a working boatyard beside the bridge.

Boat hire here isn’t a sideline of a leisure company. It’s part of a working riverside trade. Luan Queloposhi, who runs Richmond Bridge Boat Hire, trained for nearly two decades as an apprentice in traditional Thames wooden boatbuilding — and it shows in every boat we put on the water. 

Through the winter the skiffs come out of the water for repair, revarnishing and care, so that every spring they go back in ready for another season. When you take one out, you’re rowing a small piece of living Thames history.