ABC Boat Hire Alvechurch Marina

A Great experience
Booked a day boat from the Marina at Alvechurch. On arrival the lady on reception (Christine I think) gave us a very warm welcome. Everything was organised perfectly and following the safety video we were handed over to Paul who familiarised us with all aspects of the boat and stayed with us for a short distance down the canal. The boat was immaculate in all areas and very well equipped. We really enjoyed the day along with our lunch moored up at the Hopwood Inn. Our day trip has given us the incentive to book again for a few days sometime in the near future

Avoid this company! Took our booking for 7 adults on a barge from Blackwater marina, the day before they called to say the boat they had booked for us was only for 6 adults and a child, so the holiday we had booked over the phone direct with ABC Boat hire was no longer available.

No offer of compensation, even though what we eventually had to settle for was of a substantially less value. Complained to management, but they are only interested in putting profit ahead of customers as they already had our money.

Never had any issues using other hire companies, so I would advise against using ABC Boat hire to prevent this happening to anyone else. I am pursuing my complaint with trading standards.

Easy online booking and good information on their website about the possible routes. We decided to take the Birmingham mini ring which is a four night adventure into the middle of Birmingham then out in a loop. Big tunnel (twice), lots of countryside crusing and a lot of locks as well as the unique experience of arriving into the very centre of Birmingham by Narrowboat. I recommend the route if you are up for doing a fair few locks.

We arrived early to pick up the boat. Everyone was very friendly and we got to watch the safetly video early. We also got a detailed overview of the route, useful reommendations for where to stop, good pubs, where not to stop (!), where to fill up with water. This proved invaluable, particularly in the middle of Birmingham where we would not have found the nice mooring we found without the recommendation.

Boat was clean and had a lot of helpful details. Nice welcome pack with a lot of useful things (tea bags, washing up cloth which I had forgotten). Invertor was big enough to drive everything. Everything worked well.

A very good overview of everything on the boat before we set off. It was detailed enough that I felt confident I knew the systems on board before setting off. Everything covered from how to isolate the pumps (for a quiet night) though to bildge pumps, operating the engine.

The boat was ready just before they said it would be and we headed off a little early. We had a relaxing holiday and returning the boat was no trouble at all.

Great holiday will be booking again

We had a brilliant week on the Capped Heron. The boat was big enough for 2 adults and 2 children without having to use the put up bed in the living room.
Facilities on the boat we’re excellent- everything we needed was provided including waterproofs and the tutorial before we set off was invaluable!
Tips for others thinking of doing this- we took some bottled water- there is filtered water that’s drinkable but this helped to keep water use low as topping up the tank can take time.
Take a couple of meals with you in case you don’t moor next to a pub.
The shower pumps out straight into the canal- we hadn’t realised this or would have looked for an eco friendly shower gel.
If you are taking extra loo roll it can only be 2 ply.
I was a bit reticent about this holiday but honestly loved it- we’ll definitely do it again

First time on a canal boat ! thought we'd try it as we didn't want the hassle of going abroad with this pandemic happening. 4 nights on Rock Bunting, we had a brilliant time. Very clean boat and all the equipment you could need. Birmingham onto Catherine de Barnes, Knowle, Lapworth, Kings Norton. Loads of locks in hot, cold, rain, thunder and lightening, It was great and a massive hour long tunnel. Park up right by a pubs for evening meals. Meet lots of helpful people (the volunteers at each set of locks really help you out and muck in which gives you great confidence when you're faced with 13 locks in a row, very daunting ) Dog loved it. Myself, husband and three adult children didn't have time to get on each others nerves!
Staff at Alvechurch were exceptional and quietly efficient, no hanging about.
We're booking again. I know the area we travelled very well but from the road and in a car, this really showed a very different view of Birmingham.
Interesting.

Well organised team

Brilliant and efficient service