Most mooring price guides quote a wide range with nothing behind it. This one is built from figures you can check yourself: marina operators' own published tariffs, and the live berth vacancies the Canal & River Trust advertises with an annual price attached to each one. Here is what a berth costs in 2026, and what sits on top of it.
The quick answer
Inland moorings are conventionally priced per foot of boat, per year, and the brokerage and boating press put the working bands at:
Up to £20 per foot — a basic offline or rural mooring with few or no facilities.
Up to £45 per foot — a standard marina berth with water, electricity, pump-out and parking.
£60 per foot and above — a full-service marina: gated security, serviced pontoons, showers, laundry and a chandlery.
The overall spread quoted across the market is roughly £20 to £70 per foot per year. For a 60ft narrowboat that is about £1,200 a year at the bottom and £3,600 to £4,200 at a well-serviced marina — before power, licence and insurance.
What published marina tariffs actually say
Rules of thumb are useful; published rates are better. These four operators put their 2026 prices on their own websites:
Swanley Bridge Marina (Llangollen Canal, Cheshire) — annual berths from 1 July 2026: £2,080 at 35ft, £2,780 at 50ft, £3,365 at 60ft and £3,859 at 70ft, inc VAT, on a twelve-month commitment. That is £55 to £59 per foot per year, or about £280 a month for a 60ft boat.
Aqueduct Marina (Shropshire Union Canal, Cheshire) — rolling monthly berths with no fixed term: £249 a month at 40ft, £315 at 50ft, £378 at 60ft and £439 at 70ft, inc VAT. Roughly £75 per foot per year — the premium for not committing.
York Marina (River Ouse) — £401 per metre on a twelve-month contract in 2026-27, inc VAT and hard standing, minimum 6.095m. Seasonal contracts run at £325.50 per metre for summer and £169 for winter.
Val Wyatt Marine (River Thames at Wargrave) — £526 per metre for 2026-27, inc VAT, winter hard standing, lift out and re-launch.
What Canal & River Trust berths cost, by region
The Trust advertises its own vacancies with the annual price attached, which makes it the one place you can compare genuinely like-for-like prices across the country. Dividing each advertised price by the advertised berth length gives a per-metre rate. Across fixed-price vacancies listed in September 2026:
Greater London — £341 to £420 per metre per year. Brentford Island at £8,183 for a 20m berth, Engineers Wharf at £8,979 for 21.4m, Hazlemere Marina at £2,833 for 8.3m.
West Midlands — £159 to £225. Hockley Port at £4,806 for 21.4m, Tardebigge at £3,601 for 17.4m, Knowle Bottom Lock at £2,231 for 13.8m.
Yorkshire — £114 to £230. Kings Road at £2,749 for 21.4m, Brighouse Basin at £2,889 for 17.4m, Dowley Gap at £2,084 for 18.3m.
North West and the Peak — £132 to £183. Whaley Bridge at £1,610 for 12.2m, Hebden Bridge at £2,517 for 18.3m, Hardingswood Junction at £2,533 for 15m.
In monthly terms the gap is stark: an 18.3m berth at Hebden Bridge is about £210 a month and one at Tardebigge about £300, while a 20m berth at Brentford Island is £682. London is not a little dearer than the North — it is roughly three times the price for the same length of water.
London auctions are a different market again
In London the Trust sells most vacancies by auction rather than at a fixed price, and the starting prices alone run from about £605 to £891 per metre per year — Lisson Grove opens at £9,675 for 16m, Blackwall Basin at £19,599 for 22m. Those are opening figures, not settled ones: treat an auction start as a floor, and set your ceiling before you bid.
What actually drives the price
Length. Almost every operator prices by the foot or the metre, so length is the strongest single predictor of the bill.
Beam. A widebeam takes more water frontage and is charged accordingly — and on Trust waters it pays a licence surcharge too.
Region. On the Trust's listings the same berth length costs about three times as much in London as in Yorkshire. Browse berths by location to compare towns.
What is included. Hard standing, a winter lift-out, or power metered at domestic rather than premium rates can be worth several hundred pounds a year against the headline fee.
Commitment. Aqueduct's rolling monthly berths run about a third dearer per foot than Swanley Bridge's annual contracts. Flexibility is a product, and it is priced.
Residential berths: scarcity, not a tariff
A residential berth is widely assumed to simply cost more. The Trust's own listings do not bear that out: its residential vacancies at Cuckoo Wharf in Birmingham work out at £159 to £177 per metre, below the £225 asked for leisure berths at Hockley Port a few miles away. What makes a residential mooring expensive is that hardly any exist — consent is held by the site, rarely granted, and cannot be applied for berth by berth. You are paying for scarcity and location, and you should budget for council tax and heavy winter electricity on top. Residential mooring rules covers what to get in writing.
Costs that sit outside the mooring fee
Navigation licence or registration
On Canal & River Trust waterways you need a boat licence. Fees rose 4.85% from 1 April 2026, and surcharges apply on top of the standard fee:
No home mooring: an extra 15% in 2026, phasing up to 20% in 2027 and 25% in 2028 (it began at 5% in 2024).
Beam 2.16m–3.24m: an extra 19% in 2026, rising in steps to 25% by 2028.
Beam over 3.24m: an extra 38% in 2026, rising in steps to 50% by 2028.
The surcharges stack, so a widebeam without a home mooring pays both. The Trust publishes a licence price calculator for an exact figure.
On Environment Agency waters you register rather than licence: non-tidal Thames charges are based on the boat's area (length × beam) and rise with CPI each 1 January, while the Anglian waterways and the Medway charge on length. A Gold Licence covers both networks. On the Broads, an annual toll is required for any vessel kept in the navigation area for more than 28 days in a tolls year.
Certification, insurance and council tax
A Boat Safety Scheme certificate is ordinarily valid for four years, so budget for the examination and any remedial work roughly every fourth year. The Trust requires third-party insurance of at least £2,000,000; the Environment Agency requires third-party cover too. And if the boat is your sole or main residence, the mooring may be banded for council tax by the Valuation Office Agency and billed by the local council.
Then budget for electricity — usually metered separately and often above domestic rates — pump-out and Elsan disposal, an annual lift-out with blacking every two to three years, hull insurance, winter storage, parking, Wi-Fi, and a deposit or joining fee.
How to compare properly
Work out the total annual cost, not the monthly berth fee. A berth at £350 a month with power and parking included can beat £300 a month where both are extra. Ask whether the price is per foot, per metre or a fixed berth fee and whether it includes VAT; what is metered separately and at what rate; when the price changes and what it is linked to; and what notice you must give if you leave early.
Mooring contracts explained covers those terms in detail, and how to find a long-stay mooring covers the search itself.
See what berths cost near you
Filter live moorings by price, region, waterway and boat dimensions to compare real asking prices.
Sources and further reading
Every price and rule above comes from a page linked below — an operator's own tariff, the Trust's live vacancy listings, or the authority that sets the fee. Check them before you commit: tariffs and licensing rules change annually.
Canal & River Trust — Waterside Mooring vacancies and prices
Canal & River Trust — structure of boat licence pricing and surcharges
This article is general information, not legal or financial advice. Where money or occupancy rights are at stake, take your own advice.