Latest news with #LittleVenice
Daily Mail
7 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Daily Mail
London's canal of chaos: Furious homeowners battle against antisocial behaviour after boat party revellers had sex, flashed and used gardens as toilets
Furious locals living along a popular London canal are battling against antisocial behaviour after boat party revellers were caught performing sex acts in public and using their gardens as toilets. Residents with houses along the quaint Little Venice canal now fear there will be a surge in if London boat hire company GoBoat UK is granted an alcohol licence. They said the company had previously operated with an alcohol licence, allowing people to drink on board without supervision. This led to a spike of vile and antisocial behaviour in the area, with boaters caught performing sex acts in public, urinating and defecating in people's gardens, and even flashing 'in front of children'. Locals also claimed drunk boat drivers often crashed into their vessels, were 'loud and aggressive' and some also 'engaged in drug use'. But GoBoat is now looking to launch a new service 'designed to enhance customer experience', which will allow boaters to drink on board while being supervised by 'a qualified skipper'. The company stressed that the service 'is not a return to unsupervised drinking, but a controlled, high-quality alternative' and added that their self drive boats will remain 'strictly alcohol-free'. Even with this promise, the application has received dozens of objections, including from the Environmental Health Service which claimed the licence would likely cause an increase in 'public nuisance and may impact public safety'. GoBoat is also seeking to transform a small, square shipping container into a kiosk for selling alcohol to customers at its site in Merchant Square, Paddington. The company said the site manages 16 rental boats and a narrowboat which won't be used for selling alcohol. It applied for the alcohol licence in February this year, which would allow it to sell alcohol between 9am and 10pm from Mondays to Sundays. But the application received objections from residents just weeks later, calling for the application to be denied given the previous behaviour of some GoBoat users. One resident claimed the company had previously had 'problems with customers drinking on board the boats'. This included 'boorish behaviour, indecent exposure, urinating on to the towpath, mooning, threats of violence towards boat owners and quite a bit more'. 'We residents on the canal have quite enough to deal with… cyclists, pedestrians, dog-owners allowing their pets to defecate all over the towpath without rowdy, antisocial behaviour by GoBoat punters,' the resident added. Another objector also wrote: 'I absolutely object to this - the last time the GoBoaters were allowed alcohol, I had people peeing onto the side of my boat, appalling driving as they carelessly bashed into the boats. Screaming through the tunnels. Absolutely not. Please God no.' A third outraged boat owner added: 'On multiple occasions, individuals urinated on my boat, engaged in drug use, and exhibited inappropriate behavior such as public nudity. 'Additionally, loud music, shouting, and loud singing from the Goboats caused significant disturbance to local residents, both boaters and those living in nearby housing.' Another person claimed they had seen 40 incidents of 'chaotic and unsafe' behaviour ranging from 'public urination in gardens, indecent exposure, and flashing in front of children'. They said that instead of granting the licence, 'stricter enforcement' should be implemented to ensure users 'respect public safety and community well-being'. Another furious boat owner claimed GoBoat users would hang onto their boat and cause massive disruption when the company previously allowed alcohol on board. 'It caused massive disruption; Shouting, loud music, insults, drug taking. People falling in the water, crashing with other craft, nudity, urinating in my garden,' they added. One local also claimed they had 'personally witnessed' wildlife being chased and killed and people jumping off the boats at the Maida Tunnel entrance to 'urinate even defecate in our gardens'. 'I do not understand how this application can even be considered, to sell alcohol to customers who are then going to be in charge of a moving vessel with virtually zero training in one of the busiest stretches of canal in London,' they added. Despite the barrage of criticism, the application did receive one letter of support. They wrote: 'The water needs to attract all, it needs diversity, and a bottle of something on the slow sojourn to is too perfect to deny to people. 'Plus those are the people who tend to be fun, and to retrieve stuff for me when I have dropped it in.' Grant Sweeney, co-founder of GoBoat London, said: 'GoBoat Luxe represents a completely different approach to our operations, featuring professionally qualified skippers with Power Boat Level 2 certifications who will drive the boats while remaining sober, ensuring that no customers are drinking alcohol and driving a boat at our Paddington location. 'The Luxe service includes strict alcohol consumption limits, bag checks, ranger boat patrols to ensure responsible operation, and has received approval from Canal & River Trust, demonstrating confidence in our professional approach.'
Daily Mail
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE I'm in my late-twenties and definitely can't afford a house in London... but here's why I'll NEVER buy a house boat
Noughties Indie rockers The Libertines have a song called up 'Up The Bracket' and it begins with a jarring, almost in-human gurgling sound before the thumping guitar kicks in. The words actually being vomitted out in this guttural opening salvo are 'Get out of it'. I used to be convinced that only a tortured poet like Peter Doherty could ever annunciate a sound with such startling desperation. That was until last week, when I spent a long, lonely and claustrophobic night on a houseboat in London 's trendy Little Venice hearing sounds and experiencing fragments of sensations that chilled my soul to the core. Houseboats are very much the vogue in our cramped and over-populated cities, but they are hardly a new property trend. People have lived on them for years, mostly along stretches of canals in places like Birmingham and London, but also on some rural areas of The Thames. But the number of boat dwellers in the capital has reached a record high, with at least 10,000 people currently calling its waterways home. The surge in popularity for riverboats has also extended across the UK, where the amount of floating homes has risen by 6 per cent in the last decade, reaching a total of 34,573. Traditionally, the sort of person to live on a houseboat is a hardy but bohemian type. A bit of an outsider who doesn't mind cooking everything on an electric stove or carrying their waste to a public toilet in the p****** rain. We all know the sort, and honestly, good luck to them, it's just not a lifestyle 99 per cent of the country want to lead. That should, and used, to be all there was to say on the matter - so why am I, a man in his late-twenties living in London, constantly being told I need to grow up and go live on a houseboat? Irritatingly, the sort of trendy places I am forced to hang out with my friends these days are nearly always situated on some previously god-forsaken and now overly-gentrified stretch of canal where the pints cost £7.80 and you have to sit on a crate. If this wasn't bad enough, I'm also now at the stage of life where some of my more successful (*privileged) friends are starting to settle down with their partners and look for properties together. It should be obvious to you by now dear reader, that not only am I clinically single but also atrocious with money - the only real relationship in my life being a toxic one with disposable vapes that really should have seen me referred to addiction services by now. And of course my friends are aware of this and so after the awkward silences we share whilst canal watching, following their latest attempt to make me justify my life, one question often bobs to the surface. 'Have you considered getting a houseboat? The mortages are really cheap and it's basically a property hack. Loads of my mates have done it!' Mmmmhmmm. Yes, your friends, my friends, we're all living on houseboats in this hellish, never-ending water world. But why? Well, lets find out from the source shall we? As we all know, people who live on houseboats love nothing more than telling everyone they know they live on a houseboat. It's like a drug to them. They crave it in that utterly desperate way and we all have to suffer as a result. And after they've told everyone they've ever met, some people like to take it one step further and tell, your friend and mine, the media. You might think 27-year-old El Sutcliffe isn't a stereotypical houseboat dweller, but she and others like her are now, I would argue at least, peak boaters. The firefighter and TikTok enthusiast recently spoke about her decision to live along the canals in the West Midlands on a £15,750, 49ft narrowboat. 'It just seemed like a no-brainer and I don't have any regrets, I think the housing market is all a bit mad', she exclaimed, 'I could never afford to live where I do if I didn't live on a boat. 'It had no flooring, it had sunk previously, it was all very questionable – but I thought 'what have I got to lose?' Since buying the boat in May 2024, El says she has spent over £10,000 on renovations. These included essentials like a log burner, a fully-equipped kitchen with fridge, sink, and gas cooker. So over £25,000 in the hole then? But, she has 'zero regrets.' She continued: 'I could have got a one-bed flat in quite a rough part of Birmingham where I would have had to pay ground rent, maintenance fees and things like that. 'I'd always liked the idea of living on the boat but I was running out of time, I needed to figure something out. 'I can't see myself getting rid of it – it would absolutely break my heart because we've built it from the ground up.' She says that once the renovations are complete, she expects to pay between £550 each month on mooring and upkeep costs - which is cheap, so where's the downside? Well, listen El, if it works for you it works for you, but I can still think of a few downsides. A former colleague of mine used to live on a houseboat, having bought it cheap with his girlfriend at the peak of their love. They probably dreamed of all the romantic nights they'd spend on the loch as their late-twenties rolled into their thirties. But time and perhaps the claustrophobic nature of their relationship and squat (*houseboat) did for them. She split up with him and moved up north with her new boyfriend just before Covid. He stayed on the houseboat (which he only owned half off) - working from home during the pandemic with an internet dongle and an electric heater. I left that job over three years ago but can still picture him in the office like it was yesterday. He would sit hunched over his monitor in a dirty wool sweater with a palpable sadness in his eyes. His pink chapped hands clawing at the keyboard and cradling his coffee mug for warmth. He also stank. I hope he is doing OK now. We've started rambling here, but the reason we have is that my editor asked me to interview someone about a houseboat. Naturally, I refused for the reasons outlined above. Eventually, we came to a compromise. So, this is what happened when I spent one night living with the enemy on one of London's trendiest waterways. My home for the night is a charming enough vessel which I found advertised on Airbnb for the reasonable price of £160-a-night. It sleeps four, with two in the double bed at the back of the boat (starboard?), and another two presumably sleeping uncomfortably on the sofa bed which is crammed in by the door and log burner at the front (port?). My host is incredibly proud of it anyway, and in fairness, it is well equipped and he seems amenable, even offering me a quick one-hour tour along the river before the night begins. As you would expect, it is incredibly cramped inside the boat, it essentially being a caravan on water. After arriving, I busied myself making a cup of coffee navigating the lighter hob with aplomb and only momentarily being overwhelmed by the noxious smell of the leaking gas. As I worked I kept smacking my elbows against the shelves and windows of the kitchen area which was naturally irritating. But, if you did actually live here (shudder) I can imagine you would eventually get used to the cramped quarters and adapt your movements. What was more interesting, and perhaps something you'd never really get a hold on, was the fact the boat did rock from side to side as I moved around and it was hit from the side by waves and disturbances in the fetid canal. I take my coffee outside and sit for a while on the small deck area at the front of the boat. I watch the joggers and cyclists go about their business and hear the sounds of birds chirping. Across the canal, trendy diners are eating gourmet Italian in a pop-up cafe. In the distance, I hear the throng of the Westway, that ol' familiar of London's heaving road network, carrying on with its solemn duty by selflessly ferrying commuters home to places like Reading and Slough. I sink back and close my eyes, allowing myself the space and time to relax into my surroundings. I feel peaceful, like I'm perhaps enjoying this after all? I open my eyes again and see a teenager staring listlessly at me on the opposite bank. He's staring at me intently, but it's not boredom or envy I'm reading in his sullen eyes. No, I've seen that look before, in the faces of exasperated bus drivers, in the gaze of triumphant traffic wardens, in my own mirror after a bad weekend. Yes. the look he's giving me is one of pure hatred. He thinks I own a houseboat, and he's giving me that self-same look that screams a familiar mantra. 'Bore off, mate.' I rush back into the boat and slam shut the makeshift doors vowing not to leave it again until darkness offers me the sweet release of personal brand anonymity. After a disappointing meal in one of the aforementioned trendy riverside haunts (no change from £30 for a burger and drink) I am ready for bed. The canal boat is baking when I return having basked in the sun all day. It is interminable but I'm beyond caring. I peel off my drenched clothes and make use of the shower, which has a surprisingly firm water pressure even if it is freezing cold. The cramped apparatus floods the bathroom though so my feet are soggy when I return to my small and hot bed. As the water dries on my unhappy feet, I drift into a restless sleep. At 3am, I awake with a jolt. I can hear something outside in the darkness, a low, groaning sound interspersed with cackling and the clink of bottles. I peak out through the curtains and my worse fears are confirmed. The undesirables are having a substance party underneath the bridge.
The Sun
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Maya Jama makes VERY rare TikTok about boyfriend Ruben Dias as she watches him play football
MAYA Jama has made a very rare TikTok about her romance with footballer beau Ruben Dias. The Love Island host, 30, has been romancing Manchester City hunk Ruben, 28, since last year with the relationship seemingly hotting up over the past few weeks. 6 6 Now, the TV presenter has appeared in a brand new social media clip all about her love with Ruben. Posted by one of the star's close friends, the video was a fun light-hearted clip poking run at her crush on the sporting ace. Filmed as she watched Ruben from the crowd at his latest footballing match, Maya could be seen suggestively looking over at one of the players on the field as she lifted her sunglasses up. The camera they quickly zoomed in to focus on Ruben during his latest game. The clip was uploaded with the caption: "I think she got a crush." Just days before, the pair were spotted enjoying a cosy dinner date with one another. Ruben was spotted sweetly kissing his girlfriend's hand over the meal during a very tender moment. The couple were spotted at the The Summerhouse, which is a fancy seafood restaurant in London. It sits alongside the Grand Union Canal in Little Venice and is the perfect spot for an al fresco lunch. Maya's date with Ruben came as she finally made their relationship official on Instagram. Ruben Dias and Maya Jama's romantic debut at Baller League match After leaving the restaurant and getting into a cab, Maya recorded a short video of herself and Ruben for Instagram. It was the first time the telly presenter has acknowledged her man on social media. The star met her footballer beau at the MTV European Music Awards in November last year, but she has kept their relationship under wraps until now. Last month, we told how Maya had introduced Ruben to her mum Bernadette, with sources saying they are ' getting more serious '. Maya also revealed in March she was taking Portuguese lessons. Maya Jama and Stormzy's relationship timeline 2016 - Stormzy and Maya Jama first got together when she was 20 and the couple quickly won over the hearts of the public. 2018 - The couple moved in together in southwest London with the dog they shared, Enzo. 2019 – They announced their split after a four year romance. 2021 – Maya meets and gets engaged to basketball player Ben Simmons. July, 2022 – Maya calls off her engagement. November, 2022 - Maya and Stormzy kissed at the MTV VMAs in Dusseldorf, Germany. May, 2023 – The Sun revealed how Maya had been visiting Stormzy at his London home. August, 2023 - Maya and Stormzy confirmed their relationship was back on when they were spotted strolling hand-in-hand on holiday. December, 2023 - Maya goes Instagram official again with her man. July, 2024 – Maya and Stormzy announce their split 6 6 6
The Sun
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Maya Jama and City star Ruben Dias look loved up as he kisses her hand on romantic lunch after going Instagram official
MAYA Jama and her footballer boyfriend Ruben Dias have been spotted looking seriously loved-up during a romantic lunch date. The couple were snapped at a waterside restaurant "flirting" together as they enjoyed their daytime meal. 12 12 12 At one point, Manchester City star Ruben reached over and kissed Maya on the hand. The cute couple, who have only just gone Instagram official, were later spotted leaving the posh eatery while holding hands. An onlooker said: " Maya and Ruben couldn't keep their hands to themselves over some food and ice cream. They flirted for hours." Love Island host Maya looked sensational in a pretty denim dress with plunging neckline for her lunch date with Ruben. She teamed her frock with a pair of black kitten heels and wore her long hair in loose waves around her shoulders. Ruben, meanwhile, kept things low key by dressing in a plain white T-shirt, khaki chinos and trainers. The couple were spotted at the The Summerhouse, which is a fancy seafood restaurant in London. It sits alongside the Grand Union Canal in Little Venice and is the perfect spot for an al fresco lunch. Maya date with Ruben came as she finally made their relationship official on Instagram. After leaving the restaurant and getting into a cab, Maya recorded a short video of herself and Ruben for Instagram. MAYA Jama's romance with footballer Ruben Dias is hotting up - after she was introduced to his mum Bernadette It was the first time the telly presenter has acknowledged her man on social media. Maya told her 3.2million Instagram followers: "I posted the food pics once we had already left!" The star met her footballer beau at the MTV European Music Awards in November last year, but she has kept their relationship under wraps until now. Recently, an exclusive video shared by The Sun showed the couple hugging in a bunker behind the goal at the Copper Box Arena in East London. At one point, the Portuguese pitch ace pulled her in for a hug, planted a smooch on her cheek and then rubbed her back. Later, he playfully bit at the back of her neck. 12 12 12 A source said: ' Maya and Ruben seemed very close, very loved up and were clearly very comfortable with each other. 'They were chatting to others around them but gravitated back to each other. They seem very happy with each other.' Last month, we told how Maya had introduced Ruben to her mum Bernadette, with sources saying they are ' getting more serious '. Maya also revealed in March she was taking Portuguese lessons. Prior to getting together with Ruben, Maya was in a high profile relationship with rapper Stormzy. The couple were in a relationship until 2019 before splitting for five years. They reunited in 2023 but called it quits again last summer. 12 12 12
