Lots Ait

Lots Ait (shaded pink on plan)

We completed a bridge connection to the private island of Lots Ait (shaded pink on the Brentford moorings plan) in January 2012, and refurbished the facilities for moorings and a small boatyard operation.

The moorings here are most suited to larger vessels of around 30m but we can accommodate barges from 25m up to 40m. The Brentford High Street area is presently the subject of much improvement and no more so than the riverside scene, which is presently being redeveloped into executive housing. By contrast, much of Lots Ait has been allowed to go back to nature and provides a rare haven for wildlife, with Heron, swan and many other wading birds nesting in the near vicinity.

This superb island setting is quiet and quite untroubled by road or river traffic, with access strictly restricted to only those authorised to be there. The moorings on Lots Ait are a mixture of sheltered dock inlets off the main channel, and external moorings, both stern to and alongside, in a very natural setting but with full services laid on. These include water, electricity, grey/black water pump out, and connection to broadband/telephone. We also offer car parking ashore.

The boatyard adjacent to the moorings, is a quiet operation specialising in quality woodwork, and includes the facility for people to work on their own projects with as much or as little support as required from skilled artisan John Watson and his staff. This has proved to be a fertile skills hotspot, with several interesting projects that have taken root on the island, including the first new build here in over 50 years, as well as wooden boat restoration, wooden musical instrument manufacture and perhaps most curiously of all, the production of a replica First World War biplane. Early aircraft production of course shares exactly the same process of "lofting" from drawing board to workshop floor, as boat manufacture and it is gratifying to see these skills perpetuated.