By Sawyer Ploski (11/2/25) — London, UK

A Scenic Network Left Still

If you walk along the hundreds of miles of canals in London, you’ll find that most of them are empty. Outside of hubs like Camden, King’s Cross, Paddington Basin, and Hackney Wick, you’ll see long stretches with little public use. London’s canals are scenic and cultural, yet they are underused for small, sustainable enterprises. A duplicative, slow, and sometimes conflicting permitting regime hinders the growth of micro-culture and micro-commerce.

A Life on the Water

My family friend Eric Ellman has lived on a canal boat for the last seven years and has fully embraced its way of life. He previously worked as the Director of Communications at the Yale Climate & Energy Institute. He treats operating the locks and upkeeping his boat as an art form– truly enjoying every minute of it (his beautiful boat seen here on the right).

In addition, Eric has a passion for blending different cultures through music, participating in jam sessions and music circles throughout London. Eric also has an entrepreneurial mindset. So naturally, he wanted to create a business that focused on his love for both the canals and music. I interviewed Eric about his canal business adventures, revealing the larger institutional reasons for the lack of events, culture, and commerce on the canals.

Testing the Waters

His initial idea was simple–host small concerts along the canals where passersby could stop, listen, and even donate through a QR code plastered on the side of his boat. During COVID, he took small families onto his boat to teach them canal history and basic seamanship, something he called “Nautical Life 101.” This offered local parents and children a hands-on introduction to London’s waterways.

Why Canal Business Matters

What makes canal-based business so valuable is its accessibility. A boat can serve as a studio, classroom, gallery, or cafe with far lower overhead than a traditional storefront. There’s no rent on high-street property, no long leases, and no need for costly renovations. That low barrier to entry lets artists, teachers, and creatives test societally beneficial ideas that might otherwise be out of reach, creating a stable path to sustainable entrepreneurship. When supported by thoughtful regulation and infrastructure, these micro-businesses can become anchors of local culture and economic opportunity in the neighborhoods they pass through or moor in.

A Wall of Bureaucracy

But even the most modest events Eric hosted faced a wall of bureaucracy. To host any gathering that might cause people to stop on the towpath, he needed not only approval from the borough but also from the Canal & River Trust. The borough’s Late Temporary Event Notice could be processed in as little as five working days. The CRT, on the other hand, asked for three months' notice and usually rejected any request filed under four weeks in advance. Even though it was the exact details and event, the two organizations had a significant difference in speed.

For independent boaters like Eric, this effect is overwhelming. Every short-term opportunity, whether it be a local festival or an artist spontaneously coming to town, becomes impossible to seize. “It’s like they’ve never seen you before each time you apply,” he said of the CRT’s online system, which requires new uploads and forms for every event. Among boaters, the events permitting office has earned a nickname: “the prevents department.”

Limited Spaces for Culture

The lack of cultural activity on the canals is directly related to the rigidity of these systems, and remains solely in the few privately managed basins and redeveloped hubs. Outside of them, in the 100+ miles of connected waterways in London, there are few places where a small cultural or educational project can operate both legally and sustainably.

Infrastructure is another piece of the puzzle of London’s canal problem. Most mooring sites lack shore power, forcing boats to run diesel generators for electricity, producing noise and emissions that undermine the environmental attractiveness of canal life. Where electrical hook-ups do exist, such as in King’s Cross, they’ve shown what could be possible (Canal & River Trust). Boats can plug into the grid, switch off their engine, and operate quietly with near-zero local pollution. Areas such as Camden have begun expanding, but the rollout remains limited and inconsistent across the city (Camden Council).

Other European cities show how much more could be done. In Amsterdam, small, low-risk events can be approved and proceed by notification instead of a full permit process, given certain safety conditions (City of Amsterdam). Utrecht uses a shared online calendar to prevent scheduling clashes along waterways. Both cities offer accessible power connections that make life on the water cleaner and business more viable.

A System Stuck in Neutral

London, by contrast, still treats canal enterprises as an exception rather than as an opportunity. The CRT shoulders too many roles, having to maintain infrastructure, manage boat licenses, enforce safety rules, and review event applications. Event applications are often outsourced by private contractors who organize the CRT’s own events, creating a clear conflict of interest. The result is a slow, risk-averse system that privileges large, centrally planned festivals over grassroots initiatives.

Yet the potential is enormous. Eric’s latest project in Southall, for instance, aims to train South Asian women as canal-boat pilots and mentors for teen girls who have been excluded from school. The idea is to use boating as a tool for confidence, inclusion, and environmental awareness, ultimately connecting communities that have long lived beside the canals but rarely participated in their culture. Projects like this embody the CRT’s educational mission in their charter, but they thrive despite, and not because of, their existing bureaucratic framework.

Reforms that Enable Small Enterprise

If London wants its canals to become engines of sustainable local enterprise, reform is long overdue. A single fast-track approval for micro-events that meet clear safety criteria would open the door to hundreds of small-scale activities. Publishing a transparent calendar of temporary moorings and offering micro-grants for solar or shore power installation could empower both traders, educators, and musicians alike.

The benefits extend far beyond the water. More local programming means fewer car trips for audiences, lower emissions, and stronger community ties along the canal corridors that cut through some of London’s most diverse neighborhoods. The infrastructure, interest, and water are all there and ready for the change–it’s the bureaucracy and paperwork that aren’t.

Check out Eric’s past events and current projects at https://yourcanalboat.com/.

References

Canal & River Trust. “Enjoy a Great Day Out by the Water This Summer in London.”
Canal & River Trust, 2024, https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/news/enjoy-a-great-day-out-by-the-water-this-summer-in-london.

Canal & River Trust. “Planning an Event.”
Canal & River Trust, 2024, https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/things-to-do/events/canal-events-canal-festivals/planning-an-event.

London’s Quiet Canals: How Bureaucracy Stifles Sustainable Enterprise