The PBO Marina Price Guide provides comprehensive regional listings of annual berths around England, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands, Shetland Islands, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Since it began in 2009, the guide has grown from 219 to 266 listings, which enable you to compare and contrast marina charges, as well as the facilities and services offered by each marina.

We only list walk-ashore berths with mast-up access from the coast.

In order to compare the prices provided by the hundreds of marinas, with varying pricing structures, we requested the annual berthing costs for yachts of 7m, 10m and 13m LOA, and worked out an average per-metre price.

The sums we quote, which include VAT, may not be exact for your particular boat but are intended to be representative overall.

National rankings start at 1 for the most expensive. To help you plan your access, we give the depth of water at the pontoon and in the approaches at Mean Low Water Springs, allowing us to include drying marinas.

What’s new?

Marina upgrade works at Scotland’s Campbeltown Loch, completed last June, have resulted in the new 54-berth Campbeltown Marina, with an angled concrete breakwater to protect the more northerly berths and new onshore facilities. This represents a huge improvement to the previous facility, which provided alongside berthing for up to 18 vessels or up to 38 when triple-rafting: it was also open to strong easterly winds and had very limited onshore facilities.

The marina at Portavadie has expanded its offering with a spa and leisure experience at its Loch Fyne location. The latest features in the £10million development include a 16m indoor pool, outdoor spa pools, a Scandinavian sauna, a gymnasium and the largest heated outdoor infinity pool in Scotland.

Aberystwyth Marina

In Wales, Aberystwyth Marina changed hands in September 2015 and is now run by The Marine Group. On the south-east coast of England, Peter Leonard Marine have announced plans to expand into another boatyard nearby, and are investing in a new slipway on the Denton Island site, which once complete will be able to slip boats up to 50 tons.

Last year, Premier Marinas invested £6million in development projects across its eight South Coast marinas, including a new self-storage facility at Swanwick, and a new dry stack service for RIBs and boats up to 8m (26ft) at Falmouth Marina, while Gosport Marina’s dry stack was extended from 80 boats to 148 boats. Southsea Marina was updated with spa-quality facilities, and Brighton Marina became home to a new £1million floating yacht club and saw the refurbishment of its West Jetty facilities.

There was also a £75,000 pile replacement scheme at Swanwick Marina, a pontoon refurbishment at Port Solent and a raft of security and equipment upgrades at Brighton, plus boatyard resurfacing at Eastbourne Boatyard. Plans for 2016 include the building of 19 short-term-let
holiday apartments at Chichester Marina, due to be finished in March.

Lymington Yacht Haven

Nineteen new berths have been created at Lymington Yacht Haven, the flagship marina for Yacht Havens Group, to accommodate an increased demand for larger berths. Lymington Yacht Haven has also completed a large dredging operation and has installed a live weather system: it was awarded UK Coastal Marina of the Year 2016 (over 250 berths) by The Yacht Harbour Association (TYHA).

Now in its third year, the awards were open to all Gold Anchor accredited marinas both in the UK and overseas, and saw marina customers cast 4,500-plus votes online. Poole Quay Boat Haven was crowned best small marina ‘under 250 berths’, while Overwater Marina was named UK Inland Marina of the Year 2016.

Increasing numbers of harbours and marinas are joining TYHA’s voluntary Gold Anchor scheme, which awards between one and five anchors depending on the standards of facilities and quality of service.

Another scheme gaining in momentum is the Royal Yachting Association’s (RYA) Active Marina programme, which encourages training, cruising and social opportunities for berth holders.

Hamble Point Marina

This year, Hamble Point Marina topped the PBO Price Guide as the ‘most expensive’ marina. A spokesman said: ‘For sheer location alone, Hamble Point Marina is hard to beat. Situated right at the mouth of the River Hamble, with easy access to the world-famous waters of the Solent, the marina is a magnet for competitive sailors from around the globe.’

Hamble Point is part of MDL Marinas, which has more than 100 marinas in its cruising network. Contrastingly, the Shetland Islands are again ranked cheapest region, due to their unique annual berthing system where berths are reserved for years by local residents who pay a refundable deposit and then smaller annual maintenance costs. Annual berths at St Peter Port, Guernsey are also just for island residents.

We’re delighted to welcome Insworke Mill Quay Harbour to our annual guide for the first time. If your marina meets our criteria but is not listed, please get in touch.

Details submitted by each marina were accurate at the time of going to press. A few marinas were anticipating tariff changes for the new financial year.

See the guide in full in the April 2016 issue of PBO or online at: http://po.st/MarinaGuide

PBO Marina Price Guide

Practical Boat Owner has compiled the only guide to annual berth holder prices and facilities at coastal marinas around the…