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The history of Cox’s Boatyard from 1995
I spoke to Steve Rose, who was running the yard, and said that
when he
was considering retirement would he please let me know, as I might be
able to see a way I could help him.
In 1995 Steve told me he was not in good health and asked me if I was
serious in the comment I had made. By fortunate coincidence I knew I
would be retiring as Senior Partner of a leading firm of Norwich
Accountants that autumn and pursued the matter. I approached various
members of the Norfolk Punt Club and others and put together a
Consortium of eight individuals who were prepared to invest and try and
save the yard. I emphasised that I was not confident that the yard
could be saved and they must be prepared to lose all their money. I
refused to allow anyone who would find this a hardship to join the
Consortium. We further agreed that the Consortium members should be
charged by the yard on exactly the same commercial terms as every other
customer.
I did the due diligence work with a Norwich Solicitor pro bona. It was
clear that Cox's Boatyard Limited was insolvent. It did however have a
corporate lease from the Cox family and we negotiated a fresh longer
lease prior to taking over the company running the yard for £1.
When we took over the yard, there was almost no work for the employees
and the moorings were half full. There was very little quay heading,
the wood above the bank walkways was rotten and dangerous and the banks
were uneven with many holes. The yard generally was a health and safety
hazard and we were faced with many potential difficulties.
I was joined by Mike Evans and Tom Harmer as Directors and we formed a
good team as Mike had a lot of marketing experience and Tom is an
excellent boat builder and engineer. We recruited Eric Bishop as
Manager from R Moore & sons of Wroxham and set about restoring the
yard. We developed a pile driver on a raft and that first winter all
spent many hours quay heading part of the yard. The following winter we
did the same and also worked on the road and car park.
We were always conscious that the buildings were deteriating and those
at the entrance to the yard were an embarrassment. However because we
held the yard on a lease rather than as a Freehold we considered that
the reconstruction of the infrastructure should be the responsibility
of the Landlord – the Cox family. We asked the Cox Trustees to join
with us in remodelling the yard and initially rebuilding the
disgraceful toilets but they were not prepared to do so. We decided
that if we were to inject significant funds from retained profits into
the infrastructure then long term the Cox family rather than Cox's
Boatyard Limited would benefit. In 2004 we therefore negotiated with
the Cox Trustees the purchase of the Freehold of the yard with a
21-year loan from them.
Once we held the Freehold we developed the new toilet block. We
approached North Norfolk District Council and the Broads Authority to
join with us in the development provided they would contribute to
running costs so that the toilets were open to the public but they were
not willing to contribute. Accordingly we built the toilet block from
retained profits and it is only available to bertholders.
The next stage is to modernise the buildings so that they are suitable
for a boatyard in the 21st. century. We have had long consultations
with the Broads Authority planners and our advisers and the Broads
Authority Planning Committee approved our plans in June.
David Adler – Chairman Cox's Boatyard Limited
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