About

Please note that the SPCC website has undergone a minor update - if you can't find what you're looking for, please contact us. Also - members should be able to log in as before, but if you have any trouble, again, please flag it via the contact form.

Please note - St Pancras Yacht Basin is not open to the general public. SPCC's business is conducted by appointment only. Please check with us before making your journey. 

The club's address is:

St Pancras Cruising Club
St Pancras Yacht Basin
Camley St
London N1C 4PN
Tel: 0207 278 2805

For temporary moorings email the Harbour Master at: spcchm@gmail.com or telephone the Harbourmaster on 07905 278358 between 9am-6pm

Full Membership to the club is open to any boat owner who meets the conditions laid down in the Club's Constitution and Rules. Full Members can take part in all Club social and cruising events, have access to the Club's premises, including the Workshop and Clubhouse, can be elected to the Club's governing Committee, and may moor their boats permanently in St. Pancras Yacht Basin (subject to availability of mooring space). Full Members pay a joining fee of £15 and an annual fee of £75 and are expected to contribute at least 30 hours each year towards maintenance and similar work for the Club.

Full Members of the Club are expected to participate in the Club's activities throughout the year as well as making their contribution to Club maintenance. All candidates for Full Membership are required to attend at least one weekend work party, at least three Club nights (Wednesday evening, Sunday lunchtime or other Club social event), and one club cruise before their application will be considered by the Committee. In addition all candidates for Membership are interviewed by the Committee at a regular Committee meeting, usually on a Thursday evening.

Associate Membership is open to any non-boat owner who meets the conditions laid down in the Club's Constitution and Rules. Associate Members can take part in all Club social and cruising events, have access to the Club's premises, including the Workshop and Clubhouse, and can be elected to the Club's governing Committee. Associate Members who become boat owners may transfer to Full Membership and may then moor their boats permanently in St. Pancras Yacht Basin (subject to availability of mooring space). Associate Members pay a joining fee of £10 and an annual fee of £35 and are expected to contribute at least 30 hours each year towards maintenance and similar work for the Club.

Associate Members are also expected to participate in the Club's activities throughout the year as well as making their contribution to Club maintenance. All candidates for Associate Membership are required to attend at least one weekend work party, at least three Club nights (Wednesday evening, Sunday lunchtime or other Club social event), and one club cruise, before their application will be considered by the Committee. In addition all candidates for Membership are interviewed by the Committee at a regular Committee meeting, usually on a Thursday evening.

Applications must be proposed and seconded by two Full or Associate Members of the Club.

Country Membership is open to any person who supports the objectives of St. Pancras Cruising Club and who appears to the Committee to be an appropriate person to be admitted as a Country Member. Country Members have the privilege of flying the Club's burgee and receive notice of Club cruises through the Club's newsletter "Panchat". Country Members do not have access to the Club's premises but are welcomed at Club social events. Country Members pay a joining fee of £10 and an annual fee of £30.

The Committee will only consider applications for Country Membership from individuals who are well known to at least one Officer of the Club, who are not already members of another boat club, and who actively cruise inland waterways in the UK. Invitations to take up Country Membership are only made to individuals who have been proposed by the Committee.

Permanent moorings in St. Pancras Yacht Basin are only available to Full Members, subject to availability.

For current members of the Club: to access the members’ area of this site, you need to first register on this site - click "Create a New Account" on the log-in menu (right hand side of the home page).

Once you have successfully registered and can log in, if you are a current member the webmaster will upgrade your registration so you can access the Members' Area. If you aren't recognized as a current member (the Members' Area menu will be visible on the left hand side of the page), please contact the webmaster through the Contact form.

Applications for membership should be addressed to the club; Information for Prospective Members.

St Pancras Dry Dock: Proprietor Fred Heil The Yacht Basin, Camley Street, London N1C 4PN, Tel/Fax 0207 278 2858

The team at St Pancras Dry Dock have a network of suppliers established over the years. All are experienced and able to carry out first class work covering all aspects of canal boat maintenance and repairs.

It was thanks to the railways that the club occupies a former 'coal drop' basin on the Regents Canal built in 1868 to tranship coal from the Midlands to canal boats. The basin fell into disuse before the Second World War and was taken over the British Transport Commission as part of the nationalisation of inland waterways in 1948. At this time the Regents Canal was still a busy canal link with Limehouse Basin and the Thames. With the rundown of Docklands commercial use of the basin declined and local boaters saw it as a convenient mooring which led to the formation of St Pancras Cruising Club in 1958 with Will Honey as its first commodore. Meetings were held in the cottage of the local lockkeeper Fred Plank until 1962 when SPCC were granted a lease from the newly formed British Waterways Board on a workshop building at the basin. Members converted part of the premises into a clubhouse whilst retaining workshop facilities.

It was the late Dennis Cole, the club's commodore in 1965, who conceived the AWCC on the lines of SPCC's aims: to unite boaters in practical ways, such as offering temporary moorings and assistance when needed, as well as campaigning for the waterways and boating facilities.

By the late 1960s the club had close on 60 boat owning members, of which only one was a narrowboat which now predominate. London has always been known for its colourful characters and the club has had its share. There were the Micawberish 'Clampitts' who ran their boat on a wing and a prayer, hoping for the best, which generally did not happen. There was the boater who winched his boat up on the slip, removed a few planks and attempted to commit suicide on the lawn. Fortunately his bid failed, so he replaced the planks and sailed away into the sunset. Then there was the member who tarred the hull of his boat but did not discover two 12 in. chocks stuck below the waterline until two cruising seasons later. Another story tells of Dan who lived throughout one hard winter in the confines of a Wendy house mounted on his catamaran.

The club has had to defend itself against attack on at least two occasions. The first was against the GLA under newt loving Ken Livingston, which tried to evict the club to make way for his Camley St Wildlife Park. A boundary dispute ensued with fence movements at dead of night. Matters were eventually amicably resolved. A more serious threat came from the London Regeneration Consortium(LRC) Plans for the redevelopment of Kings Cross were unveiled including a Cross Channel Rail Link for which the basin would be sacrificed and the club moved to an 1831 coal basin nearby. The club engaged a barrister to petition the bill. The bill eventually floundered but a new scheme floated by Union Rail for a northern rail route to connect with a Channel Tunnel terminus at St Pancras. Once again the club got on the campaign trail. It was a red-letter day when Union Rail confirmed that the club's moorings and headquarters would not be permanently affected although the construction period is proving to be very fraught.(the latest date for the completion of the regeneration of Kings Cross is 2021!) Nevertheless, SPCC is still operational

With greater security of tenure, SPCC is now concentrating on improving its facilities. Our new dry dock was opened in 2001 and is proving to be hugely popular. Extensions and improvements to the clubhouse are planned. The welcome to visiting boaters remains

Copyright 2003 SPCC

Last modified 28/10/2008