Spalding Water Taxi service returning after three years

Spalding’s popular Water Taxi service will return for the first time since 2019 next month.

The boats, which shuttle shoppers between the town centre and Springfields, will return to operation with a ‘soft launch’ on Saturday, April 2, at 10am.

The service has been unable to run since the end of the 2019 season due to two full years of disruption caused by the Covid pandemic.

Operations manager Anthony Grunwell said: “I am thrilled to bits.

“Over the pandemic we have had a lot of enquiries about the water taxi and I talk to people around the town so I know it’s been greatly, greatly missed.

“How many towns have a facility like this? It’s unique to Spalding.”

One boat will be running between the Spalding and Springfields stops from 10am until 5pm every day - although there will be two boats on Saturdays to ensure there is a service every hour in each direction.

With preparations under way, the team is also having to deal with the after-effects of vandalism caused to the jetty at Springfields.

Mr Grunwell said: “We are having to do a lot of work with that jetty and getting the boats ready.

“It’s horrible to see the amount of litter.

“I have gone beyond angry - it gets me so upset to see our lovely countryside littered and destroyed.”

Last year operators ran a ‘self drive’ system where people could hire out the boats and make up for the lack of the usual service by taking them for a trip along the River Welland.

Mr Grunwell said the idea proved a success - and actually introduced the boats to local people who might not have previously used them.

He said: “Strangely enough a lot of people in the area were new to the Water Taxi because it was a ‘staycation’ situation.

“They used the boat and came back and said they didn’t realise how fantastic it was.”

He said the service will continue to heed some of the Covid safety lessons to ensure users feel comfortable returning to the Water Taxi.

Mr Grunwell added: “We learned a lot from Covid, especially about safety and hygiene and I hope other people take that on board, if you excuse the expression.”