About us

The One and only Worcester River Cruises. Your Unique Venue Opportunity, offering you luxury river cruises and a 1st class service for:

Cruising on the historic River Severn from the prestigious city of Worcester in style and comfort, your event will be unique and exclusive to you and one that you willl always remember.

About the Boats

The Pride of the Midlands underwent an extensive refit and has mains electricity together with heating.

Sailing information
Our vessel is available for charter from Mid April to Mid October, guests embark and disembark at North Quay, Worcester.

The cruising range is upstream toward Stourport and downstream towards Tewkesbury.

Just messing about on the river!
The Pride of the Midlands offers this in the style and luxury of a fully appointed passenger craft, with a licensed capacity for up to 164 guests. The wonderful thing is that she is suitable for any function, whether you are booking a company do, or a party for family and friends.

The Pride of the Midlands can be booked to sail from mid-April through to mid October, morning, noon and night. The usual length of cruise is two, three or four hours, but we can alter this to suit your needs.

Let us arouse your sensory taste buds, dazzle you with the decor, tantalize you with extensive menus, and get your feet tapping to the music of your choice.

Imagine drifting genteelly down the River Severn, sipping your cup of tea, nibbling on freshly baked scones with jam, escaping from the hustle and bustle of everyday life to sit back and relax, and take in the scenery.

Alternatively, picture yourself on a lazy summers evening, slipping seductively from light to smouldering darkness, the disco lights are whirling and the music is drifting through the air... what a party!

We cater for wedding receptions, birthdays, works dos, anniversaries, conferences, afternoon teas or simply because you feel like a party! We have two fully stocked bars on-board, and we can provide a range of musical entertainment, from a disco to jazz to classical.

We also have a range of menus, from a finger buffet to a gourmet buffet - the choice is yours!

Our aim is to ensure that all of our guests have the time of their lives, therefore you call us, explain what you would like and we do the rest - what could be more simple? We take the organisation and hard work out of your hands so that you can concentrate on enjoying yourselves!

This has just touched upon some of the many variations that Worcester River Cruises and our crew can offer to make your event a memorable one for years to come.

About the Route Range

About ½ mile above Stourport, Sandy Bottom is the Northern limit of navigation on the River Severn for passenger vessels.

Although Stourport is only 20 miles from Worcester, the journey by river takes just under three hours, involves going through three locks (Bevere, Holt & Limcomb) and past such sights as the Redstone Rocks, Holt Castle and numerous small boat yards.

Worcester at one time had the largest inland port in England.

Past the Cathedral to Diglis Lock. Diglis Basin was used by commercial traffic, for the unloading of various different cargos.

Commercial traffic from Gloucester to Worcester increased through the centuries, from the old sail barges (Severn Trows) to the motor tankers of the 20th century.

The motor tanker traffic grew rapidly in the early decades of the last century, but by the early 1960’s it had all come to an end and has been replaced by huge underground pipe lines.

From Diglis Lock the Severn winds its way down to the market town of Upton Upon Severn.
Upton is roughly half way between Worcester and Tewkesbury, and the voyage down affords stunning views of the Malvern Hills.

From Upton it is about another 1½ hour run to Tewkesbury. Tewkesbury is another market town that lies on the junction of the Severn and the Stratford Avon, it is bordered by the Mythe bridge to the North and Upper Lode Lock to the South. Upper Lode marks the Southern limit of navigation limits for our vessels.

Below Upper Lode the Severn is fully tidal. It is semi tidal up to the Diglis Lock in Worcester.

The tides on the Severn are famous with two main yearly spring tides, known as the Severn Bores. These tides reach up to the Diglis Lock in Worcester, although they back up the flow of the river as far as Bevere and become a local tourist attraction.