Friday Street Slipway

The Society has been at the forefront of a campaign to get the Friday Street Slipway reopened for its use by residents and visitors alike.

The slipway was concreted over by local company Sorbon Estates to create two additional vehicle parking spaces. Their refusal to remove the concrete resulted in Henley Town Council doing the job for them, and sending them the bill. Well done Henley Town Council!

The fight then began to get the pontoons, which obstruct entry to the river, removed, and this too, is taking a long time. After a great deal of pressure involving the Environment Agency, the Information Officer, the River Thames Society, interested and informed locals and the Henley Society, Sorbon Estates eventually promised to start the work of removal in April 2023. For various reasons, some legitimate and others we suspect not, the removal work has been delayed and is now scheduled to start at the end of July.

We shall see, but be assured that we, and the support parties mentioned above, are very much on the case and pressure will not be lifted until the Friday Street Slipway is, once again, fully open for the use of river users.