The Pirate Castle

The Pirate Castle's been flying the flag for opportunity and adventure on central London's waterways since 1966.

From our fully-accessible base on the Regent's Canal in the heart of Camden Town, our amazing community boating charity promotes learning, life chances and healthy living through a raft of paddlesport (kayaking, canoeing and bell-boating), canal boating, training and volunteer initiatives. We strive to tackle disadvantage, challenge exclusion and support the more vulnerable members of our community through all that we do.

We provide affordable activities for local young people, adults, elders and SEND (special needs and disability) groups of all ages. We also work with specialist and mainstream schools, Pupil Referral Units, local youth / voluntary groups and support agencies to broaden the health, wellbeing and enrichment opportunities available to our local community and beyond.

• Paddlesport
  As the only British Canoeing-affiliated club in Camden, we provide unique opportunities for local people to go paddling, develop skills and gain accreditations in a safe, supportive and stimulating environment. Our paddlesport projects include Holiday Schemes for local kids, term-time after school and weekend 'Pirate Club' youth sessions, ‘Upperdeckers’ sessions for over 50s, 'Rainbow Paddlers' (run by and for the LGBTQ+ community) and activities for adults and families. We also provide low-cost services for visiting schools, youth and community groups - along with private / corporate hire.

• Canal Boating
  All of our boat trips are voyages of opportunity, discovery and learning. A founding member and affiliated training provider for the National Community Boats Association, we offer accredited boat management and crew courses for service users, volunteers and the wider community. Our 'Camden Community Cruises' initiative enables passengers of all abilities to get involved with the practicalities of boating. ‘Black Pearl’, our traditional narrowboat, is perfect for cruises and boat handling training, whilst ‘Pirate Prince’, our purpose-built, fully accessible wide-beam opens up the canal to special needs and disability groups. Equipped with a state-of-the-art joystick control and hydraulic steering platform, we're proud that ‘Pirate Prince’ is the only canal boat in central London that can be operated by wheelchair users and people with severe mobility restrictions. The majority of our boat trips are run by our amazing team of volunteer skippers and crew, all of whom are trained in-house by our Boat Manager.
  
• Volunteering
  We rely on our incredible volunteer crew to help run our community canal boating and paddlesport projects and ensure that our service users are safe, supported and get the most out of their time with us. As a British Canoeing-affiliated club and National Community Boats Association training centre we offer a range of volunteering initiatives, formal accreditation and coaching / mentoring pathways for ages 14+, enabling people from all walks of life to get involved, learn new skills and help others enjoy the unique benefits of boating and being on the waterway. Our six Trustees also volunteer their time to oversee strategy, finance and governance to keep The Pirate Castle ship shape.
  
• Community Centre
  Built in 1977 to replace our original club-house barge, our iconic castle home also provides fully-accessible, affordable community spaces overlooking the canal. These are used by a diverse range of community and support groups, local residents and businesses for projects and events, therapy, training and activity sessions, celebration events, conferences, team building days – and more.