Salters Steamers

Salters Steamers has operated from Folly Bridge in Oxford since 1858, when brothers John and Stephen Salter took over boatbuilder Isaac King's yard on the site now partly occupied by the Head of the River pub. What began as a boatbuilding and racing-boat firm grew into one of the country's largest inland boat-letting businesses, and from 1888 ran steamer services along the Thames between Oxford and Kingston. The firm remains a family business today, running scenic passenger cruises alongside self-drive hire of punts, rowing boats and small motor launches from its pontoon beside the Head of the River. Self-hire punts and rowing boats take up to five people and cost from twenty-five pounds an hour on weekdays, with half-day and full-day rates also available; diesel day-boats for larger groups are hired by the hour. The self-hire season runs from Easter to October, weather permitting, with at least one member of any hiring party required to be over eighteen. Salters also builds and sells boats and hosts private events on the water.