Midway Boats Barbridge Marina in Cheshire, is on the banks of the Middlewich branch of the Shropshire Union canal at Barbridge Junction. The Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal runs between Middlewich, where it joins the Trent and Mersey Canal, and Barbridge Junction, where it joins the main line of the Shropshire Union Canal.
The Barbridge Marina has been owned and operated by Midway Boats Ltd since 1992 but it has been a wharf/boatyard since 1833. A a transhipment warehouse stood (now demolished) by the Wardle Bridge at the junction of the Shrophire Union Canal and the Middlewich Branch known as 'Barbridge Junction'.
In the 1960's, the wharf was a boat hire base for Dean's Pleasure Boats of Christleton, Chester (1961-63) and the Dean family afterwards went on to found Venetian Marina further down the canal.
The site was then taken over by Ladyline Cruisers Ltd (1963-85), again as a hire base but also to act as a sales outlet for Dawncraft and Norman Cruisers.
From 1985 to 1992, Barbridge Marina was privately operated by Steve & Jane Denton. They rented out the workshop to Mick Sivewright who built his OWL Class narrowboats from here 1985 to 1996.
Steve Batty took over the ownership and operation of the complete site in 1992 and created the brand of Midway Boats. Mick continued to work from the workshop for a further four years with Steve. In those days there was a demand for small, affordable narrowboats with the likes of Springers being very popular at the time. Knowing they could build a better small boat, Steve, together with Mick Sivewright building the steelwork, created the new Midway range of narrowboats; the Midway 295, the Midway 235 and the Midway 265. The 235 & 265 were based on the OWL Class narrowboats that Mick was already building.
The very first Midway, a 295 (29.5ft) was built in 1992.
Up until 1999 the range consisted of the 235, 265 and 295. The Midway 235 and a Sivewright Owl are very similar craft and often get mistaken, the giveaway being the Midway had a slightly ‘pointier’ bow and tubular hand rails, the hand rails on the Owl being integrated. Early 235’s were offered with the option of either a 9.9hp or 15hp petrol Honda outboard. Shortly after the first builds and following demand, the option for a diesel inboard was introduced with the choice of either Vetus or Beta Marine.
Steelwork for later 265’s was constructed by Piper with the 295 being built by Mancunian Narrowboats. All Midway boats were fitted out at Barbridge Marina, Nantwich.
In 1999 a Midway 310 (31ft) cruiser was introduced and up until 2004 this was followed by the 355 and 390 cruiser style and the 410, 480 and 550 semi trads. Steelwork for all of these being built by Cauldon. From 2005 onwards, Price Fallows handled the steelwork and from 2012 Tyler Wilson until production stopped in 2016, ending a run of approximately 120 boats. The final craft using Tyler Wilson hulls were mostly all 58ft, high spec liveaboards.
In 2019, Bourne Boat Builders purchased Midway Boats Limited from Steve Batty and took over the operation of Barbridge Marina. Their plan is to now re-launch the Midway brand with the Midway 470 and Midway 580 with the first of these appearring in the Summer / Autumn 2020.