Rum jungle yacht ready for business at canary wharf

By Tom Derbyshire on February 21, 2008 10:47 AM |

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A YACHT that had a hand in London winning its bid to stage the Olympic Games is now setting up home at Canary Wharf.

After seven years of being based on the south coast, Rum Jungle has decided to head to London to catch the wave of enthusiasm on the Thames of late.

Company director and entrepreneur Hugh Agnew said: “This year has seen a complete turnaround for us because there’s been a real sense of London using the river more."

“The O2 buying into Thames Clippers is spurring the whole thing on. There’s been many attempts in the past to get this industry going but it needed someone with deep pockets to do it.”

The company is looking to work alongside the Clippers service rather than compete with it.Rum Jungle marketing manager Gemma Glanville says the boat is offering “something different and unique” to the Canary Wharf crowds.

With five ensuite bedrooms, ample space for dinners and partying at deck level and on the roof, and three full-time staff onboard, Rum Jungle aims to add more luxury to the corporate boating scene at Docklands.
It is available for meetings, parties or upmarket trips to The O2 venue.

Regular customers include the King of Spain and the boat also had a hand in winning the battle to host the Olympics in London in 2012.

When delegates from the International Olympic Committee visited London in 2005 they were taken on a trip from Canary Wharf to the Embankment on Rum Jungle.

A lightshow on landmarks such as Big Ben during the river trip is said to have appealed to the members of the committee and, who knows, it may have even swung it.

Now the 75 foot-long Rum Jungle, which is named after a town in northern Australia, is looking
forward to a prosperous period in Docklands.

“Canary Wharf is a great place to be and British Waterways could not have been more helpful,” said Mr Agnew. “There’s a good client base here and people seem to like coming down and having a look.”

For more information go to www.rumjungle.co.uk.

Story written by Rob Virtue
rob.virtue@wharf.co.uk