FERRY BOAT INN, THE

This grade II listed building came from nowhere to become one of the area’s top venues. Its beginnings were quite inconspicuous, In the early eighties ‘Fag Ash Lil’ would do her Sunday turn on the piano in the long boat room at the back of the pub, then a few clubs and one-off performances crept in, at first at the weekends and then week nights. By the early nineties the pub was a regular city venue putting on all varieties of music. It did swing over to the heavier side of music in its final years and although the décor turned to ‘All Black’ the old boat house/venue end of the pub still managed to retain a little charm.

Redevelopment of the riverside area meant that it wasn’t long before the neighbours started to complain about the noise. This became an on going obstacle for the venue as limiters and eggs boxes simply did not go far enough. The venue closed in July 2006 [Last gig: Dragline, 29/05/2006 unconfirmed] and in January 2010 was bought by the Borthwick family with the idea of turning it into a backpackers retreat. As yet the work has not started and it’s sad to see the building move further and further into decline with each passing year; of course today the musical history of the venue is buried beneath the fact that one of its landlords was serial killer Steve Wright, the Suffolk Strangler.

Update: In November 2013 the Borthwick family abandon plans for the Backpackers Hotel and put the Ferryboat Public House back up for sale. A campaign is immediatly started by Matthew ?? to bring back the pub as a music venue.

SCENES: ‘80s Blues, Pop / ‘90s Indie, Alt Rock / ‘00s Alt Rock