The History of River Trips in Peterborough

The earliest record of public river trips in Peterborough dates back to 1939, just before the Second World War. A steam launch, called 'The Swan' was brought by rail from Oxford to Peterborough by local boat builder Vic Jackson. The train stopped in the middle of the 'Black Bridge' over the Stanground cut, closing the line, and the boat was lowered directly into the river.

Trips operated for a number of years, and at the same time Mr Jackson also operated a fleet of rowing boats at The Embankment - the area becoming arguably the centre of social activity in the city for many years after the war.

Passenger boat trips appear to have ceased, however, sometime after the Second World War - though the river did attract the interest of The Admiralty. In 1946, as part of The Admiralty's attempt at "promoting sea-mindedness" the Motor Torpedo Boat 777 visited Peterborough and acted as HQ for the Sea Cadets. Moored alongside the Customs House, this wooden boat had seen active service in 1945 on the Dutch and Belgian coasts. She remained in Peterborough until the early 1950s.

In 1978 the Ferry Meadows Country Park opened. The Park was developed around gravel pits that resulted from the excavation of millions of tons of sand and gravel. This 'ballast' was used in the construction of roads and houses and the infrastructure for the massive expansion of Peterborough in the 1970s and 1980s as part of the then Government's 'New and Expanding Towns Scheme'.

Two years later, in 1980, a Mr Wright from Kettering had the 'Nene Star' built and started operating boat trips from the park, around the lake and for short distances out onto the River Nene.

Meanwhile, in Stratford upon Avon, a boat (or more correctly, a 'Passenger Ship') called "Gigi" was being launched. She was built for two gentleman friends to operate river trips at Stratford upon Avon. However, within a couple of years the friends had fallen out and it is believed that by the early 1980s Gigi was lying idle.

A few years later, in 1985, a local Peterborough businessman Paul Hook, brought Gigi to Peterborough and renamed her the ‘Key Ferry”. In April of 1985, trading as the Nene Charter Company, he obtained a lease from the Peterborough City Council for some moorings on The Embankment. From here, he was able to pick up and set down passengers for river trips.

Mr Hook was a publican, the owner of the Brewery Tap and later, Charters Bar. He was a pioneer of the 24 hour licensing laws. The City Council at the time had a rule limiting Night Clubs and late night drinking. With his new boat, Mr Hook would set off at about 10 pm and cruise up and down through the city with customers on board drinking and playing music. If any body was standing at the jetty he would pick people up or drop them off and keep going as long as people were drinking.

Later on he started doing daytime public trips and meal trips to the Dog-in-a-Doublet public house at Whittlesey. Thorughout this period, both boats operated from their respective moorings.

By the early 1990’s Mr Hook had bought Charters Bar and put a manager on the Key Ferry. However, that didn't really work out and in 1995 Allan Renton took over the business, renamimg it.

At around the same time, up in Ferry Meadows Country Park, Mr Wright’s Son-In-Law took over, but there were a few problems with his operating procedures. By 1995 his contract had been ended and Allan Renton had been invited to put the Key Ferry in place of the Nene Star.

This he did and the Key Ferry started operating casual trips at Ferry Meadows as well as in the city; whilst still operating private charters from the city centre. Mr Renton carried on like this for only a short time before in 1996 selling the business to David Cogin.

He in turn continued with both Ferry Meadows and the city centre public trips until around 1998, eventually discontinuing the city centre casual trips in favour of Ferry Meadows.

In December 2004, the current owner, Robert Currell, took over. By mid 2005 he had realised that it was uneconomical to keep moving the boat between the city and Ferry Meadows and ceased operating in Ferry Meadows.

In 2006 Key Ferry Cruises was operating private and public charters from the city centre and there were no boat trips available in Ferry Meadows Country Park. Sometime around 1995 the original "Nene Star" had been moored up in Stanground cut and she never moved again - in 2006 still continuing to rot away on her moorings.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu