The tide goes out at the Ferry Boat Inn

by Gavin Aitchison

WHEN the last toast has been cheered and the last drinks drained; when the final friends have left and the doors have been locked behind them, then one of the most wonderful stories in North Yorkshire’s pub scene will have come to an end.

By this time tomorrow (27 September), The Ferry Boat Inn in Thorganby will be a private house again, a public house no more. Friends, neighbours, regulars and ale aficionados will crowd into the cosy bar room tonight for the mother of all send-offs, an emotional last hurrah for the family who have run this captivating place since March 1934.

William Brown Bolton, right, who held the licence from 1935 to 1948, sitting on a Samuel Smith's brewery barrel, with a friend.

 

Phil and Jackie Williamson have been here since 1997 but Jackie’s mum Olive Rogers has held the licence since 1948. Before that, Olive’s father William Brown Bolton was in charge, and before that his uncle John Rouse, who was also the ferry man on the River Derwent, which flows alongside the pub garden.

The pub seen from beside the River Derwent (above) and the same view in the mid 1900s (below).

 

The pub has changed a little. The brewhouse was knocked down in the 50s, a bar was added in the 60s to make service easier and the entrance has been altered. But the family has remained. Olive has a lifetime of memories and the old photographs here are from her and Jackie’s own collections.

 

An undated photograph of the pub, from the garden

 

“Where the bar is now is where we lived during the day as children,” says Olive, who grew up with eight siblings. “It was for customers just at night.

“When the war broke out, my mother held a party for all the men that were going away. Then she had another one when they all came back, because luckily we did not lose anyone in the village.

“There was a pump in the brewhouse in those days, that came from the river for making the beer, and I remember it being ten pence a pint at one time, but there were obviously different prices for different beers. We used to draw it from the wooden barrels, with the tap in the barrel.”

 

The bar was added in the 1960s. This 1966 picture shows Norman and Olive behind the bar, with Olive's sister Betsy and friends Denis and Nan Forester.

 

Above: Norman in the bar room in 1960. Below: Norman and Olive with friends Denis and Nan Forester in 1962.

 

Olive’s husband Norman was an engineer at York Carriageworks for 40 years and his colleagues also became regulars, along with villagers and boaters. Then when Jackie and Phil took over, the pub found a whole new fanbase, becoming the Campaign for Real Ale’s Yorkshire Pub of the Year in 2010, and the York branch’s pub of the year twice, renowned for its ales, idyllic garden and warm welcome.

Olive herself says the beer is better now than it has ever been and is looking forward to a fitting farewell tonight. “There are people we have not seen for a long time," she says. "We will miss the company and the people who came in.”

 

Olive in the bar room, above. Below, Olive in the same spot in 1960. The window was turned into a door during a refit.

Phil’s battle with Parkinson’s has forced the closure and the outpouring of goodwill from customers has spoken volumes. Last week, Yorkshire Camra presented a special recognition award to the family and members will be in tonight to join the party. Here’s to a fitting final voyage for The Ferry Boat, to happy memories all round, and to a wonderful family who have made this such a special place. Cheers!

 

Above and the following two pictures: The bar room, pictured on Thursday.

 

Above: The stained-glass window inside the pub and Olive's historic licence plate.

Inside the pub, including the dartboard

 

John Rouse, who ran the pub from 1934 to 1935 and who also ran the ferry over the Derwent. The pub has remained in his family ever since.