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The Pleasure Boat Inn Story

Early Days

The land and original building which is now the Pleasure Boat Inn was sold by the local landowner at the time to a private couple in the mid 1700's.The Inn and Staithe was then used by the local Wherries, transporting coal, peat and grain to the village. With the advent of the railways, the use of wherries diminished by the late 1800s, so the the inn was then used as an alehouse and hostelry, with accommodation above. Records show one of the Landlords, Mr. Beales (there are still Beales in Hickling village to this day), purchased a Wherry as a pleasure craft running from the staithe outside the pub, and it is possible that this is where the name The Pleasure Boat Inn came from.

The Pleasure Boat as a Film Set!

In 1954, the Pleasure Boat Inn was used as a film set for the British Film, "Conflict of Wings", starring John Gregson and Muriel Pavlov. It tells the story of rural Norfolk villagers who are spurred to action when it is announced that the nearby RAF station is taking over the Island of Children, a much-loved and untouched bird sanctuary, for air to ground rocket practice.

John Gregson and Maureen Pavlow in a still from the film which
she signed when visiting the pub a few years ago, shortly before her death.

Much of the film was shot around Hickling, both on the Broad and on dry land, and also at Ludham. Indeed, the star (Gregson) at one point leaves the Pleasure Boat bar and on stepping outside appears, amazingly, in a busy Ludham High Street! Such is the joy of editing.

Royal Connections

In 1959, Prince Phillip, perhaps then better known as the ‘Duke of Edinburgh’, famously stayed at the inn, when a guest of Lord Desborough at the annual winter ‘Coot Shoot’ because the usual accommodation at nearby Whiteslea Lodge was flooded. Accompanying him was a young Prince Charles, who was reprimanded by the landlady, Mrs Gwen Amis, for having a pillow fight in his bedroom!