THE LIFE AND TIMES OF TATTERSHALL CASTLE

● Launched on September 24 1934 by William Gray at Hartlepool, England

● Dimensions – 199.9ft (overall) by 33.1ft (hull)/57ft (paddlebox)

● 556 gross registered tons

● Built for LNER (later British Railways) Hull – New Holland ferry service

● One of three paddle steamers maintaining a year-round service for passengers, cars, cattle and cargo

● Withdrawn in 1972 as construction work on the Humber Suspension Bridge was about to start

● Moved to the Embankment, London, serving as an art gallery from 1975 to 1981

● Sold to the Chef & Brewer group and taken to the River Medway for major hull repairs at the Acorn Ship Repairers

● Returned to her berth at the Embankment and opened as a pub and night club in August 1982

● Main deck aft enclosed to provide additional covered accommodation

● Wheelhouse replaced with the new ‘Bridge Suite’ in 1988

● Refurbished in 1991 by the Crescent shipyard on the Medway

● Taken over by the Spirit Group, which then bought the retail business of Scottish & Newcastle Breweries in 2003

● Underwent a highly controversial refit over the winter of 2003-04 which substantially altered its appearance and involved the removal of her paddle wheels. At the beginning of October 2003, Tattershall Castle was towed to Tilbury and transferred to a barge for the final leg of her journey to Great Yarmouth for refurbishment. The paddle wheels were removed and the bridge totally rebuilt (again). Larger windows were cut in the forward lounge, affording a better view of the nearby London Eye Ferris wheel opposite its berth on London's Embankment to which it returned on May 19 2004. The refurbishment cost a total of £4.75 million.

● Since 2005 owned by TCG (Tattershall Castle Group), which own pubs across the country. The company brand is ‘the 1440’, backed by venture capital group Alchemy

● Temporarily closed for business in December 2014 and left its berth on January 19 2015 for a refurbishment at Hull, arriving on the Humber on January 22

● After refurbishment it returned to its berth on the Embankment for further service

● In September 2015 the Tattershall Castle Group sold most of its pub estate, including the ship, to the acquisitive rival pub operators, Stonegate Pub Company

● In April 2017 it was temporarily closed while it was moved 100 metres along the Embankment

● All information from www.paddlesteamers.info