City Boats was 'born' on May 26th 2000. Mervyn and Beryl High purchased 'Southern River Steamers' from Cedric Lovewell who ran the latter for 25 years. There were 2 river buses in the purchase - 'City of Norwich' and 'Vanguard'. Both vessels are of wooden construction and were built in 1937 and 1950 respectfully, 'Princess Elizabeth’ was added to the fleet in 2003.
Vanguard seats 92 passengers, City of Norwich seats 84 passengers and Princess Elizabeth seats 74 passengers. The latter is also of wooden construction.
Mervyn doing the job he loved
Over the last 7 years all the vessels have undergone major refurbishment in various stages and are subject to 3 inspections on an annual basis by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. Princess Elizabeth is our designated 'conference' and party boat. Mervyn undertook all the business marketing and was heavily involved with various groups to promote tourism in Norwich until he became terminally ill and passed away on the 19th March 2007.
Beryl has developed all of the administration for City Boats and has formulated all the 'systems' for the day to day operation of all 3 vessels both for the daily scheduled cruises and private charter bookings. During the last 7 years Beryl has introduced on-board catering and has formulated menus for all occasions in conjunction with Norfolk Catering and City Boats is able to offer anything from a sandwich, a cream tea or a full fork buffet.
