Iconic Mersey Ferry for sale: original ship seen in Gerry and the Pacemakers film could be yours for £100k

1/5

The iconic ‘Ferry Cross the Mersey’ ship is on the market for £100,000 with potential to be converted into a hotel, office space, a sailing club, or even a super-size floating home if it finds the right owner to rescue it from demolition.

The Egremont operated as a commuter link between the Wirral and Liverpool from 1951 until she was taken out of service in 1975 and sold on.

Mersey Ferries enjoyed iconic cultural status in the Sixties, featuring in TV comedy series The Liver Birds as well as inspiring Gerry and the Pacemakers’ hit song, Ferry Cross the Mersey. The song soundtracked a film of the same name in which Egremont is the featured boat.

She is now the only Mersey Ferry of that era to remain, having been taken out of service, although her future is in danger.

According to Robert Martin, chair of the Egremont Trust, restoring the boat could cost as much as £2 million to £3 million — and any buyer should know where they are planning to keep her before they decide to part with any money.

“There are locations all around the UK where you could moor a ship of that sort because she’s a river ferry so doesn’t have a lot of depth, but port authorities are likely to turn it away because they don’t want to have a great rusting ship in their port,” he said.

“But there’s great potential for somebody who wanted an unusual project.”

Repairs were under way with the goal of turning it into a sailing club with boutique hotel attached, but Martin says it could be used for many things including rented work studios. “I’ve never thought of it as a private home because she’s so big but nothing’s impossible. We all know from watching television just what people can dream up.”

Martin says that finding a location shouldn’t act as a deterrent to someone with the money to restore the vessel, since getting it up to scratch would make port authorities more likely to allow her to moor and could even add value to a location, depending on the use.

The agent responsible for the sale through Boatshed Bristol, also called Robert Martin, said the ship could repay investment within a year if used as a super high-end hotel or floating restaurant experience, in a location such as Hong Kong or Abu Dhabi.

One thing the ship can’t be used for is travel because after being sold in the Seventies, Egremont’s engine and boiler room were converted to accommodation and the ship was used as a base for a sailing club in Devon able to sleep up to 93 people.

She is now in poor condition and is in Sharpness Shipyard in Bristol undergoing maintenance.

“It would be a tragedy for her to be cut up,” says Martin. “This ship is iconic for thousands of people and is just crying out for her potential to be realised.”