London SE1 > News & Features > May 2000

A ferry big disappointment

Tate Modern may be opening with a fanfare this month, but the river service introduced last year will not be serving Bankside.

As we reported in our February issue, the Central London Fast Ferry - launched with a blaze of publicity in June 1999 - was withdrawn in December and replaced by a peak hours commuter service bypassing Bankside Pier. At the time Peter Lay of White Horse Fast Ferries told in SE1 that he intended to reintroduce the full service at Easter once full infrastructure was in place.

In late April, with notices at Bankside Pier still advertising Christmas and New Year services, in SE1 contacted White Horse. Mr Lay says that the company, which operates a service between Greenwich and the Dome, has "taken the decision that we are unable to start a full service [in Central London] until we have completed our commiment to the Millennium Experience."

This leaves Bankside without a river service during the first summer of Tate Modern, despite the Tate's website recommending the service to prospective visitors. The London River Services website, run by London Transport, also specifically mentions Bankside on its front page. But it is unlikely that the next scheduled service will call at the pier until 2001.

www.whitehorse.co.uk/ferries