THE BOATHOUSE

Mereside, Soham, Cambridgeshire, CB7 5

Almost two hundred years ago at least, there stood in Soham, a riverside inn known as 'The Boathouse'. It stood along the spot where the boats came to deliver and takes goods to and from the town.
Although there a no persons living today who remember the pub, thankfully it has not been allowed to vanish for all time, for there are those who have heard tales handed down of the men who would moor their boats close by and make their way to 'The Boathouse' for a flagon of ale and to draw on an old clay pipe filled with their favourite mixture of tobacco.
In those days the air of the town was considered to be less salubrious than it is today, and there was much less farming in the area then than now. One can envisage the seamen taking a drink at 'The Boathouse' while their cargos were loaded or unloaded.
Because of its obvious age (it is not mentioned in any of the dictionaries referred to in other accounts of the old pubs) one knows very little about it other than it did exist many years ago.