The River Fal will have a permanent floating café in 2017 as the FalRiver company seek tenders to build a new floating structure that will be moored in the southern end of King Harry Reach.

The FalRiver specification stated: “The Floating Café (FC) is to operate in Category C waters at the southern end of King Harry Reach on the River Fal in Cornwall and will be anchored to the bottom with no shore connections or access requiring to be entirely self contained with support vessel resupply. It is planned that the FC will be an iconic structure that will bring wide economic benefit to the area as well as the Fal River area more particularly.

The main structure of the café will be approximately 200 square metres with an additional ferry pontoon to allow a 22 metre long ferry to come alongside to land or embark passengers and be of sufficient freeboard to allow tenders to berth.

The floating café will seat 100 customers and have 20 staff. FalRiver want to operate the café for eight months of the year

The project is subject to public funding and final agreement for funding is not expected until next month.

The café will need to have services for fully commercial kitchen and conform to the highest environmental standards in terms of build and usage. It is to have a sewage treatment plant sufficient to deal with kitchen and toilet waste for up to 120 people and there is to be no harmful waste of any description entering the river.

  • Anchored between Pye’s Cellars and Flushing the Alba Floating Tea Rooms was a novelty craft before WW1 in Falmouth when local boatmen would take customers afloat from all of the quays along this stretch of harbour front. A newspaper advertisement from 1910 reads: “Alba Floating Tea Rooms. Proprieter: A. Whyte. Tea and Cakes 1s per head. Boat from Prince of Wales pier.