When the £26m Mersey Ferry Royal Daffodil enters service in 2026 one of the existing vessels – Royal Iris or Snowdrop – is for the chop. But which one will it be and why are we so sentimental about old ferries? Tony McDonough reports

 

It has been more than 800 years since the Benedictine monks at Birkenhead Priory started the famous Mersey Ferries linking Liverpool and Birkenhead.

In summer 2026 a new ferry, Royal Daffodil, will take to the Mersey after being built at a cost of £26m. It means that one of the existing ferries – Royal Iris or Snowdrop – will be retired. But which one will it be and what will happen to it?

Gerry and the Pacemakers immortalised them in their 1964 song, Ferry Cross the Mersey, which was a hit in the UK and US. It inspired pop superstar Gloria Estefan who heard the song as a little girl while sitting in a laundromat in Miami with her mother.

Over the centuries numerous vessels have operated the service. In the modern steam era alone, from the early 19th century, it is estimated as many as 100 vessels, named and unnamed, have carried passengers on the mile-long journey.

There were once six ferry terminals. As well as the existing terminals at the Pier Head in Liverpool, Woodside (currently closed for refurbishment) and Seacombe in Birkenhead, vessels also called at Rock Ferry, New Brighton and Eastham.

However, unthinkable as may seem today, by the 1970s the Mersey Ferries faced an uncertain future. The opening of the Kingsway road tunnel under the Mersey in 1971 as well as the Merseyrail loop line, had taken away much of the ferries’ commuter traffic.

Bosses at the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive (now Merseytravel) seriously considered scrapping the service. They argued that keeping them would be a sentimental decision that defied any economic rationale.

But the public loved them too much and the Mersey Ferries were saved. Today they are a major tourist attraction. A commuter service still operates in the morning and evening rush hours with hour-long pleasure cruises operated throughout the day.

In the summer there are day long cruises to Salford via the Manchester Ship Canal as well as a number of special evening voyages offering food, drink and live music.

It is a heavy workload for the current vessels – Royal Iris and Snowdrop – which are both more than 60 years’ old. In recent years there have been an increasing number of maintenance issues. On Monday and Tuesday last week ferry services were suspended.

This is why Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (CA) is spending £26m on a new vessel, Royal Daffodil, which will come into service in summer 2026.

It is currently under construction at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead. Lairds has previously built 15 ferries dating back to 1836.

 

 

It means that either Royal Iris or Snowdrop will be taken out of service. The CA is yet to reveal which one this will be although LBN understands a decision has been made. So why the delay in announcing?

That same public sentimentality that saved the ferries in the 1970s is why the scrapping of a vessel is seen as a sensitive subject. Within the CA it is acknowledged that just scrapping a vessel without some kind of plan to preserve it could go down badly with the public.

There has been ongoing anger at the plight of another former Mersey Ferry, also called Royal Iris, that currently sits derelict in a dock on the Thames in London following a short-lived second life as a floating nightclub.

And the last Wallasey ferry, Egremont, now also sits forgotten in a dock in Sharpness in Gloucestershire having initially been repurposed as a floating yacht club.

For seven years until 2019, another former ferry, Royal Daffodil, lay forgotten and unloved in Birkenhead’s East Float Dock. That is when Liverpool entrepreneurs Joshua Boyd  and Philip Olivier saw an opportunity to bring her back to life.

In December 2024 she was reborn as Daffodil, a floating bar and restaurant now moored permanently in Canning Dock next to Liverpool’s popular Royal Albert Dock. The attraction has proved a hit with locals and tourists alike.

That project took several years and cost £3.5m. And therein lies the headache for the CA. The public sentimentality that demands former ferries be cherished and preserved makes the decision of what to do with the retired vessel a potentially expensive and complex one.

But why are we so emotional about these old boats that are basically just buses on the water? No one gets sentimental when a bus gets taken out of service. And given the number of ferries that have operated the service we couldn’t possibly have preserved all of them.

Renowned Merseyside shipping expert and writer, Peter Elson, told LBN: “Before the tunnels were built in the 1930s the waterfront was the focus of the city. There is a wonderful picture of the ocean liner Lusitania at the old landing stage with the ferries in the foreground and it is absolutely packed.

“During Liverpool’s pomp, office workers used to circle the decks on the ferries to get their morning exercise, circling the deck almost like a conga.”

Referring to the old Royal Iris now rotting on the Thames, Peter added its size is the problem when it comes to preserving it. Known as the “chubby one” it could not fit in Canning Dock and no other suitable and accessible local berths could be found.

“It was designed to be a part-time cruise ship and a lot of people who are now in their 70s and 80s would attend dances on board and many of them would have met their partners. This is why you have this wave of nostalgia,” explained Peter.

He added that it was important to at least try to preserve at least one of the current two Mersey Ferries even when they are taken out of service, although he does acknowledge the cost and difficulty of doing so.

“The two that are left, three if you count Daffodil at Canning Dock, are 60 years’ old plus. In shipping terms that is very old. Most ships are designed for 30-year lifespan,” said Peter who is a former Liverpool Daily Post writer and runs the Shipping Lines website.

“They have kept re-engining them and replacing and upgrading equipment. But eventually they just run out of steam.

 

 

“I like to think of myself as a hopeful, rather than a hopeless, romantic. This is the end of the line for Snowdrop or Royal Iris. It is only due to public pressure and the realisation that the ferries are a big draw for tourists that the service is still going.

“These two boats are the last of their kind. Often the best things in Liverpool are down to visionary individuals. Look how many people queue up for a picture with the Beatles statue at the Pier Head. It’s just something so simple.

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“Likewise what Philip Oliver and his business partner have done with Daffodil is incredible. They have really stuck their neck out. Philip was insistent it was placed in Canning Dock and in peoples’ eyelines.

“He had worked out the footfall and he knows what he’s doing. It is thanks to people such as him that things such as this become a reality.

“Humber ferries have gone, as they have in other places, and this is something that makes Liverpool special. We have lost a lot of stuff – the Overhead Railway, New Brighton Pier – and for a city with enormous potential we don’t half squander it at times.

“Mersey Ferries are very special. The service has been going for almost 900 years – they are part of the scenery and part of what makes Merseyside and the waterfront so different.”