Ipswich: Former Fire & Ice nightclub looks set to become flats
The former Fire and Ice nightclub in Tacket Street, Ipswich - Credit: Contributed
The last dance looks to have been danced at one of Ipswich’s most famous nightspots.
A planning application has been made to Ipswich Borough Council to convert the former Fire & Ice nightclub into new homes.
As Fire & Ice it was a popular nightclub from 2003 until it closed in July 2010, and since then it has been standing empty awaiting new investment.
At the time of its closure it was hoped that new owners would invest in modernising the club and then reopen it, but that never happened.
Previously, as the First Floor Nightclub, it was a mainstay of the late-night entertainment scene for decades run by local businessman Ken Bean.
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The First Floor saw off many competitors over the years, newer clubs that opened had their own period of popularity and then waned.
There were visiting celebrity acts and bands too from the Singing Postman to Diana Dors.
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The building looks unlikely to become a club again as the focus of the late-night entertainment in town has now moved elsewhere, including the developing Waterfront area.
A planning application by Nick Le-Grys has been made to Ipswich Borough Council to convert the building at 28-32 Tacket Street into 19 flats with three commercial units remaining on the ground floor.
It comes at a time when the government is encouraging planning authorities to look sympathetically at applications to turn shops and offices into badly-needed new homes.
Suzanne Cassidy, director of the Suffolk Bridal Company based nearby in Orwell Place, said it would be good to see the building tidied up and brought back into use again.
It would be good for the other businesses that had invested in the Tacket Street area, she said.
“It is a beautiful old building and I would be really pleased to see it come back into use.
“I am sure everybody in the area around here would be too.
“It would be good for all the existing businesses. It would be nice to see it occupied again.”
