Soul Boat Sails From Festival Pier on Saturday for the End of Summer Cruise

The London Soul Train Cruise returns to the Thames this Saturday, 19 September, with its End of Summer edition boarding at Festival Pier from 7:15pm.

Tickets are £33, up from £29.50 for the same cruise last year, and they went on sale at the end of August.

Four Hours on the Water, Boarding Sharp at Seven

The format has not changed in years and the organisers are blunt about the timing. Boarding is from 7pm sharp, the boat leaves at quarter past, and it does not wait.

From there it is four hours on the river, running until around 11:15pm, past the sights along the Thames with two floors of music and a deck for anyone wanting air.

The boat is the M.v Jewel of London, run as a floating nightclub for the night.

The Music Policy

Classic soul, jazz funk, disco, boogie and weekender party anthems. Mostly seventies and eighties, played straight through with no interruptions.

It is not a mixed-genre boat party. Anyone hoping for something contemporary is on the wrong deck.

Where Festival Pier Is

On the South Bank, SE1 8XZ, directly in front of the Southbank Centre.

Waterloo is the closest station at about eight minutes on foot, with Embankment over the Golden Jubilee footbridge in roughly the same time. Neither is complicated, but give yourself longer than you think given the hard boarding cut-off.

The Rules Worth Knowing Before You Book

• Over 18s only.
• No food on board. Bar snacks only, so eat beforehand.
• No table reservations. It runs first come, first served, which means arriving at 7:10pm and expecting a seat is optimistic.
• Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable. No exceptions published.
• The boat has stairs to the outside space, worth knowing if mobility is a consideration.

Large groups and birthday parties are welcomed, but need arranging with the organiser directly rather than just turning up in numbers.

Where to Buy

Tickets run through Eventbrite and through Soul Central Radio, who handle sales for the promoter. The organisers have said in past years that their own site carries the cheapest price, so it is worth checking both before paying.

These cruises have sold out in previous years, and the End of Summer edition tends to be the busiest of the season.

Not to Be Confused With the Peckham One

There is a separate night called The South London Soul Train at Peckham Levels, which has nothing to do with this and is run by different people entirely.

Their Halloween edition, with Dr Meaker playing live, is on Saturday 31 October from 10pm. Listings sites mix the two up constantly, so check the venue before buying.