I Scream moves to a new Ipswich location and is opening a deli soon

The new I Scream shop in Ipswich. Picture: Charlotte Smith-Jarvis (Image: Archant)

Have you walked past the I Scream premises on St Peter’s Street in Ipswich recently and cried inside a little because it’s shut?

Fear not frozen treat fans as the much-loved takeaway ice cream parlour (celebrating 20 years this year) has moved – and not far either. You’ll now find the independent shop in the alleyway nestled between The Thomas Wolsey pub and Myrtle and Mint florists, a mere seconds from the original premises.

I Scream’s new base is bigger and, says owner Rob Hardy, much better. Not only is the setting and building very pretty, but a courtyard has allowed seating to be installed for takeaway customers who can stop a while in the sunshine with an ice cream, milkshake, or soon a sandwich as the businessman is launching a deli inside the shop too.

If you’ve never been to I Scream before, you’ve been missing out on an Ipswich institution – famed especially for its monster-sized sundaes containing every single scoop (very popular with groups and on special occasions).

Which flavour will you choose? Picture: Charlotte Smith-Jarvis (Image: Archant)

It is said there are millions of ice cream, sweetie and sauce combinations to try inside. You could visit every single day of your life and always walk out with something different.

It’s amazing to think the eatery came about by chance.

“It was meant to be a management recruitment place originally,” Rob says of starting out, “but I found I had to put a shop on the ground floor. I had a business plan for a dessert restaurant, Just Desserts, but quite frankly I didn’t think it was going to make a lot of money and there was too much wastage involved. But I pared the model right down and thought could we just sell ice cream?

“Back then not a lot of people sold scooped ice cream. There were ice cream parlours, mostly Italian, but they were dying a death.

“And everyone who was selling ice cream was tied to a company like Walls. I thought I didn’t need to be tied to someone. I could take the best of everybody all in one place.”

At the new shop it’s business as usual for Rob, who agrees with the sentiment ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’.

The formula, if you don’t know it, is to choose how many scoops you want in your sundae from around 40 or so in the freezers. Then decide whether you want popcorn or mini marshmallows at the bottom. Which flavour sauce tickles your fancy? Do you want whipped cream and sprinkles or nuts on top? And, most important of all, what are you going to crown it with? Because there’s a sweetie counter spanning the window with a feast of candy to adorn your ice cream creation with.

Perhaps the only thing that’s changed, regarding ice cream, is that a one scoop ‘toddler pot’ has been introduced. Oh, and there’s a brand new flavour too – cherry.

“The most important thing for me,” Rob adds, “is we started as a takeaway and will always be a takeaway. Now we have this courtyard, as we go through summer I imagine we’ll open later in the evenings and you might find us doing events down here as well. We’ve already got a wedding booked in the summer. It’s happening in the pub and we’re doing all the desserts for that. It’s perfect down here for that kind of thing – you look at the courtyard and think you ought to be sitting in Chester or Stratford Upon Avon.”

Tastes have, says Rob, changed over the years when it comes to ice cream, and he likes to think the shop is att he forefront of bringing new and exciting flavours to customers. He was, for example, one of the first ice cream shops to sell bubblegum ice cream, having the flavour specially commissioned at a manufacturer in London.

And he likes to source flavours that you won’t find anywhere else locally, like woodruff.

“That’s made for us in Germany. The taste is somewhere between lemonade and raspberry. It’s from a plant called sweet woodruff. There’s a beer on the market using it now and in Germany they make shots out of it. People like that one because it’s different. Their brain’s expecting mint choc chip when they eat it!”

Don’t expect to find commercial flavours such as Oreo or Crème Egg at I Scream – Rob avoids them like the plague and says “they’re just not us”.

Look out very soon for the new deli section in the shop, where all sandwiches will be made in front of you to order alongside coffee, tea and soft drinks to take away.

And in more good news, the shop now takes card.

I Scream is open from 11am to around 5pm with opening hours extending into the summer.

I Scream’s top selling flavours

Bubblegum

Mint choc chip

Chocolate

Honeycomb

Limoncello and prosecco

Strawberry

Raspberry

Lemon

Rum and raisin

Coffee