Watch: When can Ipswich drinkers and diners expect to find a Wetherspoon pub on the Waterfront?

Within the last three years the company has gone from having three pubs in the town centre to just one – the Cricketers on Crown Street.

The Golden Lion beside Ipswich Town Hall closed in April 2016 and the following year the Robert Ransome at Tower Ramparts reverted to its former identity as a Yates Wine Bar.

However Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin, during his Brexit tour to the town, said he was keen to open another pub in Ipswich – but it was likely to be in the Waterfront area rather than in the traditional town centre.

There were rumours last year that the company could re-open the Golden Lion once the work on the Cornhill was complete.

The Golden Lion in Ipswich closed in 2016. Picture: NEIL PERRY (Image: Archant)

Mr Martin quashed those rumours: “I’ve just walked through the Cornhill. It looks fantastic. It is a real boost to the town centre.

“But we aren’t going to be going back into the Golden Lion. It just isn’t large enough for what we would want but we really would like to have another pub in Ipswich.

“We would be looking in the Waterfront area, I think. This town has a great deal of potential for us and I said this morning ‘how come we only have one pub here?’ We will be working on that.”

Although Wetherspoon pubs are known for their range of beer and other alcoholic drinks, they have become more focussed on food and all-day catering over recent years.

They serve breakfast and morning coffee – and are popular places for people to meet around the clock.

At the time of the Golden Lion closure a number of Wetherspoons closed across the country because of issues that the company had had with some of its landowners and agents.

But Mr Martin, who is a keen backer of Brexit, feels that this is a good time to expand – especially in places like Ipswich.

He said: “I think there is a strong future ahead for the economy – and places like Ipswich are looking up.”

And when Mr Martin visited on his Brexit tour, several of the visitors at the Cricketers were keen to ask him when the company would be opening more pubs in the town.