IPSWICH'S Waterfront is in line to become a bustling night-time boom spot after it emerged around 20 restaurants, cafés and bars are in the pipeline.Over the past decade the historic docks have taken off as a place to live with hundreds of flats being built as well as several restaurants and bars, including the Bistro on the Quay and the Isaac Lord bar.

IPSWICH'S Waterfront is in line to become a bustling night-time boom spot after it emerged around 20 restaurants, cafés and bars are in the pipeline.

Over the past decade the historic docks have taken off as a place to live with hundreds of flats being built as well as several restaurants and bars, including the Bistro on the Quay and the Isaac Lord bar.

However it has yet to become a major destination for those looking to enjoy an evening out.

Today the Evening Star can reveal that the number of bars, restaurants and cafes in the Waterfront area is set to quadruple in the coming years.

This will include up to eight new restaurants, seven cafés and four bars.

The plush new dock destinations will include an upmarket Pitcher and Piano bar at Regatta Quay as well as two restaurants and four cafes at the Cranfield Mill development.

Meanwhile a £2million redevelopment of the Isaac Lord Quarter, set to feature a new bar and café, will be joined by a number of cafés at the nearby £25million Custom House Square development which has a construction start date of Autumn this year.

Other developments in the pipeline include a restaurant and cocktail bar on Wherry Quay, restaurants and a bar at the forthcoming St Peter's Port development of hotels, as well as new restaurants at Neptune Marina and the landmark “marquee restaurant” at Orwell Quay.

James Hehir, chief executive at Ipswich Borough Council, said that combined with Cranfield Mill's DanceEast building and the Witchbottle Theatre at Regatta Quay, the surge in leisure venues will put the Waterfront on the map.

“It is really positive, exactly what we want and are aiming for. We are delighted people are moving in and investing in the town. The more you have in an area, the more people you get visiting.”

Keith Davis, of Wharfside regeneration Ltd, the developers behind Cranfield Mill, said the aim is to create a lively

“We have got potentially five units along the Waterfront which will be either cafes or restaurants besides the DanceEast café.

“We are currently looking to make the two bigger units restaurants and do a tasteful refurbishment of the old mill buildings.

“I have personally taken a call from a bistro owner in Ipswich and we have agents dealing with bigger clients and any local restaurant of café owners who want to move in.”

Will Ipswich Waterfront take off as a leisure destination? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk

Bistro on the Quay

Il Punto

Salthouse Harbour Hotel

Coffee Link at Neptune Marina

Isaac Lord bar

The Last Anchor

Cranfield Mill - Two restaurants and four cafés (including one at Dance East)

Regatta Quay - Pitcher and Piano bar, Witchbottle Theatre for the Red Rose Chain Theatre

St Peter's Port - Three hotels, one with a Brewer's Fayre restaurant - expected to be the largest restaurant in Ipswich and another featuring a rooftop restaurant with panoramic views of the night sky and a modern bar

Custom House Square - As well as 214 new flats, the £25million development - due to get under way this Autumn - will feature an indoor craft market, workshops, retail units and a number of cafes

Isaac Lord - £2million redevelopment of the Isaac Lord Quarter to include a series of cafes, bars, function rooms, banqueting suites, apartments and even a micro-brewery and patisserie/deli

Wherry Quay - The former warehouse at 5 Wherry Quay, next to Isaac Lord, will be transformed from offices to a restaurant and bar complex after planning permission was granted last year. The restaurant will be on the ground floor with a staircase leading to a cocktail bar upstairs

Neptune Marina - Restaurant overlooking marina

Orwell Quay - Landmark “marquee” restaurant in front of development - agents are in discussions with a number of possible tenants including a mystery “celebrity chef”