I’m sure many of you have had a quick pint in this place overlooking the sea. If you had back in the day, you’d probably have cosied up with a couple smugglers.

Now it’s incredibly difficult to date this. It may have been vertically extended having originally been at the same height as the building adjoining, or perhaps originally being a house in its own right. I would hazard a guess at saying it’s around 200 years old, but as the frontage is rendered it’s a bit of a mystery. Some sources state 1750s.

Local folklore suggests this was a sort of smugglers haven dating back to even the 17th century, with a hideout excavated in the back of the inn during sewer works in 1960. The implicit suggestion is due to the Dutch gin bottles next to the clay pipe bowls and tobacco. This gin was supposedly known as “Holland Water” or a “glass of Boomer” in acknowledgement to the village it came through.

I doubt it was a pub as long though. The first mention we gain of the Fishing Boat is in the 1850s when the publican Mr Bertram Stephenson was made secretary and treasurer to the Boulmer Swimming Society. He was also a coxswain for the National Lifeboat Institution, so clearly a man with saltwater in his veins. A neat relationship though, between the pub and the lifeboat station not too far south. To be a coxswain for the NLI in those days was no easy choice. Heroism, bravery & fortitude were part of the job role. He took the role alongside his brother.

Bertram also held shooting competitions here in the 1860s, reflecting the civic importance of the inn to the wider community. This is seen in ever greater magnitudes in 1876 when it held the inquest of a deceased sailor from a shipwreck on nearby rocks. William Minto’s body was held here after the wreck of the vessel Unition of Guernsey, travelling from London to Burntisland when it got struck by a storm. Sadly William, thanks to statements by his shipmates, was deemed to have accidentally drowned. Thereafter, inquests were held regularly for the deceased of the village alongside bodies washed up ashore.

Details are a bit vague of the pub through the 20th century. Additions were made to the pub in the 1930s (that extra floor we discussed?). It played an important role during WWII and after, when RAF serviceman stationed at the nearby airfield set up camp here for some rest and relaxation. Darts competitions are cited in contemporary newspapers too.