For a generation of Tyneside fun-seekers, the Tuxedo Princess floating nightclub moored on the River Tyne under the arch of the Tyne Bridge was one of the prime symbols of the region's 'party city' image.
The brainchild of businessman Michael Quadrini, the Princess, a converted former car ferry, had arrived on the Tyne in 1983. It first lowered its gang plank at Gateshead Quayside on December 19 that year, with hundreds of revellers on board, and with the staff dressed in sailors’ uniforms.
For the next two and a half decades, it was one of 'the' places to go - but by 2007, the tide was turning and owners Absolute Leisure decided time was up for the Tuxedo Princess, and it would soon set sail into the sunset.
