Fiddler’s Ferry Power Station, Warrington

Fiddler’s Ferry Power Station was a large coal-fired electricity generating station located on the south bank of the River Mersey near Warrington, Cheshire. It was named after a historic ferry crossing and the nearby Ferry Inn that once served the area. The station was proposed in 1962 during a period of rapid expansion of the UK’s electricity supply, and construction began in 1964.

Generation started in 1971, with the station becoming fully operational by 1973. At its peak, Fiddler’s Ferry had an installed capacity of just under 2,000 megawatts, making it one of the most powerful stations in the North West of England and capable of supplying electricity to around two million homes. The plant consisted of four 500 MW units, eight large cooling towers, and a prominent 200-metre chimney. Cooling water was drawn from the River Mersey, while coal was originally supplied from Yorkshire coalfields and later imported by sea and rail.

The station was initially operated by the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) and later passed through several owners following the privatisation of the UK electricity industry in 1990, including Powergen and Edison Mission Energy, before being acquired by SSE in 2004. Environmental upgrades were made over time, including the installation of flue-gas desulphurisation equipment between 2006 and 2008 to reduce sulphur emissions.

Despite these improvements, changing energy markets, rising operating costs, and UK government policy to phase out coal-fired power led to its closure. Fiddler’s Ferry ceased generating electricity on 31 March 2020, ending nearly 50 years of operation. The site was sold in 2022 for redevelopment, and demolition of the iconic cooling towers began in 2023.