The Ramada Encore Hotel retells its experience accomodating the film crew of a major blockbuster
The day the film crew arrived was an exciting one; we could not wait to hear about the new topsecret film project that was due to start near Ipswich shortly. We soon found out it was in fact Fast and Furious 7 which was filmed at Bentwaters.
The conversation soon centred on the late Paul Walker and his co-star Vin Diesel and the big question… would they be staying with us? Despite our excitement the leading men were sadly not part of our final rooming list, they were not part of the filming here in the UK. It transpired that the 30 days of filming scheduled would only be for 2 minutes of the final film , no major scenes where shot in Suffolk so would not involve any of the A list stars, this time.
We did not realise at the time the group would be day sleepers, filming overnight and sleeping in the day, this meant their days were in reverse to our corporate guests. It was a unique experience to see the festivities of their day start at 6:00am in the morning, whilst our other guests tucked into a hearty breakfast for their busy day ahead, our film crew used the time to unwind with several beverages of the alcoholic kind. Sometime the gentle sound of an acoustic guitar would be played by one of the crew in the bar and they shared snippets of information without devolging details thatgave us an insight into the exciting yet crazy world of film.
The crew were with us for 30 days in total and become part of the family, it was sad to see them go and hope one day we will be able to welcome the back to the hotel once again for their next feature film..
Our centrally located hotel in Ipswich is a short walk from Ipswich train station , the town center and Waterfront Marina. Many popular filming locations are within easy reach of the hotel including Bentwaters Park, trenches and Christchurch Mansion.
It would be a pleasure to welcome any future film crews to the hotel.
Our features include:
Town center location
126 bedrooms
On site and off site parking
Mini Gym
Late night bar
24 hr room service