Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a
port town
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...
and the administrative centre of
North East Lincolnshire,
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...
, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of
Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a
conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of
Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincol ...
, (via the
Humber Bridge) south-south-east of
Hull, south-east of
Scunthorpe
Scunthorpe () is an industrial town and unparished area in the unitary authority of North Lincolnshire in Lincolnshire, England of which it is the main administrative centre. Scunthorpe had an estimated total population of 82,334 in 2016. A ...
, east of
Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
and south-east of
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...
. Grimsby is also home to notable landmarks such as
Grimsby Minster,
Port of Grimsby
The Port of Grimsby is located on the south bank of the Humber Estuary at Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire. Sea trade out of Grimsby dates to at least the medieval period. The ''Grimsby Haven Company'' began dock development in the late 170 ...
, Cleethorpes Beach and Grimsby Fishing Heritage Museum. Grimsby was once the home port for the world's largest fishing fleet around the mid-20th century, but fishing then fell sharply. The
Cod Wars
The Cod Wars ( is, Þorskastríðin; also known as , ; german: Kabeljaukriege) were a series of 20th-century confrontations between the United Kingdom (with aid from West Germany) and Iceland about fishing rights in the North Atlantic. Each of ...
denied UK access to Icelandic fishing grounds and the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
used its
Common Fisheries Policy to parcel out fishing quotas to other European countries in waters within of the UK coast.
Grimsby suffered
post-industrial decline like most other post-industrial towns and cities. However, food production has been on the rise
in the town since the 1990s. The Grimsby–Cleethorpes
conurbation acts as a cultural and economic centre for much of north and east Lincolnshire. Grimsby people are called Grimbarians;
the term ' is also used jokingly, often for football supporters. Great Grimsby Day is 22 January.
[ Grimsby is also the second largest settlement by population in Lincolnshire after ]Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincol ...
, with Scunthorpe
Scunthorpe () is an industrial town and unparished area in the unitary authority of North Lincolnshire in Lincolnshire, England of which it is the main administrative centre. Scunthorpe had an estimated total population of 82,334 in 2016. A ...
being the third largest.
Geography
The town was named "Great Grimsby" to distinguish it from Little Grimsby
Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt
* ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film
* The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John ...
, a village about to the south, near Louth Louth may refer to:
Australia
*Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia
* Louth, New South Wales, a town
* Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia
**Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality
Canada
* Louth, Ontario
Ireland
* Cou ...
. It had a population of 88,243 in the 2011 census and an estimated population of 88,323 in 2019. It forms a conurbation with adjoining Cleethorpes and the villages of Humberston, Scartho, Brigsley and Waltham. The 2011 census gave the conurbation a population of 134,160, making it the second largest built-up area in Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...
.
History
There is archaeological evidence of a small town of Roman workers in the area in the 2nd century CE of Roman occupation. Located on the River Haven, which flowed into the Humber
The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between t ...
, the site long provided a location for ships to shelter from approaching storms. It was well placed to exploit the rich fishing grounds in the North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...
.
Vikings
Sometime in the 9th century CE, Grimsby was settled by Danes. Legend has it that the name Grimsby derives from ''Grim,'' a Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
fisherman. The suffix ''-by'' is derived from the Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...
word for village (compare with no, by, da, by and sv, by). The legendary founding of Grimsby features in a medieval romance, the ''Lay of Havelock the Dane
''Havelok the Dane'', also known as ''Havelok'' or ''Lay of Havelok the Dane'', is a thirteenth-century Middle English romance considered to be part of the Matter of England.''Boundaries in medieval romance'', Neil Cartlidge, DS Brewer, 2008, , 97 ...
,'' but historians see this account as a myth.
In Norse mythology, ''Grim'' (Mask) and ''Grimnir'' (Masked One) are names adopted by the deity Odin (Anglo-Saxon ''Woden
Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory ...
'') when travelling incognito amongst mortals, as in the short poem known as "Grimnir's Sayings" (''Grimnismal'') in the ''Poetic Edda
The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems, which is distinct from the ''Prose Edda'' written by Snorri Sturluson. Several versions exist, all primarily of text from the Icelandic med ...
''. The intended audience of the Havelock tale (recorded much later as the ''Lay of Havelock the Dane'') may have taken the fisherman Grim to be Odin in disguise.
The Odinic name "Grimr/Grim" occurs in many English place names in the historical Danelaw
The Danelaw (, also known as the Danelagh; ang, Dena lagu; da, Danelagen) was the part of England in which the laws of the Danes held sway and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons. The Danelaw contrasts with the West Saxon law and the Mercian ...
and elsewhere in Britain. Examples are numerous earthworks named ''Grimsdyke''. Other British place names with the element ''Grim'' are explained as referring to Woden
Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory ...
/ Odin (e.g. Grimsbury, Grimspound, Grime's Graves, Grimsditch, Grimsworne), and Grimsby is likely to have the same derivation.
Grimsby is listed in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...
of 1086 as having a population of around 200, a priest, a mill, and a ferry.
Medieval times
Grimsby grew in the 12th century into a fishing and trading port, at one time ranking twelfth in importance to the Crown for tax revenue. The town gained its charter from King John in 1201; the first mayor was installed in 1202.
Grimsby is noted in the in this stanza by Kali Kolsson:
Grimsby had no town walls. It was too small and felt to be protected by the marshland around it. However, the town dug a defensive ditch.
Grimsby in medieval times had two parish churches, St Mary's and St James. Only St James, now Grimsby Minster, remains. It is associated with a folk tale of an imp
IMP or imp may refer to:
* Imp, a fantasy creature
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Imp (She-Ra), a character in ''She-Ra: Princess of Power''
* Imp a character in '' Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony''
* Imp, a character in the '' Cl ...
who played tricks in the church and was turned into stone by an angel. (A similar tale is told of Lincoln Cathedral – See Lincoln Imp).
In the mid-14th century, the town benefited from the generosity of Edmund de Grimsby
Edmund de Grimsby, or de Grymesby (died 1354) was an English cleric, Crown official and judge. While his career in Ireland lasted only about a year, he is notable as having been the first Master of the Rolls in Ireland.
He derived his name from ...
, a local man who became a senior Crown official and judge in Ireland.
In the 15th century, The Haven began to silt up, preventing ships in the Humber from docking. As a result, Grimsby entered a long period of decline until the late 18th century. By 1801, the population of Grimsby numbered 1,524, around the size it had been in the Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
.
By 1810 Joseph Smedley was hiring a purpose built theatre for seven Guineas.
Rise of fishing and maritime industry
The Grimsby Haven Company
Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of Li ...
was formed by Act of Parliament in May 1796 (the Grimsby Haven Act) for the purpose of "widening, deepening, enlarging, altering and improving the Haven of the Town and Port of Great Grimsby". After the dredging of The Haven and related improvement in the early 19th century, the town grew rapidly as the port boomed, importing iron, timber, wheat, hemp, and flax. New docks were needed to cope with the expansion. The necessary works were allowed under the Grimsby Docks Act of 1845.
The arrival of the railway in 1848 eased the transport of goods to and from the port to markets and farms. Coal mined in the South Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
coalfields was brought by rail and exported through Grimsby. Rail links direct to London and the Billingsgate Fish Market
Billingsgate Fish Market is located in Canary Wharf in London. It is the United Kingdom's largest inland fish market. It takes its name from Billingsgate, a ward in the south-east corner of the City of London, where the riverside market was or ...
allowed fresh "Grimsby fish" to gain nationwide renown. The first true fish dock opened in Grimsby in 1856, and the town became central to the development of the commercial fishing industry.
The Dock Tower was completed in 1851, followed by the Royal Dock in 1852. No.1 Fish Dock
The Port of Grimsby is located on the south bank of the Humber Estuary at Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire. Sea trade out of Grimsby dates to at least the medieval period. The ''Grimsby Haven Company'' began dock development in the late 170 ...
was completed in 1856, followed by No.2 Fish Dock in 1877. Alexandra Dock and Union Dock were completed in 1879. During this period, the fishing fleet was much expanded. In a rare reversal of usual trends, large numbers of fishermen from the south-east and Devon travelled north to join the Grimsby fleet. Over 40 per cent of the newcomers came from Barking in East London and other Thames-side towns.
In 1857 there were 22 vessels in Grimsby. Six years later there were 112.[Leslie Herman, ''Grimsby Fish Docks Centenary,'' 1956] The first two legitimate steam trawlers built in Britain were based in Grimsby. By 1900, a tenth of the fish consumed in the United Kingdom was landed there, although there were also many smaller coastal fishing ports and villages involved.
The demand for fish in Grimsby meant that at its peak in the 1950s it claimed to be the largest fishing port in the world. The population grew from 75,000 in 1901 to 92,000 by 1931.
The Great Depression and restructured fishing caused a sharp decline in employment. After that the population was fairly stable for the rest of the 20th century.
Second World War
The Royal Dock became the UK's largest base for minesweeper
A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping.
History
The earliest known usage of ...
s patrolling the North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...
. The Admiralty requisitioned numerous trawlers to serve the purpose of the Royal Naval Patrol Service
The Royal Naval Patrol Service (RNPS) was a branch of the Royal Navy active during both the First and Second World Wars. The RNPS operated many small auxiliary vessels such as naval trawlers for anti-submarine and minesweeping operations to prot ...
. Often the crew was ex-trawlermen, alongside Royal Naval Reserve and Royal Navy volunteers. Trawlers used the winches and warps from fishing operations to tow a paravane with a cutting jaw through the water in what was known as a "sweep" to bring mines to the surface and allow for their removal.
This hazardous work lost the Patrol Service more vessels than any other Royal Navy branch in the Second World War; 2,385 men died.[Jimmy Brown, ''Harry Tate's Navy – One Man's Story of the Royal Naval Patrol Service,'' 1994] Grimsby's Royal Naval Patrol Service veterans financed a memorial beside the Dock Tower to ensure that the bravery and sacrifice of their comrades were not forgotten.
On 14 June 1943, an early-morning air raid by the Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
dropped several 1,000-kg bombs, 6,000 incendiary bombs and over 3,000 Butterfly Bomb
A Butterfly Bomb (or ''Sprengbombe Dickwandig 2 kg'' or SD 2) was a German anti-personnel submunition used by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War. It was so named because the thin cylindrical metal outer shell which hinged open when ...
s in the Grimsby area, killing 99 people. In total, Second World War bombing raids in Grimsby and Cleethorpes killed 196, while another 184 were seriously injured. The Butterfly Bomb
A Butterfly Bomb (or ''Sprengbombe Dickwandig 2 kg'' or SD 2) was a German anti-personnel submunition used by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War. It was so named because the thin cylindrical metal outer shell which hinged open when ...
s that littered the area hampered fire-fighting crews trying to reach locations damaged by incendiary bombs. The search for bodies continued for a month after the raid.
is a Sandown class minehunter
The ''Sandown'' class is a class of fifteen minehunters built primarily for the Royal Navy by Vosper Thornycroft. The ''Sandown'' class also serve with the Royal Saudi Navy and the Estonian Navy. The first vessel was commissioned into Royal Na ...
(commissioned in 1999) currently in service in the Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
.
Post-Second World War
After the pressures placed on the industry during the Cod Wars
The Cod Wars ( is, Þorskastríðin; also known as , ; german: Kabeljaukriege) were a series of 20th-century confrontations between the United Kingdom (with aid from West Germany) and Iceland about fishing rights in the North Atlantic. Each of ...
and the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
's Common Fisheries Policy, which redistributed fishing quotas to other EU nations, many Grimsby firms decided to cease trawling operations there. The sudden demise of the industry brought an end to a way of life and community that had lasted for generations. The loss of the fishing industry brought severe economic and social problems for the town. Huge numbers became redundant, highly skilled in jobs that no longer existed, and struggled to find work ashore. As with the Ross Group, some firms concentrated on expanding industries within the town, such as food processing.
Grimsby's trawling days are remembered through artefacts and permanent exhibits at the town's Fishing Heritage Centre. A preserved 1950s trawler, '' Ross Tiger,'' is located here. Few fishing vessels still operate from Grimsby's docks, but the town maintains a substantial fish market important in Europe.
Grimsby was struck by an F1/T3 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of a record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak that day. From the mid-1980s, the former Humber ferry PS ''Lincoln Castle'' has been moored in Alexandra Dock. She was used during this time as a pub\restaurant, but despite her design and status as Britain's last coal-fired paddle steamer, the catering no longer yielded a profit. The ship was broken up in 2010. Berthed in Alexandra Dock is the '' Ross Tiger'', the last survivor of what was once the world's largest fleet of sidewinder trawlers.
The town was described in ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'' in 2001 as one "subjected to... many crude developments over the past 30-odd years" and a town which "seemingly shuns the notion of heritage." Redevelopment was planned as part of Yorkshire Forward
Yorkshire Forward was the regional development agency (RDA) for the Yorkshire and the Humber region of the United Kingdom. It supported the development of business in the region by encouraging public and private investment in education, skills, ...
's Renaissance Towns Programme, but the scheme was abandoned in 2012.
In the early 21st century, the town faced the challenges of a post-industrial economy
A post-industrial economy is a period of growth within an industrialized economy or nation in which the relative importance of manufacturing reduces and that of services, information, and research grows.
Such economies are often marked by a declin ...
on top of the decline in its fishing industry. The East Marsh ward of the town is the second most deprived in the country, according to government statistics.
Governance
Since the December 2019 general election, Lia Nici
Lia Nici-Townend (born 1 August 1969) is a British Conservative Party politician. She has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Great Grimsby since the 2019 general election. She served as an Assistant Government Whip from September to October 2 ...
(Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
) has been the Member of Parliament for the Great Grimsby
Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of Linc ...
constituency, having won the seat from the former MP, Melanie Onn
Melanie Onn (born 19 June 1979) is a British former politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Great Grimsby from 2015 to 2019. A member of the Labour Party, she previously served as Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons from ...
(Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
), who had served since 2015. This lost the seat to the Labour Party for the first time in 74 years, not least under Austin Mitchell
Austin Vernon Mitchell (19 September 1934 – 18 August 2021) was a British academic, journalist and Labour Party politician who was the member of Parliament (MP) for Great Grimsby from a 1977 by-election to 2015. He was also the chair of t ...
(Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
), who held it from 1977 to 2015
Great Grimsby formed an ancient Borough in the North Riding of Lindsey
The North Riding of Lindsey was a division of the Lindsey part of Lincolnshire in England. It consisted of the north-eastern part of the county, and included the Bradley-Haverstoe, Ludborough, Walshcroft and Yarborough wapentake
A hundred ...
.[Vision of Britain ]
Great Grimsby
It was reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 and became a Municipal Borough in that year.[Vision of Britain ]
Grimsby MB/CB
historic map
In 1889 a County Council was created for Lindsey, but Great Grimsby was outside its area of control and formed an independent County Borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent te ...
in 1891.[ The Borough expanded to absorb the adjacent hamlet of Wellow (1889), also the neighbouring parishes of Clee-with-Weelsby (1889), ]Little Coates
Little Coates is an area of western Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire, England. It is in the Yarborough ward of the North East Lincolnshire Unitary Council.
History
Little Coates was already inhabited at the time of the Norman conquest. By 186 ...
(1928), Scartho (1928), Weelsby
Weelsby is located in the Weelsby Road area of eastern Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire, England. Previously separate from Grimsby, Weelsby Woods and Weelsby Hall lie within the area, as does the Grimsby Tennis Centre, Peaks Lane fire station, S ...
(1928) and Great Coates
Great Coates is a village and civil parish in North East Lincolnshire, England. It is to the north-west and adjoins the Grimsby urban area, and is served by Great Coates railway station.
The northern part of the parish extends to the Humber Es ...
(1968). It had its own police force until 1967 when it was merged into the Lincolnshire force.
In 1974, the County Borough was abolished[ and Great Grimsby was reconstituted with the same boundaries as ''Grimsby'' non-metropolitan district in the new county of ]Humberside
Humberside () was a Non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England from 1 April 1974 until 1 April 1996. It was composed of land from either side of the Humber Estuary, create ...
, under the Local Government Act 1972. The district was renamed ''Great Grimsby'' in 1979.
In the early 1990s, area local government came under review from the Local Government Commission for England; Humberside was abolished in 1996. The former Great Grimsby district merged with that of Cleethorpes to form the unitary authority of North East Lincolnshire. The town does not have its own town council, instead just a board of Charter Trustees In England and Wales, charter trustees are set up to maintain the continuity of a town charter or city charter after a district with the status of a borough or city has been abolished, until such time as a parish council is established. Duties are ...
. In 2007, in the struggle for identity, it was suggested that the district be renamed ''Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes'', but this did not meet with favour among local residents, and the Council Leader dropped the idea a year later.
Council wards
North East Lincolnshire Council has eight Council wards within the area of Grimsby:
*Freshney Ward
*Heneage Ward
*Scartho Ward
*South Ward
*East Marsh Ward
*Park Ward
*West Marsh Ward
*Yarborough Ward
Economy
The main sectors of the economy are ports and logistics, food processing, specifically frozen foods and fish processing, chemicals and process industries and digital media. Cleethorpes to the east has a tourist industry. To the west along the Humber bank to Immingham, there has been large-scale industrial activity since the 1950s, around chemicals and from the 1990s gas-powered electricity generation.
Food industry
Grimsby is strongly linked with the sea fishing industry that once generated wealth for the town. At its peak in the 1950s, it was the largest and busiest fishing port in the world. The Cod Wars
The Cod Wars ( is, Þorskastríðin; also known as , ; german: Kabeljaukriege) were a series of 20th-century confrontations between the United Kingdom (with aid from West Germany) and Iceland about fishing rights in the North Atlantic. Each of ...
with Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
, and the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
's Common Fisheries Policy sent this industry into decline for many years. In 1970 around 400 trawlers were based in the port, but by 2013 only five remained, while 15 vessels were being used to maintain offshore wind farms in the North Sea. The town still has the largest fish market in the UK, but most of what is sold is brought overland from other ports or from Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
by containerisation
Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers (also called shipping containers and ISO containers). Containerization is also referred as "Container Stuffing" or "Container Loading", which is the p ...
. Of the 18,000 tonnes of fresh fish sold in Grimsby fish market in 2012, almost 13,000 tonnes, mainly cod and haddock, came from Iceland.
Grimsby houses some 500 food-related companies, as one of the largest concentrations of such firms in Europe. The local council has promoted Grimsby as ''Europe's Food Town'' for nearly 20 years. In 1999, the BBC reported that more pizzas were produced than anywhere else in Europe, including Italy.
Grimsby is recognised as the main centre of the UK fish-processing industry; 70 per cent of the UK's fish-processing industry is located there. In recent years, this expertise has led to diversification into all forms of frozen and chilled foods. It is one of the largest centres of fish processing in Europe. More than 100 local companies are involved in fresh and frozen fish production, the largest being the Findus Group (see Lion Capital LLP
Lion Capital LLP is a British private equity firm specialising in investments in the consumer sector. Previous and current consumer brands owned by Lion have included Weetabix, Jimmy Choo, Wagamama, Kettle Foods and AllSaints.
The firm is headq ...
), comprising Young's Seafood
Young's Seafood Ltd. is a British producer and distributor of frozen, fresh, and chilled seafood, supplying approximately 40% of all the fish eaten in the United Kingdom every year. It is headquartered in Grimsby, England.
The company as it is to ...
and Findus
Findus () is a frozen food brand which was first sold in Sweden in 1945. Findus products include ready meals, peas and Crispy Pancakes, the latter of which were invented in the early 1970s.
The Swiss food company Nestlé owned the Findus brand ...
, with its corporate headquarters in the town. Young's is a major employer, with some 2,500 people based at its headquarters. From this base, Young's has a global sourcing operation supplying 60 species from 30 countries.
Traditional Grimsby smoked fish
Traditional Grimsby smoked fish are regionally processed fish food products from the British fishing town of Grimsby, England.
Grimsby has long been associated with the sea fishing industry, which once gave the town much of its wealth. At its peak ...
was awarded a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) in 2009 by the European Union. The traditional process uses overnight cold smoking from sawdust in tall chimneys, roughly square and 10m high.
Other major seafood companies include the Icelandic-owned ''Coldwater Seafood'', employing more than 700 across its sites in Grimsby; and ''Five Star Fish'', a supplier of fish products to the UK food market.
The £5.6 million Humber Seafood Institute, the first of its kind in the UK, opened in 2008. Backed by Yorkshire Forward, North East Lincolnshire Council and the European Regional Development Fund, it is managed by the local council. Tenants include the Seafish Industry Authority and Grimsby Institute and University Centre. Greater Grimsby is a European centre of excellence in producing chilled prepared meals, and the area has Europe's largest concentration of cold-storage facilities.
Docks
The Port of Grimsby
The Port of Grimsby is located on the south bank of the Humber Estuary at Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire. Sea trade out of Grimsby dates to at least the medieval period. The ''Grimsby Haven Company'' began dock development in the late 170 ...
has been in use since the medieval period. The first enclosed dock, later known as the Old Dock
The Old Dock, originally known as Thomas Steers' dock, was the world's first commercial wet dock.
The dock was built on the River Mersey in Liverpool, England, starting in 1710 and completed in 1716. A natural tidal pool off the River Mersey ...
, was built in the 1790s by the Grimsby Haven Company
Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of Li ...
. Major expansion came with the railways and construction of the Royal Dock, Grimsby
The Port of Grimsby is located on the south bank of the Humber Estuary at Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire. Sea trade out of Grimsby dates to at least the medieval period. The ''Grimsby Haven Company'' began dock development in the late 1700s ...
in the 1840s. A Fish Dock was added in 1857, and the fish docks expanded over the next 80 years. The Old Dock was expanded to form Alexandra Dock in the 1880s. The Kasbah is a historic area between the Royal Dock and Fish Dock marked by a network of streets that remains home to many artisan fish-processing businesses.
Fishing activities were reduced to a fraction of former levels in the second half of the 20th century. The current port has become a centre for car imports and exports, and since 1975 for general cargo. In the early 21st century, it has developed as a wind-farm maintenance base.
Retail
High-street shopping is grouped in central Grimsby between the railway and River Freshney, where Victoria Street acts as a central pedestrianised shopping street with an undercover Freshney Place
Freshney Place is a shopping centre in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire. Located in the centre of Grimsby it is visited annually by 400000 shoppers and employs over 2000 retail workers. The centre houses over 100 stores, with the anchor stores of ...
centre to the north. Freshney Place is visited by 14 million shoppers a year and employs over 2,000 staff. The centre houses over 100 stores, including Marks and Spencer and House of Fraser. Constructed between 1967 and 1971 in a joint venture between the old ''Grimsby Borough Council'' and developers Hammerson's UK Ltd., it was known as the ''Riverhead Centre'' (so named as the development was adjacent to where the two local rivers, the Freshney and the Haven, meet). Hammerson's UK Ltd began a £100 million redevelopment of the retail centre, doubling it in size. The expanded centre was covered in a glass roof. Two multi-storey car parks were constructed at each end of the centre; with this development, the old ''Top Town'' area of Grimsby was effectively privatised and roofed over. Stores are serviced at the first floor by ramps at the western end, which can accommodate even large vehicles. The ramp also provides access to the car park on the roof of the indoor market, which is operated by the local council. Freshney Place won a design commendation in the Refurbishment Category of the 1993 BCSC awards.
In the town centre Bethlehem and Osborne Street are also mixed in use, hosting retail, legal and service functions to the south of Victoria Street. Many local independent stores operate, several at the ''Abbeygate Centre'' off Bethlehem Street. Once the head office of local brewers ''Hewitt Brothers'', the building was renovated in the mid-1980s and now houses restaurants and designer clothing stores.
The town has two markets, one next to Freshney Place and the other in
Freeman Street
' (B1213). This was a dominant shopping area with close ties to the docks, but industry and demographic changes have led it to struggle since the late 1970s. Previously the town centre area was rivalled by the Freeman Street shopping area, located closer to the docks. Freeman Street retains its covered market. Grimsby town centre has re-emerged in prominence as the docks declined and shops such as Marks and Spencer relocated to central Grimsby.
Other developments near the town centre since the 1980s include the Alexandra Retail Park and Sainsbury's to the west of Alexandra Dock, an Asda store between the town centre and Freeman Street, and the Victoria Mills Retail Park off the Peaks Parkway A16, which has several chain stores, including Next
Next may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare
* ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage
* '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film
Lit ...
and close to a Tesco Extra
Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...
(the second in the area. B&Q opened a large store off the Peaks Parkway to the east of the town centre. Unlike many towns where shopping has been built on the outskirts, these and similar developments were placed around Grimsby's town centre. This keeps shopping in a compact area, easier on pedestrians and public transport users.
Some out-of-town development has taken place, with Morrisons building a store just outside the town in the parish of Laceby
Laceby is a village and civil parish in North East Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the A46 road, just outside the western boundary of Grimsby. Laceby's population at the 2001 Census was 2,886, increasing to 3,259 at the 2011 Census. Th ...
. It is known as Morrisons Cleethorpes. This name derives from a period when the area was part of the now defunct Cleethorpes Borough. Most major supermarkets have expanded in the early 21st century, including Asda, and Tesco at Hewitts Circus, which is technically in adjoining Cleethorpes.
Such is the quality of shopping in the area that bus services bring shoppers from across Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...
, especially smaller towns such as Louth Louth may refer to:
Australia
*Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia
* Louth, New South Wales, a town
* Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia
**Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality
Canada
* Louth, Ontario
Ireland
* Cou ...
, Brigg
Brigg ( /'brɪg/) is a market town in North Lincolnshire, England, with a population of 5,076 in the 2001 UK census, the population increased to 5,626 at the 2011 census. The town lies at the junction of the River Ancholme and east–west tra ...
, and Scunthorpe
Scunthorpe () is an industrial town and unparished area in the unitary authority of North Lincolnshire in Lincolnshire, England of which it is the main administrative centre. Scunthorpe had an estimated total population of 82,334 in 2016. A ...
.
Renewable energy
Grimsby is beginning to develop as an energy centre. It already generates more electricity from renewable solar, wind, biomass and landfill gas
Landfill gas is a mix of different gases created by the action of microorganisms within a landfill as they decompose organic waste, including for example, food waste and paper waste. Landfill gas is approximately forty to sixty percent methane ...
than anywhere else in England. The town gains 28 per cent of the electricity it uses from green sources. Its proximity to the biggest cluster of offshore wind farms
Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few h ...
in Europe has brought around 1,500 jobs to the area, most of them in turbine maintenance.
Education
The numerous primary schools in Grimsby and coupled with secondary school which include Havelock Academy
Havelock Academy is a secondary school and sixth form with Academy status, based in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire, England.
Admissions
It is situated north of the A46, near the junction with the A1031, on the opposite of the road from the ...
, Oasis Academy Wintringham
Oasis Academy Wintringham is a secondary school (academy) on Weelsby Avenue in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire, England. It is just off the A16 road (England), A16 Peaks Parkway just south-west of the A46 road, A46 crossroads next to the Lisle ...
and Ormiston Maritime Academy
Ormiston Maritime Academy (formerly known as Hereford Technology School) is a secondary school with academy status in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire, England.
The school has an intake of 1048 pupils, aged 11 to 16.
In the last Ofsted re ...
. Many Grimsby pupils attend secondary education in Cleethorpes, Healing, Humberston and Waltham, and further afield at Caistor Grammar. Independent schools
An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...
in Grimsby include St James' School and St Martin's Preparatory School.
Franklin College is a sixth form college
A sixth form college is an educational institution, where students aged 16 to 19 typically study for advanced school-level qualifications, such as A Levels, Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) and the International Baccalaureate Di ...
. The Grimsby Institute
Grimsby Institute of Further & Higher Education and University Centre Grimsby (often Grimsby Institute or GIFHE or Grimsby College or UCG) is a further education college, apprenticeship provider, and higher education university in Grimsby in N ...
offers further
Further or Furthur may refer to:
* ''Furthur'' (bus), the Merry Pranksters' psychedelic bus
* Further (band), a 1990s American indie rock band
* Furthur (band), a band formed in 2009 by Bob Weir and Phil Lesh
* ''Further'' (The Chemical Brothers a ...
and higher education
Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after comple ...
courses mostly for vocational purposes. Its business courses have attracted a sizeable number of Chinese students in recent years.
Transport
Grimsby lies from the nearest motorway, the M180, which continues as A180 into the town and acts as a link with the national motorway network. The town is skirted by the A18 A18 or A-18 is a three-character acronym that may refer to:
* A18 road (disambiguation), in several countries
* A-18 Shrike, a Curtiss Model 76A twin radial engine monoplane service test aircraft of the mid-1930s
* Aero A.18, a Czech fighter aircra ...
, with the A46 passing through to provide a connection towards Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincol ...
, while the A16 links it to Louth Louth may refer to:
Australia
*Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia
* Louth, New South Wales, a town
* Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia
**Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality
Canada
* Louth, Ontario
Ireland
* Cou ...
and south and eastern Lincolnshire. The transport infrastructure was described in a report by the European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
as strong and as a help to Grimsby's transition to a food-processing centre. It was once derided as being "on the road to nowhere" by the writer and critic A. A. Gill.
Buses
Grimsby's bus services are provided by Stagecoach in Lincolnshire
Stagecoach Lincolnshire is a bus company, formerly known as Lincolnshire RoadCar, which runs services throughout Lincolnshire.
Stagecoach in Lincolnshire is the trading name of the Lincolnshire Road Car Company Limited, which is a subsidiary of ...
, which took over from ''Grimsby-Cleethorpes Transport'' (CGT) in 1993. This had been formed in 1957 by a merger of separate Grimsby and Cleethorpes transport undertakings. Stagecoach had all the buses resprayed to their standard livery to replace the color scheme of orange and white introduced in 1987. GCT ran a mixture of crewed and one-person operated services, but in 1982 the job of the conductor was abolished.
In 2005, Stagecoach bought out ''Lincolnshire Road Car'', which served South Killingholme
South Killingholme is a village and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,108.
The parish was predominately agricultural and sparsely populated and the village small until the ...
, Louth Louth may refer to:
Australia
*Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia
* Louth, New South Wales, a town
* Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia
**Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality
Canada
* Louth, Ontario
Ireland
* Cou ...
, Barton-upon-Humber
Barton-upon-Humber () or Barton is a town and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England. The population at the 2011 census was 11,066. It is situated on the south bank of the Humber Estuary at the southern end of the Humber Bridge. It is ...
and the Willows Estate. The company is now known as Stagecoach in Lincolnshire
Stagecoach Lincolnshire is a bus company, formerly known as Lincolnshire RoadCar, which runs services throughout Lincolnshire.
Stagecoach in Lincolnshire is the trading name of the Lincolnshire Road Car Company Limited, which is a subsidiary of ...
. Joint ticketing began with '' Stagecoach Grimsby-Cleethorpes'' in May 2006. From September 2006, a new fleet of low-floor single-deckers was introduced, making the fleet an unprecedented 85 per cent low-floor.
The main bus exchange in Grimsby is Riverhead Exchange.
Railways
Grimsby has rail links via Grimsby Town railway station
Grimsby Town railway station serves the town of Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire, England. It is operated by TransPennine Express, and is also served by East Midlands Railway and Northern Trains services.
History
Grimsby Town station was ope ...
and Grimsby Docks railway station
Grimsby Docks railway station serves the Freeman Street area of Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire, England. This is one of the oldest parts of the town, close to the Freeman Street Market and the town's docks both commercial and fish, the rail ...
. There is a level crossing
A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term a ...
in the centre of the town across ''Wellowgate''. TransPennine Express
TransPennine Express (TPE), legally First TransPennine Express Limited, is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that operates the TransPennine Express franchise. It runs regional and inter-city rail services between the major ci ...
provides direct trains to Manchester Airport via Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
and Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...
, whilst East Midlands Railway operates services to Barton-upon-Humber
Barton-upon-Humber () or Barton is a town and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England. The population at the 2011 census was 11,066. It is situated on the south bank of the Humber Estuary at the southern end of the Humber Bridge. It is ...
, for buses to Hull, Northern has Saturday service to Sheffield via Brigg but it is temporarily suspended. The Leicester Via Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincol ...
& Nottingham
Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...
are served by East Midlands Railway. The service to Cleethorpes runs at least hourly during the day along a single track, passing stations at Grimsby Docks
The Port of Grimsby is located on the south bank of the Humber Estuary at Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire. Sea trade out of Grimsby dates to at least the medieval period. The ''Grimsby Haven Company'' began dock development in the late 170 ...
and New Clee
New Clee is a suburb and an ecclesiastical parish of Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire, England.
The ecclesiastical parish is ''New Clee St John & St Stephen'', based on the eponymous parish church, includes suburban streets, the station, part ...
.
Erstwhile trams
Grimsby had two tramway networks: the ''Grimsby District Light Railway
The Grimsby District Light Railway (GDLR) was one of three standard gauge railways, all part of the Great Central Railway, promoted by the latter to connect the wider world to Immingham Dock which it built in the early Twentieth Century on an almo ...
'' and the ''Grimsby & Immingham Electric Railway
The Grimsby & Immingham Electric Railway (G&IER) was an electric light railway, primarily for passenger traffic, linking Great Grimsby with the Port of Immingham in Lincolnshire, England. The line was built by the Great Central Railway (GCR), ...
''.
Grimsby Electric was a normal-gauge tramway opened in 1912 betwee
Corporation Bridge
at Grimsby and Immingham. There was no physical connection with the railway system. It provided passenger services between Grimsby and Immingham until it closed in 1961. It is claimed that once this was controlled by the corporation, it had more interest in supporting the motorbus service, now No. 45.
Grimsby Light Railway opened in 1881 using horse-drawn trams. In 1901, these were replaced with electric tramways. In 1925 the Grimsby Transport Company bought the tramway company and in 1927 moved the depot to the Victoria Street Depot, an old sea plane
A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteris ...
hangar. This system closed in 1937. The depot continues to be used by Stagecoach, although the old Grimsby Tramways livery is still visible on the front of the building.
Operating in the area until the 1950s was a network of electrically operated trolleybuses served by overhead power lines.
Airport
Humberside Airport
Humberside Airport is an international airport at Kirmington in the Borough of North Lincolnshire, England, from three large settlements: Grimsby (east), Hull (north) and Scunthorpe (west), on the A18, the latter two places reached by lon ...
is west of Grimsby and mainly caters for charter holidays. It is popular for general aviation, with five flying clubs based there.
Sport
Football
The local football team Grimsby Town F.C.
Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...
, nicknamed The Mariners, has played in League Two
The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...
, the fourth tier of English football, since its promotion from the Vanarama National League in the 2021/22 season. Its ground is Blundell Park in Cleethorpes. It is the oldest professional football team in Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...
and one of the oldest in the country, being formed in 1878 as Grimsby Pelham, with a home ground on land off Ainslie Street. During the 1930s Grimsby Town played in the English First Division, then the highest level of the domestic game in England. It also appeared in two FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
semi-finals in the 1930s: in 1936 (against Arsenal) and in 1939 (against Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...
). The latter semi-final was held at Old Trafford, Manchester, and the attendance (76,962) is still a record for the stadium.
Grimsby Town was relegated on 7 May 2010 to the Football Conference, losing its status as a League club. It returned to the Football League after gaining promotion via the National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...
play-off final in 2016, beating Forest Green Rovers
Forest Green Rovers Football Club are a professional football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team compete in , the third tier of the English football league system, and have played their home games at The New Lawn since ...
3–1 at Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...
. The team reached the FA Cup quarter-finals in 1987 and in 1998 won the Auto Windscreens Shield and the second division play-off final. Notable former managers include Bill Shankly, Lawrie McMenemy
Lawrence McMenemy MBE (born 26 July 1936) is an English retired football coach, best known for his spell as manager of Southampton. He is rated in the ''Guinness Book of Records'' as one of the twenty most successful managers in post-war Englis ...
and Alan Buckley
Alan Peter Buckley (born 20 April 1951) is an English former professional footballer and football manager who now works as a sports co-commentator for BBC Humberside.
As a player, he was a forward from 1967 to 1987 for Nottingham Forest, ...
.
Blundell Park's Main Stand is the oldest in English professional football. It opened in 1899, although only the present foundations date from that time. There have been plans to relocate the club to a new stadium, including one at the side of Peaks Parkway in Grimsby.
Grimsby Borough F.C.
Grimsby Borough Football Club is a football club based in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Bradley Football Development Centre.
History
A previous club named Grimsby Borough joined the Supreme ...
is a football club established in 2003 and based in Grimsby. It belongs to the Northern Counties East League Division One.
Other sports
An ice hockey club has been based in Grimsby since 1936. It has teams playing at various levels throughout the English Ice Hockey Association
The English Ice Hockey Association (EIHA) is the governing body of ice hockey in England and Wales. It was formed in 1982 and featured around 60 teams. EIHA is one of several bodies regulating ice hockey in the United Kingdom, along with Scott ...
structure, under the name of Grimsby Red Wings. In 2009 the club added an ice sled hockey
Sledge hockey, also known as Sled hockey in American English, and Para ice hockey in international competition, is an adaptation of ice hockey for players who have a physical disability. The sport was invented in the early 1960s at a rehabilita ...
team to ensure that it was able to offer a fully inclusive sport for the NE Lincolnshire area.
The amateur Rugby Union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...
side, the Grimsby RUFC, and an amateur cricket side, the Grimsby Town Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...
Club, attract reasonable levels of support. The Grimsby Scorpions American Football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
team operated until 2014 before relocating to Hull, where it merged with Hull's team as Humber Warhawks
The Humber Warhawks are a British American football team based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire who play in the BAFA NFC South 2. The club represent the counties of East Yorkshire and North East Lincolnshire by taking their name from the ...
. Despite playing in another county the club maintains representation of both East Yorkshire
The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to th ...
and North East Lincolnshire.
Tennis teams from local clubs have been successful in various inter-county competitions. The Men's Team from Grimsby Tennis Centre Grimsby Tennis Centre is a tennis club in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England. It was founded by members of the Welholme Methodist Church on grass courts in Welholme Road, Grimsby. In order to protect the membership from personal liability the club was f ...
won the Lincolnshire Doubles League in 2005. Tennis players from the town represent the county on a regular basis at all age levels. Grimsby Tennis Centre underwent a major redevelopment of facilities in 2005 and is now wholly accessible to the disabled.
The town had one of the largest table tennis leagues in the country, with over 120 teams competing in the 1970s, but like the game of squash
Squash may refer to:
Sports
* Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets
* Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling
* Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...
, the sport has declined in the town during recent years.
Culture and attractions
Entertainment
Before the late 1960s many public houses in the area were owned by the local brewer Hewitt Brothers and had a distinctive local touch, but it was taken over in 1969 by the brewer Bass-Charrington
The Bass Brewery () was founded in 1777 by William Bass in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The main brand was Bass Pale Ale, once the highest-selling beer in the UK. By 1877, Bass had become the largest brewery in the world, with ...
. The pubs have been re-badged many times, closed or sold off. '' The Barge Inn'' is a former grain barge converted into a pub/restaurant. It has been moored at the Riverhead quay since 1982.
Musical entertainment is provided at the Grimsby Auditorium
Grimsby Auditorium is a theatre situated on Cromwell Road, in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire. With a seated audience capacity of 1,200 the Grimsby Auditorium is the largest professional theatre in Lincolnshire, and one of the larger theatres ...
, built in 1995 in Cromwell Road, Yarborough, near Grimsby Leisure Centre. The smaller Caxton Theatre is in Cleethorpe Road (A180) in East Marsh, near the docks. The Caxton Theatre provides entertainment by adults and youths in theatre. Notable in the area is the Class Act Theatre Company run by the local playwright David Wrightam.
North East Lincolnshire Council has installed a Wi-Fi network covering Victoria Street in central Grimsby. The service gives access to the Internet to the general public on a yearly subscription.
Grimsby's Freeman Street cinema closed in 2004, leaving the Parkway cinema in Cleethorpes to serve the town. Periodic plans to build a new cinema in Grimsby have been made since. The Whitgift Film Theatre in John Whitgift Academy shows a programme of limited release and art-house films.
Places of interest and landmarks
*Corporation Bridge
The Corporation Bridge is a Scherzer rolling lift bascule bridge over the Old Dock ( Alexandra Dock) in Grimsby
Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. G ...
*Fisherman's Memorial
*Grimsby Docks
The Port of Grimsby is located on the south bank of the Humber Estuary at Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire. Sea trade out of Grimsby dates to at least the medieval period. The ''Grimsby Haven Company'' began dock development in the late 170 ...
* Grimsby Dock Tower
*Grimsby Ice Factory
The Grimsby Ice Factory is a former factory located in Grimsby, England, that was constructed from 1898–1901 to provide crushed ice to preserve fish stored in ships at Grimsby's seaport. The Grimsby Ice Factory engaged in operations up to 199 ...
– built in 1898–1901 to provide crushed ice to preserve fish stored in ships at Grimsby's seaport
*Grimsby Institute
Grimsby Institute of Further & Higher Education and University Centre Grimsby (often Grimsby Institute or GIFHE or Grimsby College or UCG) is a further education college, apprenticeship provider, and higher education university in Grimsby in N ...
* Grimsby Marina
* Grimsby Minster
* Grimsby Town Hall
*Humber Forts
The Humber Forts are two large fortifications in the mouth of the Humber Estuary in northern England: Bull Sand Fort () and Haile Sand Fort ().
History
The two forts were planned in 1914, at the start of the First World War, to protect the s ...
*National Fishing Heritage Centre
The Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre is a heritage attraction at Alexandra Dock, Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England, opened in 1991. The attraction is an Arts Council England Accredited Museum and holds a number of awards, including the TripAdvis ...
*Waltham Windmill
Waltham Windmill is a six-sailed windmill located in the village of Waltham, five miles from Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire, England. It is renowned in the area for having all six sails still in full working capacity, being one of the very ...
*Weelsby Woods
Weelsby Woods is a large public park in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire. With mature trees, woodland, and large grassy areas which are used for recreation.
Donated in 1950 to the Borough of Grimsby by the Fred Parks Esq. the land was once th ...
Grimsby is the site of a Blue Cross Animal Hospital, one of only four in the country, the other three being in London. Previously in Cleethorpe Road, the Grimsby hospital moved in 2005 to a new building, Coco Markus House, in Nelson Street.
Media
The ''Grimsby Telegraph
The ''Grimsby Telegraph'' is a daily British regional newspaper for the town of Grimsby and the surrounding area that makes up North East Lincolnshire including the rural towns of Market Rasen and Louth. The main area for the paper's distributi ...
'', had an audited circulation of 14,344 copies in 2017. It is based in Heritage House near the Fishing Heritage Centre. The local radio stations are BBC Radio Humberside
BBC Radio Humberside is the BBC's local radio station serving East Yorkshire and North & North East Lincolnshire.
It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Queen's Gardens in Hull.
According to RAJAR, the statio ...
, Lincs FM
Lincs FM is an Independent Local Radio radio station serving Lincolnshire and Newark in Nottinghamshire. The station is owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio Network.
As of September 2022, the station has a weekly audience o ...
, Viking FM
Viking FM is an Independent Local Radio station based in Sheffield, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to the East Riding of Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire.
As of September 2022, the s ...
and the exclusively North East Lincolnshire-based Compass FM, which ceased to be local in 2020, to be rebranded as Greatest Hits Radio Grimsby.The transmitter for Greatest Hits Radio Grimsby and EMAP Humberside (Lincs FM DAB) is on top of
block of flats
in East Marsh. Terrestrial television coverage based in the area comes from BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire
BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, sometimes abbreviated to BBC Yorks & Lincs, is the name for the BBC's twelfth English Region, based in Kingston upon Hull and created from the division of the former BBC North region, based in Leeds (now known a ...
and ITV Yorkshire
ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network. Until 1974, this was prima ...
, which has a news broadcast based in Immingham. That's TV Humberside (formerly Estuary TV
Estuary TV was a local television station based in the United Kingdom.
Coverage
Estuary TV was the UK's longest running local television station at the time of its closure. It reached approximately 140,000 homes in North and North East Linco ...
and Channel 7 Television) broadcast on Freeview Freeview may refer to:
* Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia
* Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand
*Freeview (UK), ...
channel 8 and on Virgin Media
Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 joint ventu ...
channel 159.
Popular culture
* Bernie Taupin, who lived in Humberston and Tealby
Tealby is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds and north-east of Market Rasen. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 593.
Commun ...
(near Market Rasen
Market Rasen ( ) is a town and civil parish within the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The River Rase runs through it east to west, approximately north-east from Lincoln, east from Gainsborough, 14 miles (23 km) west of Lo ...
) when in his teens, wrote the lyrics to Elton John's 1974 song, "Grimsby
Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of L ...
", which is included in John's album '' Caribou''.
*The town has featured as a film location: Scartho Hospital (now Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital
Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital (previously Scartho Road Hospital) is a public hospital in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England. It is managed by the Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
History
The hospital has its orig ...
), and the Scartho Cemetery entrance, were used in the 1985 film ''Clockwise
Two-dimensional rotation can occur in two possible directions. Clockwise motion (abbreviated CW) proceeds in the same direction as a clock's hands: from the top to the right, then down and then to the left, and back up to the top. The opposite ...
''. The 2006 film, ''This Is England
''This Is England'' is a 2006 British drama film written and directed by Shane Meadows. The story centres on young skinheads in England in 1983. The film illustrates how their subculture, which has its roots in 1960s West Indies culture, espec ...
'' was partly set and filmed in Grimsby and other East Midland locations such as Nottingham.
* ''Grimsby'' is an action-comedy film starring Sacha Baron Cohen
Sacha Noam Baron Cohen (born 13 October 1971) is an English actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his creation and portrayal of the fictional satirical characters Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Brüno Gehard, and Admiral ...
and Mark Strong
Mark Strong (born Marco Giuseppe Salussolia; 5 August 1963), is a British actor, best known for his film roles such as Prince Septimus in ''Stardust'' (2007), Archibald in '' RocknRolla'' (2008), Lord Henry Blackwood in ''Sherlock Holmes'' (20 ...
, released by Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
in February 2016. No scenes for it were actually shot in the town; they were filmed instead in Tilbury
Tilbury is a port town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. The present town was established as separate settlement in the late 19th century, on land that was mainly part of Chadwell St Mary. It contains a 16th century fort and an ancie ...
, Essex.
*The town was the setting for a second series of the Channel 4 documentary '' Skint'' in 2014, following families and individuals undergoing the "devastating effects of long-term unemployment".
*The CiTV
CITV (short for Children's ITV, also known as the CITV Channel) is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive and acquisitions, every day from 6 am to 9 pm which ...
animated series ''The Rubbish World of Dave Spud
''The Rubbish World of Dave Spud'' (shortened to ''Dave Spud'') is a British children's animated series featuring the surreal adventures of the eponymous Dave Spud of Grimsby, his friends and tower block-dwelling family. It was created and di ...
'' takes place in a fictionalised version of Grimsby. The tower block the Spud family live in was modelled after the former high-rise flats on East Marsh.
Flooding
The Environment Agency has awarded Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...
-based telemetry company CSE Seprol a contract to supply flood-warning devices for risk areas in East Anglia. The 18 sirens, at various locations round the flood-risk area of Grimsby and Cleethorpes, should reach 25,500 households to warn of flood danger. They will be sounded only in the event of the Environment Agency issuing a severe flood warning for tidal flooding, or if it is likely the sea defences will be breached. The sirens make various sounds, from the traditional wail to a voice message.
Notable people
Listed in alphabetical order (Grimbarians were mainly born at the former Grimsby Maternity Hospital in Nunsthorpe, Grimsby. Many were born at the defunct Croft Baker Maternity Hospital in nearby Cleethorpes. Those born and/or brought up nearby include:
* Herbert Ayre (1882–1966), footballer
* Richard Bennett (born 1954), a cricketer who played for New Zealand
*Shirley Bloomer
Shirley Brasher (née Bloomer; born 13 June 1934) is a former tennis player from England who won three Grand Slam titles during her career and who was the top-ranked singles player in her country in 1957.
Early life
She attended Cleethorpes Gir ...
(born 1934), winner of the French Open Singles and Doubles titles in 1957 and the French Open Mixed title in 1958
*Jack Braughton
Jack Braughton (22 February 1921 – 30 October 2016) was a British long-distance runner who competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics. He was born in Grimsby.
Biography
Braughton was born in February 1921 in Grimsby and attended Grimsby Techni ...
(1921–2016), a long-distance runner who represented Britain in the Olympics
*Dennis Brown
Dennis Emmanuel Brown CD (1 February 1957 – 1 July 1999) was a Jamaican reggae singer. During his prolific career, which began in the late 1960s when he was aged eleven, he recorded more than 75 albums and was one of the major stars of lo ...
(born 1951), Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and President of the American Physiological Society
* Richard Buck (born 1986), a sprinter in the 400 meters
The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is o ...
event, represented Britain in the World and European Championships.
* Maxine Carr (born 1977), teaching assistant and partner of Ian Huntley
The Soham murders were a double child murder committed in Soham, Cambridgeshire, England on 4 August 2002. The victims were two 10-year-old girls, Holly Marie Wells and Jessica Aimee Chapman, who were lured into the home of a local resident an ...
, convicted of perverting the course of justice in the Soham murders
The Soham murders were a double child murder committed in Soham, Cambridgeshire, England on 4 August 2002. The victims were two 10-year-old girls, Holly Marie Wells and Jessica Aimee Chapman, who were lured into the home of a local resident an ...
case
*Stuart Carrington
Stuart Carrington (born 14 May 1990) is an English professional snooker player. He practises frequently with Steven Hallworth and Ian Glover in Grimsby.
In May 2011, Carrington qualified for the 2011–12 professional Main Tour as one of four ...
(born 1990), snooker player
*Joanne Clifton
Joanne Kirsty Clifton (born 24 October 1983) is an English professional dancer, presenter, actress, and singer. She won the World Ballroom Showdance Championship in 2014, and won the European Professional Ballroom Championship and World Dancespor ...
(born 1983), professional dancer on the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
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