OUR TOWN

Grimsby is situated at the mouth of the River Humber. The town was founded, in the middle-ages, by a Danish fisherman called Grim.

At the end of the 18th century the population of Grimsby was a little over 900 – the population depleted by starvation. Then the “Grimsby Haven Company” opened the port to new ideas such as whaling, but shortly failed. The Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway Company brought rail to the town and the rest is history. The first dock was opened in 1800 and once the railways arrived the town was able to transport fish all over the country.

In the l950's it was the world's biggest and busiest fishing port. Since the Cod Wars with Iceland the industry has declined. It still has the UK's largest fish market although most of the fish comes from other ports to be sold.

The docklands have been redeveloped allowing the town's heritage to remain.
The town is the home of The National Fishing Heritage Centre, this is a fishing museum where visitors sign on as crew members. By means of interactive displays visitors can become ‘fishermen' with realistic smells, engine noises and heat and the movement of the trawler. It starts in the streets of Grimsby and follows the trawler's course to Arctic waters. Afterwards a tour of the 1950's trawler Ross Tiger can be made. This is an exciting experience with a good insight to life and work of a fishing trip that lasted up to three weeks at a time.

Grimsby holds an annual Jazz Festival in September.

Since the decline in fishing the town has turned to other industries such as the frozen food industry now one of the main sources of economy. It is in Grimsby that Birds Eye produced the first fish finger in 1955. They closed their fish finger factory in 2005 after 50 years in the town. Grimsby, though has not died. Towns do not die. They may change, decline, prosper, vegetate. They do not perish. Grimsby has changed. But it shows no sign of keeling over. For a town is not merely a collection of buildings. A town is the people who live in it. And coursing through the veins of those who live in it yet is the resolve of those who came here 150 years ago to make it one of the most vibrant places in the kingdom.

We all just LOVE Grimsby.