A grim UK town once dubbed a ‘backward sh**hole’ because it is overrun with ‘scroungers and hooligans’ has a simple plan to win over tourists, and it might seem like an obvious ploy.
With such a bleak reputation Grimsby in Lincolnshire has a lot of work to do to entice tourists back to the seaside town. In 2022 a study by iLiveHere rated the coastal Lincolnshire town as the 18th worst place to live in the UK.
Grimsby was described in the rankings as “backward, cold and unfriendly”. And locals agreed, based on reportage from YouTuber Wendall who toured the town, taking in its row upon row of boarded-up shops and talking to some of the homeless people on its streets.
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The town “may be an ignorant backward s***hole,” one angry local said, “but it’s our ignorant backward s***hole”. The sudden collapse of the fishing industry, brought about largely due to the “Cod Wars” with Iceland, hollowed out the town’s economy.
(Image: Getty Images)
From there Grimsby slumped, badly. It became grim by name grim by nature.
“People in their forties and below seem to be institutionalised by the state of things here… they don’t really know any different,” Wendell said. “Half of us have got criminal records,” one local said, saying that made it even harder to find work.
But there’s hope. Richard Askam, project director of Projekt Renewable (PRG) – a new enterprise tasked with promoting local opportunities in sustainable energy – reckons the town is due a facelift.
(Image: GrimsbyLive/Donna Clifford)
He says that he and his team will pull off a coup by “reminding people” Grimsby is by the water.
Business leaders in the town are hoping to turn around its fortunes by reigniting interest in its bleak dockland area.
The plan is varied and includes backing renewable energy, reinvigorating its waterfront and even using it as a Hollywood set.
The town as a whole is also undergoing £28.2million worth of renovations to the waterfront, a shopping centre and a bridge.
Askam spoke to the Telegraph about his hopes – with the publication saying that “for many” the town was “overrun with scroungers and hooligans.”
(Image: GrimsbyLive/Donna Clifford)
He said: “We want to activate this area, remind people there’s water in their town.”
Askam wants to turn the company’s site, on Alexandra Dock, into an renewable energy education and tourism hub, running boat tours to the turbines of the Humber Gateway wind farm.
The development is a solar-powered box park of shipping containers which opened in 2023 and is dubbed an “immersive educational and cultural destination” by North East Lincolnshire Council. It features art installations and local business pop-ups.
When the site launched last year Askam said: “Designed to allow everyone to see and hear the opportunity that already exists in our area but is still largely hidden.
“It’s time to write the next chapter in Grimsby’s history.”
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