Grimsby is situated at the mouth of the River Humber.
The town was founded, in the middle-ages, by a Danish fisherman called Grim.
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. Also sympathetically restored is the Victorian shopping street of Abbeygate.
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.
Some of the largest employers in Grimsby are Novartis, a pharmaceutical giant, Tioxide Europe, a chemical producer and the food processors Young’s Bluecrest Seafood.
The town is very good for shopping with over seventy stores including Binns, Bhs, and Marks and Spencer in the Freshney Place Shopping Centre. The Riverhead Centre is home to Wilkinsons and Halifax Bank. The town centre has a new Tesco Extra and on the Victoria Mills Retail Park can be found many chain stores like Next and B+Q.
There are several supermarkets in town including Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons.
Abbeygate shopping street has many smaller specialist shops
A further retail and leisure complex is under construction and it is scheduled to open in 2009.
Most of the retail parks are in town making it easier for those shoppers who walk or use public transport to and from the shops.
Because of the good shopping in Grimsby it attracts shoppers from other smaller towns in the vicinity.
The town is also well known for its nightlife with plenty of nightclubs and a wide variety of public houses it makes for a good night out.
Musical entertainment can be found in the Grimsby Auditorium and there are also theatres in the town.
There are plenty of sports facilities in Grimsby including those for football, rugby tennis (the new centre has disabled facilities), squash, table tennis and cricket.
There is always property for rent available in the town with averages prices of £350pcm for a l bed flat, £400 for a 2 bed flat, £355 for a 2 bed house and £450 for a 3 bed house.
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