Grimsby

There has been a fishing settlement here for over 1000 years – “Grimsby” is a Viking name. It grew up at the point where a creek flowed out of the marshes into the Humber. The marshes were drained and became farmland in the 17th century but the town remained small until the industrial 19th century. Then the harbour was expanded to accommodate a thriving fishing fleet. The town’s civic buildings and sights of interest date from this period and cluster around this first dockland, the Alexandra and Old Fish Docks. Above all Grimsby and Cleethorpes owed their growth to the Victorian railway network, which carried away a boundless supply of fish to the nation’s dinner tables, and carried in Yorkshire coal for export, and holidaymakers keen to escape from their mills and collieries to the seaside.

Fishing and sea trade continued to expand in the 20th century and larger docks were built, which remain busy. At its peak in the 1950s, Grimsby was the largest and busiest fishing port in the world. Related industries were the processing of fish and other food, maritime services, and haulage. The big decline began in the 1960s, when Iceland claimed Atlantic fishing grounds (the “Cod Wars”) that British fisherman had traditionally used. And fish catches everywhere were dwindling because of over-fishing, and restrictive European catch quotas were imposed. Grimsby was never a pretty town, but now it became very run-down, and its modern developments were ugly.

It survived thanks to new industry along the Humber. Much of Britain’s oil comes ashore at nearby Immingham, to be refined and re-exported or distributed domestically. Many of the cars to burn that oil are imported via Killingholme. So, perhaps against the odds, Grimsby is nowadays this country’s largest port complex in terms of tonnage. But it has further suffered from the 21st century economic downturn, much remains to be done to regenerate its centre, and Brexit has cramped the fishing and other maritime business.

By plane:

1 Humberside Airport (HUY IATA) is 12 miles west of Grimsby. The only scheduled flights are three per weekday from Aberdeen and Amsterdam, plus seasonal holiday packages. It's also a base for helicopter transfers to the offshore oil and gas rigs, and for private aviation.

There's a much better choice of flights into Manchester (MAN IATA), Leeds-Bradford (LBA IATA), East Midlands (EMA IATA) or the London airports.

By road:

From the south leave A1 at Newark, and follow A46 north-east past Lincoln all the way to Grimsby. Or from M1, take M18 north past Doncaster to M180 and follow it east. This passes Scunthorpe and the Humber Bridge turn-off, becomes A180, and approaches Grimsby past the oil refineries of Immingham.

From the north, join M62 and go east to M18, take this south to M180, then follow this east as above. The last services along the route are at the M18/180 junction, "Doncaster North", there's nothing for 40 miles before central Grimsby.

By bus:

From London Victoria is 6 hr 20 min. Take National Express NX440 (heading for Derby) and change at Leicester onto NX151 coming from Birmingham: this also calls at Newark, Lincoln and Louth.

Stagecoach East Midlands Bus 250 takes 1 hr 50 min from Hull via Humber Bridge and Barton-upon-Humber. It's every 30 min M-Sa and every two hours on Sunday.

Bus 53 runs hourly from Lincoln, taking two hours via Market Rasen.

Riverhead Exchange has the central bus stops, near Freshney Place Shopping Centre.

By train:

Trains run hourly from Liverpool Lime Street via Warrington, Manchester Oxford Rd and Piccadilly, Sheffield, Doncaster and Scunthorpe.

They no longer run direct from Manchester Airport: take any train towards the city and change at Oxford Road, to avoid schlepping across Piccadilly.

Trains clatter through the fields every hour or two from Barton-on-Humber, which has a connecting bus across the Humber Bridge from Hull.