This is Grimsby -- *AA GILL'S scathing attack on North East Lincolnshire is continuing to attract attention.*His column, in this week's Sunday Times, brands Cleethorpes as having "horror-film empty streets where tourists have gone same way as the fish" and Grimsby as "a dull litany of deprivation ... on the road to nowhere". Residents and businesses hit back at the comments, and even Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Grove, who hosted the author on his trip in October, said Cleethorpes was "on the up and up". Resort resident Frank Flear, of Bradford Avenue – also a member of the group behind Cleethorpes Pier – has written this open letter to the editor of the Sunday Times in response, and has shared it with the Grimsby Telegraph.
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*Dear Sir -*
I refer to the article in last Sunday's colour supplement by A A Gill, concerning his visit to Grimsby and Cleethorpes.
While understanding the reason for his visit was to experience and comment on the weekend nightlife in Cleethorpes, his overall view of Grimsby and Cleethorpes was grossly misleading.
Firstly, for good or ill, the nightlife he describes could apply to any town or city in Britain and should therefore not be used as a platform to denigrate the area as a whole. At the end of his article he tries to balance his comments by praising those he met on his night out as an example of youthful energy. They were particularly patronising comments in my opinion.
While accepting that Grimsby and Cleethorpes face problems – what area does not, concerning, for example, regeneration, unemployment levels, etc, the positive aspects of the area were totally overlooked.
Let me first deal with the fish industry, which he seems to regard as a cottage industry in Grimsby. When the present fish market was built in 1995/6 it was one of the 48 active auction markets in the UK. There are now five, of which Grimsby is one of the largest and most active. It continues to auction large tonnages of fish daily. Although the fishing fleet has declined as elsewhere in Europe, Grimsby is the largest centre in Europe for processing and producing fresh and frozen fish products. At the same time it is the largest centre for the supply of fish products to supermarkets and as such supplies fish to millions of customers in the UK and abroad, weekly.
In addition, it processes in excess of 50,000 tonnes of salmon annually, in a number of state- of-the-art food processing factories.
Aside from fish, Grimsby Docks is the most significant centre in Britain for the import and export of motor vehicles, quite apart from other major imports such as wood. Immingham and Grimsby combined handles the highest tonnage of imports of any dock area in Britain. Petroleum products alone imported into Immingham supply petrol and diesel to 1 in 4 of every car and vehicle on the roads.
The burgeoning development of offshore wind farms has meant that the commercial and fish docks in Grimsby, quite apart from Humberside as a whole, has added a significant new dimension to the commercial activities of the area. As a result, some of the largest renewables companies in the world such as Siemens, Centrica, EON and Dong Energy are investing heavily in new facilities.
Coupled with this, just down the road from Grimsby, is Humberside Airport, locally owned, developing strongly and housing a large helicopter base for servicing offshore rigs and windfarms.
Now let us turn to Cleethorpes. The impression given in the article is that it is a fading seaside resort. Nothing could be further from the truth. In the last few years Cleethorpes as a resort has gone from strength to strength, attracting increasing numbers of visitors and seeing investments in new hotels, leisure facilities, etc. It is also an extremely attractive area situated at the mouth of the Humber with award-winning gardens and blue flag beach. A A Gill wilfully misrepresented the resort by concentrating on the "meagre high street" which is not the main shopping area in the town. St Peter's Avenue which is a high street in all but name, is a vibrant and varied shopping street.
I do not recognise his description of "hunched and grubby semi-detached streets". I would think, like me, the residents of Cleethorpes would take great exception to this.
I should mention one other major development in Grimsby and that is the expansion of the Grimsby Institute, which by any standards is one of the most significant institutes of its type in Britain. It now has a University centre and it is possible that it could achieve overall university status within the next five years.
Finally, this letter is intended in a small way to balance the views expressed in the article which gives a misleading and depressing view of our area. Notwithstanding problems to be resolved the area is dynamic and thrusting!
*Yours faithfully - Frank Flear OBE, DL* Reported by This is 12 hours ago.