Heartbreak in UK seaside town once world's biggest fishing port with thriving high street

Once the world's biggest and busiest fishing port, Grimsby was so synonymous with the trade that hundreds of trawlers operated from its docks, and thousands of families relied on the industry for their livelihoods. Today, however, the picture is starkly different. When you arrive at the port, it can be hard to imagine it as it was in the old photographs, crowded and bustling with all the trawlers and people.

In 2023, the UK imported 611,000 tonnes of fish, nearly twice the amount it exported (336,000 tonnes), according to Government statistics. The majority of fish consumed in the UK is sourced from abroad, while a significant portion of the catch from UK waters is still sold overseas. British consumers tend to prefer species like cod, haddock, tuna, and salmon, much of which is imported, while many of the fish caught by UK boats, such as mackerel, herring, and langoustines, are more popular overseas and are exported. In Grimsby itself, around 90% of fish supplies now arrive from elsewhere.

The decline of the industry and the fishing fleet was triggered by the Cod Wars of the 1970s, when Iceland extended its fishing limits and Britain was forced to retreat from rich North Atlantic waters. Combined with quotas, foreign fleets, and environmental changes, the move devastated Grimsby's once-mighty fleet.

Locals remember the fallout vividly. Brian Simons, 87, who sold fish for 30 years, recalled how quickly things unravelled.

He said: "The very MP of this town could have done something at the time, but instead he put an end to Grimsby's deep-sea fleet."

The dangers faced by those at sea were stark. He said: "If the trawlers iced up and you didn't break it off, it would turn it over and take it straight to the bottom. It was a cruel environment, but people in Grimsby considered it a part of their heritage to live here. If your uncle was in it and he was a fisherman, so was his brother, and so it went on."

Today, the port tells a very different story, he said.

"When I've been down the dock, it's dead. You walk down the dock and it doesn't exist anymore. It's sad, really.

"When the Icelanders used to come and bring their boats in, they used to be all going down Freeman Street, and it was a thriving bit with pubs and gentlemen's outfitters. Grimsby's dead now, basically."

Mr Simons also remembered how the town centre once bustled with life every weekend.

He added: "Every Saturday afternoon, we used to go walk and spend a Saturday afternoon walking down by the high street.

"We'd go to the market and do some grocery shopping, everything from wedding shops to hardware shops. There was everything. There was always something going on."

Chris Francis, 67, who moved to the town when she was 12, also remembers a busier, more prosperous Grimsby.

She told the Express: "It's gone downhill.

"In the 70s we didn't just have fishing. We had factories too: Cortos, Titans, Laporte. There were jobs for kids to go to."

Ms Francis also stressed how deeply fishing ran through families in Grimsby.

"Some would just go straight into trawlers because their family were in trawlers. There was a lot of industry here. Then we got taken over by Hull. When they made us Humberside, a lot of the money went to Hull. Hull did a lot of regeneration, but we didn't get the same. We did get something, but not to the same level."

The high street too, she said, has lost its shine: "Even the shopping centre was different in the 70s. It was thriving. Now you go in there and there's just nothing. Even the charity shops give us the second-best. The good stuff gets sent to Lincoln or Sheffield."

She also expressed concerns about antisocial behaviour in town: "When my children were little, we used to come and window shop and just meander round. You can't do that anymore.

"My daughter says to me, 'Don't go downtown on your own.' There are a lot of unruly, antisocial people now. It really has just gone really down in all areas really. Because the industry's gone it's affected everything really and that's what keeps the town going."

However, a High Street Revival Scheme has just been announced, a partnership between North East Lincolnshire Council, Grimsby Retailers in Partnership, and other local initiatives, which aims to fill vacant shops through funding, rental incentives, and business support to make the town centre safer, busier, and more vibrant.

Peter Dalton and Gary Cadey, who have worked in the port for over 50 years and founded Grimsby Seafood Village, a key seafood processing centre, also recalled the days when the docks were a town within a town. The Seafood Village has now been sold to Associated British Ports (ABP).

Peter Dalton, 72, said: "The fish docks were a town in itself. We had everything down here, we had barbers, we had every bank you could think of, a post office, tea shops. You had all the ship suppliers as well, so you could get groceries and cigarettes and tobacco and drink."

They said there used to be over 600 trawlers before. They showed us old maps with all the many trawlers and explained that the Royal Dock used to accommodate all sorts of boats, from deep water boats, medium-sized boats and small fishing boats. That area was for commercial use, while the fish docks were separate. Most of it has now been demolished, with only a small section of the jetty remaining near the ice house. Today, the majority of fish processed in Grimsby is imported, they said, and trucked in from overseas. They said that it's "difficult to explain to people" how different the port used to be.

Mr Dalton said: "It's all imported."

Gary Cadey, 70, added: "As we say, our fish now comes on wheels. Fish from Iceland comes in containers. Fish from Norway comes on lorries."

Mr Dalton still pointed out: "We're still the major hub of the country for fish. If you get fish and chips almost anywhere in the country, the fish has come through here."

The major change, they explained, began with a mix of political, environmental and economic forces.

"It changed because of things like fishing quotas, the Icelandic War, as we call it, where they stopped us fishing in their waters because they closed the waters down.

"Just look at the North Sea. It's full of wind farms. One of the biggest is on Dogger Bank, which used to be massive for fishing."

He added: "The French and the Portuguese and the Spanish got rights to our waters, but we don't get the same there."

Martyn Boyers, chief executive at Grimsby Fish Market and Port of Grimsby East, stressed that while the trawlers are gone, the industry itself is far from dead.

He highlighted how Grimsby is a major processing hub. The town hosts Northern Europe's biggest fish processing cluster, employing around 4,000 people, and is still considered one of the world's leading centres for seafood processing.

He told the Express: "I fully respect the history and tradition, but you have to move on.

"One of the things about the history and tradition is that while there are no trawlers now with the Cod Wars and all that, the legacy of that time is the colossal volume of processing that still happens in Grimsby."

He added: "90% of our fish supplies are from Iceland, which is a great source of fish. We're still dealing in fresh fish. We're still doing 10 to 12,000 tons of fresh fish a year. We've got 40 to 50 buyers on the market. Around this, you've still got some significant processors, some of the biggest in the UK are in Grimsby. This is the best place to be to handle fish and be involved in fish."

Processing, he said, is central to the UK's eating habits: "In this country, people don't like skin and bones on fish. But cod, virtually all of it is skinless, boneless and so that needs processing. It doesn't happen like that. So again, that's what the legacy of Grimsby is. It's a strong, established centre of people working."

He said there are still around 4,000 people working in the port, and while some remain focused on the past, it's important to recognise its significance today and how the industry has evolved.

"This idea that you're coming to something where, 'Oh, it used to be this, it used to be that', well, whatever it used to be, that's not the point. It's about what it is now, and right now, Grimsby is still the major place in the UK for fish processing."

And he remains optimistic about the port's future: "There will always be fish because the one redeeming feature is the great British public like fish and particularly like the fish and chips."

Mr Boyers acknowledged the industry now depends heavily on imports. "We're reliant on Iceland, and we're reliant on Norway, and we're reliant on a little bit from Denmark, so it has changed, but the point is the fish industry's here."

He also pointed to another shift, however, as he stressed that the industry is no longer as visible as it once was. "The other thing about the fish industry, which has changed for people in Grimsby and surrounds, is that you can't see it now. The fish industry's still here, but it's changed dramatically, because now it's not visual."

For many in Grimsby, the era of the trawlers remains a source of pride, nostalgia, and, for some, sadness, a sense of loss for what once was: the world's busiest fishing port, where thousands of families relied on the sea for their livelihoods. Yet, while the fleets are gone, others argue that the town's connection to fish endures not just in the Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre, but in what is currently being processed, sold, and shipped from a place that still quietly powers Britain's appetite for fish and seafood.

A Defra (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) spokesperson said: "We are working with the fishing industry in Grimsby and across the country to promote British seafood so that the sector thrives for generations to come.

"We have announced the £360 million Fisheries and Coastal Growth Fund to support the next generation of fishers and will work with the industry to target investment where it matters most."

The Fund will support the modernisation of Britain's fishing fleet by investing in new technology and equipment. It will also provide training and skills development for the next generation of fishers and help promote the seafood sector to boost exports of our high-quality produce worldwide. The government said it will collaborate with the industry to ensure investments are focused on the areas that need it most.

Through fisheries negotiations, Defra said they have secured around 750,000 tonnes of fishing quota for 2025, estimated to be worth up to £960 million in potential fishing opportunities.