I thought it might be nice to have a local history thread, as there doesn't seem to be much info available on the net. So if you have any knowledge of local history or buildings present or long gone, I would love to hear about it.

For instance, does anyone know what the church down St Peters Ave, that was on the site of the car park next to Boots was called?  Do you know what the original Cleethorpes library, on Isaacs Hill was before it was a library?

I don't have the answers myself, but it would be great to find out.

Do you use Facebook Andy? If so there is a great group called the Grimsby memories, I'm a member of this and it really is a good group, there's lots of photo's and stories on there, well worth taking a look mate.

I'm very interested in the history of Grimsby too, who can remember the brewery building around the Pasture street area? I can't remember it's exact location or what it was called but I can remember walking past it regularly in the late 70's early 80's.

Who can remember the Wimpey in Town early 80's (knickerbocker glory) and the old phone boxes in the precinct?

Thanks for starting this thread Andy let's hope it gets a lot of responses and hopefully some photos put up on here to view.

I've resisted the temptation of Facebook so far Chris!

I believe it was Hewitts brewery in Pasture St and the pub was Hewitts Tavern. All before my time, so I never went in there for a pint. There was also a Wimpy on High St, Cleethorpes. Think it's a mobility shop now.

Think I may have linked to this before but Rod Collins has a good website which includes local history amongst other things:

http://www.rodcollins.com/wordpress/

The church in S. Peter's Avenue was Trinity Methodist Church,and Cleethorpes Library on Isaac's Hill was originally The Technical Institute.
  Does anyone remember the coffee bar down High Cliff, which is now The Smugglers? I used to go in there on a Sunday evening in probably 1960. Used to drink Horlicks (yuck) .The dapper guy behind the counter was referred to as the Colonel, but at the moment the name of the place won't come.  It's in my my memory somewhere!

Thanks for the info Chips. What did people learn at the Technical Institute?
I can't help you with your query yet, but I'll ask my Dad!

I think it's come to me!  I believe the coffee bar down High Cliff was The Waverley.

Quoted from fishyfanny

      What did people learn at the Technical Institute?

Technical things. ;)

Quoted from grimsby pete

Technical things. ;)

Thank you Sherlock  :P

The brewery was Hewitts. My brother served his painting and decorating apprenticeship with them and used to paint all their pubs. It was a lot more demanding job in them days, with lots of marbling and graining and sign writing, which was a very skillful trade. When he first started, they had hand carts to move all their gear from job to job.

I'm very interested in history, national and local and love visiting old buildings to see how they were constructed. Luckily, Mrs Ginny likes history too, along with geology, so if we are not trawling round looking for old buildings, we are trudging the countryside seeking out rock formations.  :)

The Rod Collins site is a very good resource. Have enjoyed dipping in to that over a few years now.

Enjoy learning about local (NE Lincs particularly) history. As a bit of a history buff myself I like seeing the links and differences from national trends. How GY and Clps were typical of Britain and how they differed.

One thing I'd like to find more about is the burial mound in Cleethorpes cemetery. I think it's late stone age? Remember reading something about a dig there in the 30s on a website by one of my old history teachers (Tony McCabe). I find it fascinating that the highest point in town has always been a burial site.   There's also the other one by Ploggers (on Clee Town's once and future home ground). Anyone know any sources where I can find more about the mounds?

Ah, talking of Hewitts, there used to be a jam factory (before my time) down Pasture Street. Ticklers. One of my other history teachers (Gordon Taylor - an inspirational teacher who nourished our interest in history) used to tell us one of his dad's anecdotes from the First World War.

Ticklers used to be a big supplier to the British Army on the Western Front. They were famous for their apple jam. Taylor Snr was in the trenches and they used to get Ticklers Apple Jam so often they got fed up with it. So, in an ages old soldiers' tradition they used to trade it with their opposite numbers on the other side of No Man's Land during quiet spells. 'Over would go our tins of Ticklers Apple Jam and in return we would get German sausages. Night after night we'd swap supplies. One night over went our tins of jam and back came half a dozen tater mashers*'

* German stick hand grenades.

'What did you do then Dad?' asked Taylor junior.

'We filled our pants lad. We filled our pants.'

My Parents Worked at Lloyds cars and I think that was in pasture street
And I can remember the rd is it Gilbey st that used to go down to pyewipe

Quoted from KingstonMariner

The Rod Collins site is a very good resource. Have enjoyed dipping in to that over a few years now.

Enjoy learning about local (NE Lincs particularly) history. As a bit of a history buff myself I like seeing the links and differences from national trends. How GY and Clps were typical of Britain and how they differed.

One thing I'd like to find more about is the burial mound in Cleethorpes cemetery. I think it's late stone age? Remember reading something about a dig there in the 30s on a website by one of my old history teachers (Tony McCabe). I find it fascinating that the highest point in town has always been a burial site.   There's also the other one by Ploggers (on Clee Town's once and future home ground). Anyone know any sources where I can find more about the mounds?

Tony McCabe was one of the teachers when i was at school, though not my history teacher; mine was Mr Duffield. He's a good chap Tony and i've had many a pint with him in Willy's.

Was Mr Duffield the shortish bloke with dark hair? Bumped into Tony out walking his dog down the seafront on 2 of my last three trips home.

Quoted from KingstonMariner

Was Mr Duffield the shortish bloke with dark hair? Bumped into Tony out walking his dog down the seafront on 2 of my last three trips home.

Hazy memory but Mr Duffield was short and dark i think. Tony lives near the seafront, so not surprising.

Quoted from ginnywings

Hazy memory but Mr Duffield was short and dark i think. Tony lives near the seafront, so not surprising.

Mr Skelton was the bloke I was thinking of.

Can't remember him.

He was the short one I was thinking of. Nice bloke. Was there at least from 1974 when he taught us at Lindsey Lower (the old Girls Grammar site) and at least up to 81 when he taught us at A-level with Tony.

Quoted from sydney

My Parents Worked at Lloyds cars and I think that was in pasture street
And I can remember the rd is it Gilbey st that used to go down to pyewipe

My mate worked for Lloyds Cars until they went under in the late 70s. I think they were based in Patrick St. They made popular cars before WW2.

Can anybody remember the old signal boxes around town? Fish dock road, littlefield lane etc etc, I've worked with a lot of lads who worked all the local boxes.

I remember the Pasture Street one.

Quoted from KingstonMariner

I remember the Pasture Street one.

That's my old box KM, no longer there now (demolished) I was there from 2011-2015 until it closed

Used to be a model shop near there. Toynes. Used to go in there to buy (metal) toy soldiers.

Quoted from cmackenzie4

Can anybody remember the old signal boxes around town? Fish dock road, littlefield lane etc etc, I've worked with a lot of lads who worked all the local boxes.

I've worked a few local 'boxes' myself Chris  ;)  ;D ;D

I remember the signal boxes Chris,

Fish trains going out of the docks every day,

Then they built the flyover but the fishing industry was on the way out.