What it means to be Grimsby

Been working in Rotherham today and a guy I was working with from Rotherham / Sheffield area spoke about how he loved clee as he called it and how he spent many happy weeks there growing up , everything he said was positive which sort of surprised me a bit tbh

I'm an exile and some friends of mine were in the habit of making, admittedly good natured, jibes about the place but had never actually visited the area. So I arranged a brief holiday for them.

We had a couple of very pleasant  days, visiting the docks, the boating lake, the Fishing Museum, surrounding countryside, dining on the pier, various eateries, strolling on the prom. They actually had a great time.

The reality of Cleethorpes/Grimsby is far better than the uninformed image held by many. There are plenty of worse places to live.  

I have followed this thread as another exile with great interest, and the general consensus that Grimsby's image is much worse than the reality is right I think. Many people like me rely on the Telegraph for keeping in touch with what is happening in the area but the reporting by the YTS bloggers there is so biased towards the bad side of things it must give anyone the impression it is the wild west. But would anyone really want to live in London if you believed the media?

They don't even know the town, look at the "kasbah" fiasco - they couldn't even spell it right and when they were told by scores of locals there was no such name, they even did another piece about it!

I've lived in the West Riding and the midlands and down here in Norfolk but Grimsby is the town I would call my home town. When I was a student I used to love to see those artics with Grimsby Fish in huge letters on the front and side, they were all over the country. There was a real sense of pride in that and I guess it was subliminal advertising for generations to now associate Grimsby with Fish automatically. In the 1960s if you'd been away for a while you could definitely smell you were home when you got off the train.

There was a more practical element too - in those days we went everywhere by thumb and looked out for those lorries.  I got a lift from Nottingham on a Wednesday afternoon in one, in time to watch us draw 2-2 with West Ham, have a pint and a few hours kip, get to Bradley Cross Roads and thumb back in time for lectures.

Grimsby is run down, no doubt about it. It has had a clueless council for years, its education system has been a joke and it completely failed to replace the disappearing industries and keep up the incomes and the spirits of locals. Its traffic system is a bigger mess than I have ever seen anywhere in the country. But,it has kept its local identity, unlike Kings Lynn for instance where you can walk the main street and not hear English spoken from one end to the other.

What Grimsby needs is an image makeover, a proper one. I hope they do something worthwhile with the East Marsh so that people coming into Riby Square from the motorway see something great and striking to the eyes. The Dock Tower to the left and ................ to the right. But please no signs pointing to a "Kasbah".

Its a traditional old school football club with a proud history and a club  I am proud to support

Quoted from Ruston AT

I've worked abroad, had holidays all over the world, met people who have their noses so far up in the air I felt sorry for them. I'm a Grimsby boy, always will be and I so enjoy telling people that my team is Grimsby Town FC to which the comment usually is ' why' , they just don't get it.

Always be true to your roots Ruston

If anyone gives you any stick just say we may be near the bottom rung of the football hierarchy  but variety is what allows life to continue.

Least your being true to your roots.

I use to support Liverpool as a boy eg media influence of growing up as a child .Realised at a bout 16-17 that its all plastic and you should support a team where you have some sort of connection to eg either through where you live or have family connections
to .Hence with me its the latter

Keep it real always  

Quoted from dapperz fun pub

Been working in Rotherham today and a guy I was working with from Rotherham / Sheffield area spoke about how he loved clee as he called it and how he spent many happy weeks there growing up , everything he said was positive which sort of surprised me a bit tbh

Before the package holidays abroad came in most Yorkies would come to places like Cleethorpes every year for their holidays,

Its a rite good place,  they would say and would not go anywhere else,

Then the cheap holidays abroad came in.

Quoted from grimsby pete

Before the package holidays abroad came in most Yorkies would come to places like Cleethorpes every year for their holidays,

Its a rite good place,  they would say and would not go anywhere else,

Then the cheap holidays abroad came in.

Its a “reet”  good place, Pete. Tha’s niver a proper Yorkie if tha dunt say like tha.

Most of the Yorkies I work with in Donny call Grimsby a shithole and are shocked to find out that Grimsby and their favourite seaside resort Cleethorpes are essentially the same place, the dafties.

Quoted from grimsby pete

Before the package holidays abroad came in most Yorkies would come to places like Cleethorpes every year for their holidays,

Its a rite good place,  they would say and would not go anywhere else,

Then the cheap holidays abroad came in.

I believe that a common occurrence was that some would ‘come fer day’ and then ‘stay fer week’   😉