Well it's official we made the national news.

Grimsby is indeed the bottom end of the country.

The worst place in the country for high street takeaways, pawnbrokers. charity shops and betting shops outlining the fact we are the most poverty-stricken unhealthiest place in the UK.

All this will not help to attract players to Mike Jolley and GTFC.

Non football

Quoted from Cloudy

Non football

I disagree I think there is more of an element of truth to the reason why finding players to come here is not easy.

So in that reasoning, there is a tenable link to football.

Have you ever heard of such a ludicrous report ever? The "unhealthiest high street..." in the UK.  Apparently a stretch of Victoria Street which is not the main shopping centre, not attached as such to the museum, the minster, the library or anything like that which gives us extra "points" means once again we are subject to national humiliation because it has what it was designed for - food outlets and shops (albeit some are empty like everywhere else) means we are "unhealthy". I haven't looked it up, but I bet Grimsby is no different from hundreds of towns in the healthy stakes, including longevity.

One day the council will wake up and start showing the gems of the town to the world. Look on YouTube at the aerial views of the Docks, marina and dock tower - it is absolutely fantastic and all those should be at the forefront of the town's regeneration (including of course a spanking new stadium with the dock tower behind it.)

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

Have you ever heard of such a ludicrous report ever? The "unhealthiest high street..." in the UK.  Apparently a stretch of Victoria Street which is not the main shopping centre, not attached as such to the museum, the minster, the library or anything like that which gives us extra "points" means once again we are subject to national humiliation because it has what it was designed for - food outlets and shops (albeit some are empty like everywhere else) means we are "unhealthy". I haven't looked it up, but I bet Grimsby is no different from hundreds of towns in the healthy stakes, including longevity.

One day the council will wake up and start showing the gems of the town to the world. Look on YouTube at the aerial views of the Docks, marina and dock tower - it is absolutely fantastic and all those should be at the forefront of the town's regeneration (including of course a spanking new stadium with the dock tower behind it.)

This all day long...

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

Have you ever heard of such a ludicrous report ever? The "unhealthiest high street..." in the UK.  Apparently a stretch of Victoria Street which is not the main shopping centre, not attached as such to the museum, the minster, the library or anything like that which gives us extra "points" means once again we are subject to national humiliation because it has what it was designed for - food outlets and shops (albeit some are empty like everywhere else) means we are "unhealthy". I haven't looked it up, but I bet Grimsby is no different from hundreds of towns in the healthy stakes, including longevity.

One day the council will wake up and start showing the gems of the town to the world. Look on YouTube at the aerial views of the Docks, marina and dock tower - it is absolutely fantastic and all those should be at the forefront of the town's regeneration (including of course a spanking new stadium with the dock tower behind it.)

This. It's just so lazy to bring up "Grimsby" when talking of deprived Towns, never Clacton or Hastings yet these and other Southern places have featured recently in similar (but well researched) looks into poverty and have some gut-wrenching, soul destroying images of the most down and out places you could see.
It's a horrible problem for all of the UK and deserves much more than these novelty pieces/top 20's in the press, especially when the column inches concentrate on the cliched 'grim Northern' Towns and not the obviously more nationwide problem.

Quoted from Mrs Doyle

Grimsby is indeed the bottom end of the country.

The worst place in the country for high street takeaways, pawnbrokers. charity shops and betting shops outlining the fact we are the most poverty-stricken unhealthiest place in the UK.

All this will not help to attract players to Mike Jolley and GTFC.

Another way of looking at it....if you like a takeway, easy money, some cheap shopping and a bet.... Grimsby is the best place to live in the UK    

I've been to a lot of places on this planet and we are far from the bottom believe me. There is always something going on in our part of the world, far more than other places that I have been. All we need now is a spanking new football/sports/community development to pull us out of what everywhere else is suffering from in this present age we live in. Lets get it on.

Quoted from Mrs Doyle

Grimsby is indeed the bottom end of the country.

The worst place in the country for high street takeaways, pawnbrokers. charity shops and betting shops outlining the fact we are the most poverty-stricken unhealthiest place in the UK.

All this will not help to attract players to Mike Jolley and GTFC.

Or the best, if what you like is fast-food and a bet.

Nothing wrong with the town that can't be put right by some positive, forward-thinking businessmen and some political will. Instead of everyone moaning about our 'plight', why can't people put their personal agendas to one side and work for the common good?

There is a common goal to be had - a community regeneration with a new stadium as its' flagship which would not only encourage employment but give us something to be proud of.

Anybody can come up with a list of down on their luck towns and in those towns you will find the highest concentrations of obesity, drugs, alcoholism, truancy, low school gradings, homelessness, crime ...... like it or not all those towns will have them and we cannot ignore ours when they are factually correct. But when the outside world only sees this downside of the area then it must affect everything and everyone, including the transfer game.

If companies were bribed and encouraged to invest and create long term employment prospects, that would be a great help. That is what Hull did.

If the council recognised that for 3 decades the most intelligent kids have left the area to go to grammar schools elsewhere and created a system in NEL to combat that, we might have the pool of well qualified school leavers we used to have. We might see graduates coming back home to work like we used to. That would help to bring higher paid jobs and create some spare cash in people’s pockets to get retail going again.

I agree with Lew, we must start showing the best of the area to the best advantage.  On its own that isn’t enough but it is a start.  Redevelopments must be publicised and in that the club has to do its bit. Burying the hatchet with the council and backing a new ground as part of a “new” Grimsby would be a  good beginning.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

Anybody can come up with a list of down on their luck towns and in those towns you will find the highest concentrations of obesity, drugs, alcoholism, truancy, low school gradings, homelessness, crime ...... like it or not all those towns will have them and we cannot ignore ours when they are factually correct. But when the outside world only sees this downside of the area then it must affect everything and everyone, including the transfer game.

If companies were bribed and encouraged to invest and create long term employment prospects, that would be a great help. That is what Hull did.

If the council recognised that for 3 decades the most intelligent kids have left the area to go to grammar schools elsewhere and created a system in NEL to combat that, we might have the pool of well qualified school leavers we used to have. We might see graduates coming back home to work like we used to. That would help to bring higher paid jobs and create some spare cash in people’s pockets to get retail going again.

I agree with Lew, we must start showing the best of the area to the best advantage.  On its own that isn’t enough but it is a start.  Redevelopments must be publicised and in that the club has to do its bit. Burying the hatchet with the council and backing a new ground as part of a “new” Grimsby would be a  good beginning.

This bit is absolutely key - if the GTFC board aren't prepared to work with NELC then they really need to consider their positions. It would make it look like self-interest is more important than (their own words) the financial future of the football club.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

This bit is absolutely key - if the GTFC board aren't prepared to work with NELC then they really need to consider their positions. It would make it look like self-interest is more important than (their own words) the financial future of the football club.

The silence from the GTFC board on how they intend moving us forward regarding the new stadium is deafening.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

If the council recognised that for 3 decades the most intelligent kids have left the area to go to grammar schools elsewhere and created a system in NEL to combat that, we might have the pool of well qualified school leavers we used to have. We might see graduates coming back home to work like we used to. That would help to bring higher paid jobs and create some spare cash in people’s pockets to get retail going again.

Not sure if you meant it this way but, are you saying if there were grammar schools in NEL, less bright kids would go to school elsewhere (Louth/Caistor?) and there would be more well-qualified school leavers in GY?

Classic case of start with preconceived notion and select evidence to fit. Lazy study produces clickbait for even lazier media. Despite clear issues in the town, Grimsby has more going for it than many coastal towns.
Relative to average income, Brighton should be akin to St Tropez but it's a faded, polluted bedraggled mess.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

Anybody can come up with a list of down on their luck towns and in those towns you will find the highest concentrations of obesity, drugs, alcoholism, truancy, low school gradings, homelessness, crime ...... like it or not all those towns will have them and we cannot ignore ours when they are factually correct. But when the outside world only sees this downside of the area then it must affect everything and everyone, including the transfer game.

If companies were bribed and encouraged to invest and create long term employment prospects, that would be a great help. That is what Hull did.

If the council recognised that for 3 decades the most intelligent kids have left the area to go to grammar schools elsewhere and created a system in NEL to combat that, we might have the pool of well qualified school leavers we used to have. We might see graduates coming back home to work like we used to. That would help to bring higher paid jobs and create some spare cash in people’s pockets to get retail going again.

I agree with Lew, we must start showing the best of the area to the best advantage.  On its own that isn’t enough but it is a start.  Redevelopments must be publicised and in that the club has to do its bit. Burying the hatchet with the council and backing a new ground as part of a “new” Grimsby would be a  good beginning.

Can agree with some of that but a couple of points...there isn't to my knowledge a single school at primary or secondary level in NE Lincs that is under the control of the LA. The acedemy model gives schools virtual autonomy.
Secondly I'm attending a class of 69 Clee Grammar reunion on 17 November. The vast majority of the ex-pupils who will be attending probably haven't lived in this area since they left school 42 years ago. It has pretty much always been a fact of life that kids who left school here to go to university have found much better opportunities elsewhere as Grimsby has never had the diversity of jobs that other cities/towns have had.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

This bit is absolutely key - if the GTFC board aren't prepared to work with NELC then they really need to consider their positions. It would make it look like self-interest is more important than (their own words) the financial future of the football club.

I've pretty much kept out of this up to now but there is no evidence that I've seen that the club aren't prepared to work with NELC.
As much as I want to see a new ground I do not want it to be an acceptance of the first offer made. If, as I do, you accept that the reasons for moving are tied into ensuring that there is a chance of greater/different income streams which will allow us to compete better with teams at the top end of this division (and the one above) then I want the club to ensure that they do everything they can to make that happen. Otherwise we might as well stay at B.P. (which at least we do own)

Quoted from barralad

I've pretty much kept out of this up to now but there is no evidence that I've seen that the club aren't prepared to work with NELC.
As much as I want to see a new ground I do not want it to be an acceptance of the first offer made. If, as I do, you accept that the reasons for moving are tied into ensuring that there is a chance of greater/different income streams which will allow us to compete better with teams at the top end of this division (and the one above) then I want the club to ensure that they do everything they can to make that happen. Otherwise we might as well stay at B.P.

Whilst accepting what you say about income streams, I can't believe after all that's been said that the club can contemplate staying at BP. It's falling to bits and it doesn't seem logical to carry on throwing money at it. If I was good enough to be a professional footballer, I would be seriously put off at thought of playing my football at a run-down wreck of a ground.

Quoted from Mrs Doyle

Grimsby is indeed the bottom end of the country.

The worst place in the country for high street takeaways, pawnbrokers. charity shops and betting shops outlining the fact we are the most poverty-stricken unhealthiest place in the UK.

All this will not help to attract players to Mike Jolley and GTFC.

Utter tosh....Adam Proudlock signed for that sole reason,  massive variety in cheese topped takeaways to spend his goal bonuses on....

Quoted from Cloudy

Non football

Selling clothing is football related so this should be fine...

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Whilst accepting what you say about income streams, I can't believe after all that's been said that the club can contemplate staying at BP. It's falling to bits and it doesn't seem logical to carry on throwing money at it. If I was good enough to be a professional footballer, I would be seriously put off at thought of playing my football at a run-down wreck of a ground.

I don't know but I think it's a given that everyone connected to the running of GTFC sees the future away from B.P. The point I was trying to make (rather clumsily I admit) was that I think the club will want to negotiate for want of a better phrase a deal that gives us improvement on our income raising capabilities. The last thing that needs to be communicated is a sense of desperation. I would add that every time there is a poll there is a significant minority for whom remaining at an updated B.P. is the preferred option.

Quoted from barralad

Can agree with some of that but a couple of points...there isn't to my knowledge a single school at primary or secondary level in NE Lincs that is under the control of the LA. The acedemy model gives schools virtual autonomy.
Secondly I'm attending a class of 69 Clee Grammar reunion on 17 November. The vast majority of the ex-pupils who will be attending probably haven't lived in this area since they left school 42 years ago. It has pretty much always been a fact of life that kids who left school here to go to university have found much better opportunities elsewhere as Grimsby has never had the diversity of jobs that other cities/towns have had.

The academies are something of a pain and a problem but it is possible for example for a local council to encourage/help existing grammar schools to open new premises in a different area.

I am not sure about the graduate business. Most of the people I was with at Clee seemed to stay or return into teaching or law or the Humber Bank or the food industry. Maybe it depends on the year group. I am a little earlier than you. Perhaps I was wrong to have been so definite. The point is though that we lose so many bright kids to Lincolnshire and we lose their families too very often as well.

Enjoy your reunion.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

The academies are something of a pain and a problem but it is possible for example for a local council to encourage/help existing grammar schools to open new premises in a different area.

I am not sure about the graduate business. Most of the people I was with at Clee seemed to stay or return into teaching or law or the Humber Bank or the food industry. Maybe it depends on the year group. I am a little earlier than you. Perhaps I was wrong to have been so definite. The point is though that we lose so many bright kids to Lincolnshire and we lose their families too very often as well.

Enjoy your reunion.

Ta. For my part  I can easily subscribe to the view that leaving in the 60s there would have been some major jobs available in the Bank factories. I know for a fact that a substantial part of the legal profession in Grimsby are or were suitably qualified old boys of Clee and Wintringham.

The stats show that in areas with grammar schools, the academically weaker kids going to the regular schools perform worse in comparison to the weaker kids in areas with comprehensives and no grammars.

How about we instead improve all schools rather than just pandering for the 'clever' kids? (i.e. those whose parents are wealthy enough to pay for tuition).

Oddly enough, half of my group of friends from the area who all went away to University all live back in Cleethorpes these days. Not a bad place to raise a family though not the most exciting place to live. Ultimately, just another example of a town which built up around an industry which all but disappeared almost overnight and then was abandoned to its fate by central government. One of many.

Who gives a excrement. Its our town and we know its not that bad. Just a larger majority of idiots than most places, but that's a different discussion to have.

Quoted from Maringer

The stats show that in areas with grammar schools, the academically weaker kids going to the regular schools perform worse in comparison to the weaker kids in areas with comprehensives and no grammars.

How about we instead improve all schools rather than just pandering for the 'clever' kids? (i.e. those whose parents are wealthy enough to pay for tuition).

Oddly enough, half of my group of friends from the area who all went away to University all live back in Cleethorpes these days. Not a bad place to raise a family though not the most exciting place to live. Ultimately, just another example of a town which built up around an industry which all but disappeared almost overnight and then was abandoned to its fate by central government. One of many.

The Tories are pretty crap at education and unfortunately this would go against Labour Party policy because they would need to have somewhere they can pay to send their kids.

Quoted from Maringer

The stats show that in areas with grammar schools, the academically weaker kids going to the regular schools perform worse in comparison to the weaker kids in areas with comprehensives and no grammars.

How about we instead improve all schools rather than just pandering for the 'clever' kids? (i.e. those whose parents are wealthy enough to pay for tuition).

Absolutely, all schools should be improved, but I don't see how holding back 'clever' kids so they don't get too far ahead of less intelligent ones is beneficial to anybody.

Quoted from pen penfras

Absolutely, all schools should be improved, but I don't see how holding back 'clever' kids so they don't get too far ahead of less intelligent ones is beneficial to anybody.

I'm afraid that it's what the assessment of schools has led to. Once a school believes it has got a student to a C grade then it works on the next D rather than trying to get the first one to a B.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

I'm afraid that it's what the assessment of schools has led to. Once a school believes it has got a student to a C grade then it works on the next D rather than trying to get the first one to a B.

We should be using our relative weight as a top economic nation to fund schools to ensure that all of our kids leave school with a good standard of education rather than letting the strugglers lag behind the more academically gifted ones. Or you know - someone could make a profit out of it and hope for the best.

I love my home town, but I find it hard to be defensive about the report. Most parts of the town are tired and run down due to neglect and lack of investment. No doubt this is partly due to high levels of unemployment, but some of the blame must go to years of poor management by the local authority.

Quoted from Maringer

The stats show that in areas with grammar schools, the academically weaker kids going to the regular schools perform worse in comparison to the weaker kids in areas with comprehensives and no grammars.

How about we instead improve all schools rather than just pandering for the 'clever' kids? (i.e. those whose parents are wealthy enough to pay for tuition).

Oddly enough, half of my group of friends from the area who all went away to University all live back in Cleethorpes these days. Not a bad place to raise a family though not the most exciting place to live. Ultimately, just another example of a town which built up around an industry which all but disappeared almost overnight and then was abandoned to its fate by central government. One of many.

Why do you think developers want to build housing on land south of the town more than on land in the centre? It is OK to say that we should improve all things equally including schooling, I’ve said that too, but the facts are that people with most money and people who most value education for their kids want to live where they have easiest access to the best schools. Ultimately that is what the Toll Bar roundabout row is really about.

Times have changed a lot and we have to acknowledge the realities of life in an area that is run down as you say and which loses its brightest kids every year. If Caistor Grammar set up shop in NEL it would be over-subscribed in a week and there would be a queue of kids waiting to take the entrance exam. I’m not saying that is politically or socially correct but it should be accounted for when people talk about making the town a more desirable place to live. Our problem is that we know our town too well. If you were coming to work in Grimsby for the first time, where would you want to live and where would you want your kids educated?

Our football club suffers from the same sort of problem. It is run down and needing investment. But only building a new ground is no guarantee of success, just as pumping millions into new cinemas is no guarantee of regeneration. The club has to have a complete rethink about the audience and about what it offers, starting with what it has the ambition to offer on the pitch. Nobody in their right mind is going to invest in a club that has such limited horizons as Grimsby Town has at the minute. Time and money has been thrown down the drain for years with false starts. Financial support will only come if an investor can see light at the end of the tunnel and that will only come if the club joins with the council to make something exciting happen, then others may jump on the bandwagon but not until. A first step, just my view, would be to get someone on board like Alec King only this time not getting cold feet at the business plan stage like the board did in 2000-2002. We know what/who the stumbling block is. All we can do is pray that common sense will see some sort of co-operation between the board room and the council offices.

The players need to cut down on the pre match kebabs by the sounds of it

It's all about money and when the south has more spent per person spent on it what do they expect to happen to not just Grimsby but the north as a whole. The council are also to blame and they take a share of the blame.

Quoted from Marinerz93

It's all about money and when the south has more spent per person spent on it what do they expect to happen to not just Grimsby but the north as a whole. The council are also to blame and they take a share of the blame.

It is not just a north/south thing. There are London boroughs on lists like these and places like Clacton and Yarmouth. It is not just money either because some of those London boroughs have conned billions out of the government but they are still down the bottom of the pile.

Everyone knows it's not just Grimsby that is suffering with the high street(s)

I know Freemo and that area is nothing like it was in its heyday but so many socio-economic changes have led to its decline and to be honest it's unlikely to recover

I live in Goole and work in Hull and I see exactly the same kind of shops attracting the same markets....the high street which was once a centre of the community is on its last legs ( Scunthorpe is another town with the same issues )

We've all played a part in the change of course, supporting supermarkets rather than the diverse trades of butchers, greengrocers etc, and of course there are the out of town malls that people go to ( how many from Grimsby will be going to Meadowhell to spend their money on Xmas gifts instead of going to Woolies on Freemo like my mum & dad did )

Add all these things in to the mix along with the decline of the industry which this town was founded on, the disparity of funds with the north/south divide, local government with their own narrow agendas and it's no surprise we find such a sorry state in town

Saying all that, I'd move back to my old home town tomorrow if I got the chance instead of being the fish out of water I am looking on from a distance

One thing will never change.... I'm Grimsby born and proud!

Louth would never have a news report like that . Ever .

Has anyone here been to any working-class town that despite fancy coffee shops or new housing estates has not got run down eyesores blighting it? Every town, or nearly every one, has the shopping avenue which has been left behind, the areas that are not as desirable, and in some cases downright hostile?

We need more investment like everybody else, but we have some huge advantages that we must make more of in the future - our coastal situation and our heritage.

It won't happen in my lifetime sadly, but I live in hope that future generations can throw the Grimsby jibes back in their faces.

Quoted from Mrs Doyle

Grimsby is indeed the bottom end of the country.

The worst place in the country for high street takeaways, pawnbrokers. charity shops and betting shops outlining the fact we are the most poverty-stricken unhealthiest place in the UK.

All this will not help to attract players to Mike Jolley and GTFC.

But a fan base who appreciates hard work and effort and love their club .I think our working class roots breeds more passion for the game/club than maybe some other clubs in our league and  higher up the leagues .

Just my own observation, but those areas that seem to be declining, in the majority are coastal towns.

Quoted from Gaffer58

Just my own observation, but those areas that seem to be declining, in the majority are coastal towns.

It also seems that coastal towns are by and large having a more elderly population.

Quoted from Gaffer58

Just my own observation, but those areas that seem to be declining, in the majority are coastal towns.

They have reached rock bottom as far as the family holiday market is concerned but they have one very attractive asset - lots of multi-occupancy rental buildings that used to be holiday flats. Landlords need to rent them to someone and most go to DSS clients and that brings with it the drug issues.

Blackpool is a good example - it is like Freemo but without the class. But what else has a town like Blackpool got to offer if its primary purpose has disappeared?

The smaller resorts always have been popular with the elderly for retirement homes. Look at Mablethorpe and Skegness for that. So they put the pressure on medical and social services.