Despite being beset by economic and social problems, evidence of the towns’ 19th-century heyday remains
What’s going for it? If you want to see why so many people voted (and would still vote) for Brexit, these are the perfect places to start. These conjoined twins have been in a death spiral for decades. The story is depressingly familiar: the sudden removal of a place’s main reason for being, various feeble attempts at sticking-plaster “regeneration” and decades of underinvestment. Today, Grimsby and Cleethorpes need big thinking. There are a few, much-feted, green shoots: the wind-farm industry, for instance (Grimsby has more of its energy demands met by renewables than anywhere else in the country); or the turning of Grimsby’s evocative, 19th-century dockside Kasbah district into a conservation area. Whether these green shoots will grow, though, is a moot point. The area faces formidable challenges. On the plus side, the towns can be truly beautiful, with handsome 19th-century homes, delightful parks and silky sand on the beach. Its community is battered, but of a strength most places would envy. Nobody could wish these places anything but better fortune, love and, most importantly, a whole lot of cash.
The case against Where to begin. The full gamut of economic and social problems. Grimsby, in particular, was heavily damaged by redevelopment in the 70s.
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