I think having the word Great in front of the town of Grimsby is a bit contradicting, I know that might seem negative but having all the problems conjoined in Grimsby makes it not very ‘great.’ The stigma that comes from Grimsby is very harsh and the town gets a lot of backlashes from the actions and incidents that happen within the town. I do not think it is the people in the town that necessarily make it a bad place, but over time Grimsby has become an increasingly more unlikeable place to live.  

“I have lived here all my life and over the years I have seen an increase in the stigma against Grimsby and the people that live here”- Margeret Paterson 

Now if you do not know exactly where Grimsby is you might know it from the infamous movie “Grimsby” do not get me wrong the movie is great just for the humor not an actual idea of what people in Grimsby act like, but it gives you an idea.  

Even being known for the movie, Grimsby is most known for the fish. History goes back 1,000 years to when they were first founded. By the 1950s Grimsby became the world's largest fishing port. However, in the 1970s they saw a huge decline in the fishing industry due to the cod wars, which led to a series of mass employment. Even after the tragedy, the fish history carries on as many fish companies such as “Youngs” have taken up residence. 

This town's population is around 85,000, the second largest settlement in Lincolnshire just after Lincoln. This leads me to the fact that Grimsby was rated in 2019 top 16 deprived areas in the UK and was recently your top 50 worst towns to live in the UK, this correlates with the two statistics I am about to show you, two prominent areas in Grimsby have 47 percent of children living in poverty and 17 neighborhoods in northeast Lincolnshire where more than a third of children are living in poverty. This has even hit harder recently with the current cost of living crisis which has caused a lot of shops and businesses to shut down such as the sidewalk café which has been in operation for over 40 years recently shut down due to the cost-of-living crisis. 

Even though there are a lot of factors that are negative, there are a couple of factors that make Grimsby a good place such as their pride for the home football team Grimsby town, or their pride for their fishing heritage. There are a lot of improvements going on in Grimsby that are slowly but surely trying to make Grimsby a better place. I think that even though there are a few negative factors they still do not outfigure the positive factors and hopefully in the future, Grimsby will not be as stigmatized. 

Do not judge a book by its cover.