Alexandra Dock in Grimsby, inside the Freshney shopping centre, and a building near the docks. Composite: Guardian DesignView image in fullscreenAlexandra Dock in Grimsby, inside the Freshney shopping centre, and a building near the docks. Composite: Guardian DesignCan a £5.8bn scheme help revive Grimsby and other town centres?Turning boarded-up shops into community spaces is a bigger and more complex task than just adding funding Most levelling up projects still unfinished years after funding allocated “It is nice to see something happening for once,” says Jack Vincent, a Grimsby resident, as he considers a wave of change finally arriving in a town that had become a byword for deprivation.In June, King Charles visited the Lincolnshire coastal town, celebrating the opening of a youth centre in a previously derelict Victorian warehouse building and a Care charity community drop-in centre in a vacant bank on the high street. Scaffolding also shrouds one end of the town’s shopping centre, part of which is being converted to house leisure facilities including a cinema and a food market.“It is getting better and we have got the new cinema coming,” says Vincent, who is in town with his partner and two young children.View image in fullscreenJack Vincent, 35, says: ‘It is nice to see something happening for once.’ Photograph: Paul Marriott/The GuardianLinda Hooper, 75, who also lives locally, agrees: “They are generally making it nicer and there’s a good shopping centre.”Once the world’s largest fishing port, Grimsby has been hit badly by the decline of its trawler fleet since the 1950s, and North East Lincolnshire council has spent the lion’s share of the £59m in government-backed regeneration funds awarded to it since 2021 trying to revamp the struggling town centre.It is now beginning to spend a further £20m from the pride in place programme, the latest government attempt to support struggling communities.
The scheme was launched under Keir Starmer as a revamp of previous Conservative plans, expanded to offer 284 deprived communities up to £2m a year for 10 years to help with regeneration.On becoming prime minister, Andy Burnham made clear that reviving town centres would be one of his priorities and gave his backing to the £5.8bn national programme. It also fits within his wider devolution drive.View image in fullscreenResident Linda Hooper, 75, says the town has a good shopping centre. Photograph: Paul Marriott/The GuardianThe communities secretary, Angela Rayner, says: “Our pride in place programme is a break from past approaches by putting local people in charge … no more ‘Whitehall knows best’. This is local people deciding what matters most to them.”Residents in Grimsby feel the high street is the part of their town that has declined more than any other over the last decade, with household names such as Debenhams collapsing and shoplifting on the rise.Henrietta Billings, the director of Save Britain’s Heritage, which campaigns for the preservation of historical buildings, says: “I think it is right the government is recognising that people are really fed up with seeing, at best, paint peeling off all the buildings … They see when no one cares about them and can feel let down.”Despite hopes of further money for regeneration in John Healey’s first budget as chancellor on 28 October, and the announcement last month of another £210m to help turn boarded-up shops and other businesses into community spaces, the problem is bigger and more complex than just finding more funding.View image in fullscreenThe Freshney shopping centre, part of which is being converted to house leisure facilities including a cinema and a food market.
Photograph: Paul Marriott/The GuardianGrimsby gives a glimpse into the challenges of how to adapt as more of us shop and bank online, amid years of central government cost-cutting and the decline of historical industries that once brought jobs and wages.As in many other local authorities, the people of North East Lincolnshire registered their dissatisfaction with a big vote for Reform in the May elections, wresting minority control of the council. It is also a place that overwhelmingly supported Brexit, with the promise of a fishing revival, but which then lost processing jobs after the UK left the EU.Despite its efforts at regeneration, many large commercial buildings, including a former Wilko and House of Fraser, and beautiful Victorian buildings such as the vast Victoria Mills and the Grimsby Ice Factory remain empty.Local people say some empty office blocks and commercial buildings are vacant after being picked up for a song by out-of-town investors, who then realised redevelopment was more costly and complicated than they imagined.The Covid pandemic and other hold-ups mean that, while three of Grimsby’s redevelopment projects funded by the predecessors to pride in place are complete, several more remain in progress.As Spencer Hunt of the local council admits: “We still have issues.”View image in fullscreenDespite regeneration efforts in Grimsby, many large commercial buildings including a former Wilko remain empty. Photograph: Paul Marriott/The GuardianOn a Friday in Grimsby, the Freshney Place shopping centre is busy with people popping into a revamped Marks & Spencer, a Primark and a good mix of other shops, while the nearby Abbeygate pedestrianised street is packed with independent boutiques and eateries.However, the main high street is gap-toothed with vacant shops and has become a racetrack for local teenagers on bikes and scooters who join in lively banter with homeless people and daytime drinkers.Hooper, Vincent and several other local people agree that something needs to be done to reduce what Hooper describes as “yobs going up and down the walkway”.Some local teenagers agree that the town centre does not always feel very welcoming. “People need to feel more safe,” says Ewan Challender, 18, in town with Demi Sowerby, who says the shop where she works is frequently shoplifted.View image in fullscreenEwan Challender and Demi Sowerby, both 18, say the town has problems with safety and shoplifting. Photograph: Paul Marriott/The GuardianTheir scepticism about the redevelopment plans is fuelled by the struggles of previous efforts.
The Riverhead building, which was built in the noughties and once home to a selection of bars, in September finally welcomed a new inflatable play park, after lying empty since 2024, while a revamped St James’ Square remains bordered by shuttered premises.The effort to update town centres has been a long one. The rise of out-of-town retail parks and then internet shopping have been putting pressure on traditional retail-based high streets for decades.In 2011, the David Cameron government commissioned the retail guru Mary Portas to come up with some solutions, leading to 10 pilot revamps. While a number of those towns – such as Margate, Stockport and Stockton – are now lauded as examples of regeneration, others such as Croydon and Wolverhampton continue to struggle.A string of successors to the Portas scheme – including the town deals and the levelling up fund – have pumped almost £12bn into town centres in the past seven years, but so far failed to bring about widespread regeneration.The towns fund wraps together the £2.3bn in the programmes money awarded to 101 places in 2019 with the future high street fund, under which 72 places shared awards worth £830m from 2020.However, many recipients found that the pandemic and subsequent inflation, particularly on construction costs, as well as difficulties in securing sites or planning permission, forced them to scale back, pause or redraw plans.A focus on investing in buildings and other infrastructure has also left projects stymied by a lack of resources for staff to run them. Continued weak high street spending has meanwhile led to businesses and entrepreneurs siphoning a
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