GREAT GRIMSBY
ICE FACTORY TRUST

GGIFT was founded in July 2010 in response to a series of public meetings, arranged by the Grimsby, Cleethorpes & District Civic Society, to draw attention to the plight of the Grimsby Ice Factory and historic dock peninsula, known locally as the Kasbah. It has no connection to GY 1900 Ltd which has owned the Grimsby Ice Factory since 2020.

The Ice Factory is a Grade II* listed building, having been spot listed when it ceased production in July 1990, and was about to be demolished. For the ensuing 20 years the owners, Associated British Ports (ABP) were unable find a use for the building. Bearing in mind that the Factory – the “largest ice factory in the world” – has a footprint of 1.1 acres, interior space equivalent to a superstore, and still retains all its ice-making machinery, this was not an easy building to repurpose. In the meantime, as the building deteriorated, it became in the minds of many, an eyesore.

In 2010 ABP and the local authority, North East Lincolnshire Council (NELC), had jointly commissioned two studies – an Appraisal of the Existing Structure and a Conservation Statement. These studies were expected to underpin an application to (then) English Heritage to have the building de-listed, so that it could at last be got rid of.

The public meetings revealed that local people were evenly split on the question of whether or not the building should be demolished. The founding members of the Trust were moved firstly to protect the local heritage, and secondly to kick start culture-led regeneration in Grimsby.

When the two reports were eventually made public, we learned that the building was actually quite stable, and that its significance was high, and ABP told us that if we could find a use for the building, they would allow us to have it. Between July and December 2010 we held meetings, explored ideas, and formed a steering committee to take these forward.

Late in 2010 it was our great good fortune to come into contact with the Prince’s Regeneration Trust (PRT), who visited Grimsby for the first time in January 2011. This was the start of a long and supportive relationship that ended only when PRT was absorbed into the Prince’s Foundation in 2018.

Gradually Then Suddenly
After seven years of networking and advocacy, including an unsuccessful bid to the (then) Heritage Lottery Fund for a mixed-use solution for the Ice Factory, our efforts were rewarded.

In August 2017, PRT invited us to bid for a £2 million pot of funding which was being made available in celebration of Prince Charles’s 70th birthday. GGIFT, ABP, and NELC came together for the first time to discuss potential projects, and fixed upon Peterson’s Smokehouse on Henderson Street, with three additional buildings on Wharncliffe Road. ABP agreed to grant a 99 year lease to GGIFT, on the condition that any profits from the commercial letting of the buildings would be ploughed back into further regeneration projects within the Kasbah. A partnership was born, with a template for future projects.

GGIFT is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee.

National and international organisations that have funded, mentored, and engaged with GGIFT include:

• The Architectural Heritage Fund
• National Lottery Heritage Fund
• The Pilgrim Trust
• The LG Harris Trust
• The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment
• Historic England
• SAVE Britain’s Heritage
• The Council for British Archaeology
• The World Monuments Fund
• Europa Nostra

All these organisations have supported our efforts not just to find a new use for the Ice Factory, but to change local perceptions of our maritime built heritage from “eyesore” to “asset”.

Other groups who have expressed their support include:

• The Victorian Society
• Lincolnshire Heritage
• Civic Voice
• The Enrolled Freemen of Grimsby
• Grimsby Institute
• Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology
• The Institute of Refrigeration
• East Marsh Community Trust