Key building from fishing’s past derelict and at risk.
Photo Credit: The Victorian Society.
Grade II*-listed, 1901, W.F. Cott
This vast factory produced ice for Grimsby’s fishing industry for ninety years. The building and its early-twentieth-century ice machinery represent an important part of the town’s fishing heritage. It closed down in 1990 and is now a derelict industrial building marooned on private land owned by Associated British Ports. The company has no plans to demolish the Grade II*-listed factory, but if the neglect continues it will eventually crumble. Ice was last made here in 1990 but the historic machinery which produced it is now open to the elements as the roof is no longer watertight. Local campaigners would like to see the Ice Factory brought back to life as part of a wider regeneration of the docks but there is still a long way to go.
Status Update / March 2026
In one of the happier outcomes on our list, Grimsby Ice Factory is currently undergoing a multi-million pound transformation as the new hub for the UK’s offshore wind and green maritime industries. The redevelopment of the factory buildings consists of its complete refurbishment with extensions being proposed to accommodate a broad suite of facilities, which include a lecture theatre and events space, an office workspace, and a research and development facility for renewable energy systems. Interestingly, the project maintains the original north and south buildings as physically separate entities, establishing connections between them at street level and using first-floor footbridges.