The FISH TOWN project was only a year-long documentation of a fishing industry about to enter the new European Union (EU) regulations in 1990, which would, and did change the social and economic future of a historic fishing town called Grimsby on the East coast of England. The project ended up spanning 30 years!

The fish docks, where all the fish landing, auctions, filleting, and global distribution was in a relatively small area called ‘The Kazbah’. (Where did that name come from?). A village if you like, on private land owned by British Associated Ports (ABP). Drivers needed no license, no MoTs, jobs were on a family basis or an interview was as simple as; ‘let’s see how fast you can fillet Boy’. Health and safety rules were still in a victorian era and everyone knew everybody either by a nickname or some other namely wording. The ‘Kazbah’ pub opened at 6 am and the smoke-filled café’s bustled with all-day breakfasts, steaming tea earns, and banter that should have been scripted for ‘Live at The Apollo’. (A famous London comedy theatre).

I became aware of these new EU rules in 1988/9 and decided to document the life of Grimsby fishing town. Armed with ABP accreditation, 2 Nikon F3’s, 60 rolls of film kindly donated by Kodak, I ventured into another world. Shooting the very first frames everyone freaked out. Most hid behind fish boxes and others simply ran off. It took a whole week before word got out that I was not DHSS. Once accepted I became a member with nicknames like; smudge box, snapper, and twat with the lens.

For 3 or 4 days a week, every week for a year, I’d be there from 6ish to lunchtime when the last filleting was done.  Often getting a ‘heads up’ if there was a spectacular landing or something unusual happening the next day. I’d go back to the studio after an all-day breakfast in one of the café’s, and develop the films, print contact sheets and file them. Marking out initial images I liked. Ilford later donated about 40 rolls of film and a large batch of Ilford Gallerie printing paper.

When the day eventually came for everyone to have to operate under the new EU rules, the fish docks died. The heart and soul of a fishing community disappeared. Never to return.  In 1990 I put together an exhibition of the images in Grimsby Town Hall. Out of nearly 100 rolls of film, I selected and printed 120 exhibition prints onto Ilford Gallery fiber-based paper. I held a VIP and press evening to ‘spread the word’ (the internet and social media weren’t invented) and finally opened to the public for a 4-day show. By the 3rd day, it was sold out.

What happened next! Well, I went back to shooting commercial work for 30 years. Disappeared from the limelight! ‘Never shooting anything personal again’. How boring! However, mouths and mortgage to feed and all that…

ZOOM forward 30 years to 2020 and BREXIT.
What a perfect opportunity to revive FISH TOWN …

Fortunately, I did archive all the black and white negatives and created a filing system, so looking back through the contact sheets stirred my imagination to resume the project. I did a few visits to the ‘Kasbah’ and it was absolutely as it was 30 years ago. Only deserted and decaying. Everywhere was fenced off due to dangerous structural damage. Although a new and very efficient fish market was built. No businesses were trading nearby. All had left the docks forever or to new premises on sterile business parks or to a new heroic seafood village modeled on the old pontoons.

After a few phone calls to ‘get the bigger picture and armed again with my cameras. Nikon D5’s this time. I documented up to 10 seafood processing companies, photographing the workers and facilities. A far cry from the 1990 images. It’s now a seafood laboratory. Robotic, high-tech, digital production and distribution operation. I photographed the ‘Kasbah’s’ empty premises, closed café’s, ghostly streets and found a smokehouse still operating in the same traditional way. Apparently, smokehouses didn’t have to change at all!

Over 6 months, I captured the new way the FISH TOWN worked and am sponsored by Epson Printers, using the latest printers, scanners, pigment inks, and fine art papers. X-Rite sponsors me with the latest i3 Pro Plus calibration tools and I’m supported by Nikon Professional. These sponsors helped me produce this whole collection of FISH TOWN images, as an important cultural, social, and economic documentation, covering 30 years of change to a fishing town’s community, way of life, and economic structure. Without them, I doubt I’d be writing this…

This is a unique collection of images that are now displayed here for the first time. These unpublished images have been digitally remastered using today’s technology. The FISH TOWN collection of images documents the fortunes of Grimsby over 30 years. It records the working life of filleters and dock workers, the ice house at work, buying and selling, early morning auctions, and more. The capture of these unique moments in time is made even more impactful by the use of monochrome to convey industrial starkness and an emotive, raw honesty.

The inaugural exhibition displaying the complete collection is to be shown in Grimsby next May 2022 for the local populous and a new book is to be published to coincide with the exhibition. Hopefully, thereafter the exhibition will go on tour to other galleries and fishing ports in the UK.

Enjoy!
Steve Thornton.