Ice Barque

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The name of this Wetherspoon pub recalls the elegant Norwegian ships, or barques, which once brought ice across the North Sea to Grimsby. By the mid 13th century, fish was Grimsby's most important trade. But, by 1500, the port was in serious decline. At the end of the 18th century, Grimsby was little more than a large village. It was rescued from its near-terminal decay by the building of, what came to be known as, 'the Old Dock', by the Grimsby Haven Company. Coupled with the opening of the railway, the port duly flourished. Its trade was made up of grain barges and Humber keels at the riverhead, as well as graceful Norwegian ice barques, colliers, cod smacks, herring drifters and trawlers.