Yahoo News The former Grimsby Docks worker who is bringing the area back to life one building at a time
A Grimsby businessman who was keen to bring a once-bustling place back to life feels he is "leading the way" with bringing more people to Grimsby Docks he and his family work to renovate 12 disused buildings in the area.
Steve Ridlington founded WE1 Heritage back in 2019 after he and wife Caroline discovered a historic former pub on King Edward Street. Keen to develop the building into something useful for the community, they transformed it into a unique co-working space combining single offices, studios and suites for both professionals and creatives alike.
From then on, Steve - who worked in the fishing industry in the 1980s, following in the footsteps of his dad and grandad - was keen to give long-empty buildings on Grimsby Docks a new lease of life.
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In August 2021, Steve began renovating two properties on the Docks. Nearly three years on, and WE1 Heritage has refurbished a former warehouse on Auckland Road into Coffee on the Docks, a modern and stylish meeting spot, coffee shop and café, all rolled into one.
Situated upstairs is the studio of renowned local artist, Dale Mackie, who painted the iconic wall mural on Garibaldi Street, while Annabel McCourt - known for the Murmurations mural in St James' Square - is also based on Auckland Road.
Over on Wharncliffe Road, artists Dale Wells and Darren Neave opened the TT88 art gallery, also owned by Steve, after extensively renovating the building. The street is also now home to The Grimbarians Studio, a space for local creatives to work together on projects.
Steve told Grimsby Live: "I worked in the fishing industry and in the 1980s, you'd see how busy it was and there was so much going on. It was a town within a town, and it's gone now.
"I've visited Liverpool, Manchester and London Docks and you see what's happened there. We're never going to be able to get residential properties on here, but we've still got the Victorian architecture.
"They're beautiful old buildings with all the original features, and we're just about to replace the windows as they were. That's what we do with every building. We don't just come in and change it all - we restore it back to its former glory.
"With Coffee on the Docks, this was once a warehouse owned by Consolidated Fisheries, and the walls are all original. That's what we're trying to do with every building, so that people go, 'this is what it used to look like', but we're trying to put a modern twist to them, too.
"The place screams out to artists, and with that, people want to come and see the art. We've pledged 12 buildings so that's what we're going to do - no more, no less - and we're just trying to bring them all back to life. Since we've done that, there have been people interested in the buildings, so we feel we're leading the way."
To find out more about the work WE1 Heritage does, you can head to their website by clicking here.
