Great Yarmouth: 'This town got stuck in time but now I'm loving it'

The historic glass Winter Gardens building has been given a £10m lottery handout to convert it into a heritage, arts and education hub

With its golden sands stretching for miles and two piers dating back to the 19th Century, the Norfolk resort of Great Yarmouth was once a mecca for fishermen and holidaymakers. Its fortunes have since waned, with areas of real deprivation. But could the seaside town be bouncing back?

In its fishing industry heyday, boats full of herring would be loaded onto the quayside.

The silver darling, as it was then known, was the town's lifeblood and it was said you could cross the River Yare by walking on the decks of the drifters.

A £13.7m grant will pay for more leisure venues and transform empty historic buildings into homes

Today, work has started on bridging the port in a different way. It is hoped a £120m third river crossing, linking the south of the town and the A47, will relieve pressure on the existing bridges.

But this scheme is just one of many big money investments in an area hoping to become the UK's City of Culture in 2025.

The title could be very important for the town, where a quarter of neighbourhoods are among the most deprived in England.

Earnings, life expectancy, GCSE results and major health measures are all worse than the national average.

'It's a place of promise'

One person trying change this is Ruben Cruz. He was 16 when he emigrated from Portugal to join family in Great Yarmouth.

Ruben Cruz set up the Reprezent Project to help young people in the town

He enrolled on a performing arts course in Norwich but later returned to the seaside town as he liked the community feel.

The dancer and curator set up the Reprezent Project social enterprise, which runs arts events and workshops for young people.

The Reprezent Project runs arts sessions for young people

"I think these are massive changes," the 26-year-old says.

"It is very important to invest in Yarmouth - they have been investing so much, but they have got to do so much.

"It got stuck in time - it used to have the fishing industry - but we need to look at new ways of attracting people.

"It's a place of promise."

One of the murals created by the Reprezent Project in Great Yarmouth

He brought Canadian artist Brent Ray Fraser to the town in 2018 for its annual graffiti festival to inspire young people.

"We wanted to bring that guy because we were having issues [with groups of youngsters] outside McDonald's.

"We engaged with them... sometimes you have to take a big step."

Reprezent has painted nine murals across Great Yarmouth, to help give young people pride in their town.

Ruben says he hopes to make the community better for his three-year-old son

"We want people to find art. We want to do something amazing for the community that people can enjoy every day.

"Everything I'm doing is to make an example for my three-year-old son... I found myself here and I'm loving it."

At a glance: What is happening in Great Yarmouth?

• A £120m bridge - the third river crossing - will link the town's marine and offshore industries with the A47 when it opens in 2023

• The borough council's replacement £26m Golden Mile "anchor attraction", the Marina Centre leisure complex, is due to open next summer

• A £20.1m Town Funds grant will help create jobs and plans to turn the empty Palmers department store into a learning hub and university campus alongside the relocated Central Library

• Work should be completed in summer 2022 on an £18m operations and maintenance campus for the offshore renewables sector

• A £13.7m Future High Streets Fund will pay for the library move as well as a new heritage centre, more leisure venues and turn empty historic buildings into homes in the town centre

• The historic glass Winter Gardens has won a £10m lottery grant - part of a £16m restoration - and is due to reopen in 2026 as a heritage, arts and education venue

• The Market Place is undergoing a £4.6m revamp to help attract more shoppers

• A four-year £1.9m scheme to save the town centre's historic and at-risk buildings is also under way

• A new 'fire festival' this autumn has just been revealed in a bid to make the resort a year-round destination

• A London Eye-style wheel (pictured) is on a free summer loan, offering views for up to 10 miles

• Plans are under way to secure major festival slots next year for a film, titled Provisional Figures, shot in Great Yarmouth featuring Nuno Lopes

'It gives people confidence'

After years working in London and Italy, fashion designer Sophie Miller returned to her home town and later launched the heritage brand Yarmouth Oilskins for its 123-year-old parent company Yarmouth Stores.

"From a designer's point of view, it's like a treasure trove - because we've been in our building for over 100 years we've been so lucky… we have rails of clothes going back 100 years," she says.

Fashion designer Sophie Miller returned to work in her Great Yarmouth home town

Waxed coats, denim smocks and bucket hats, based on patterns found at its quayside factory and hand-sewn by a 20-strong team, have proved a hit in Japan, Taiwan, Korea and Australia.

"In Asia they have an appetite for all things British and they are passionate about history.

"The workwear trend is really big there."

A model wearing Yarmouth Stores' engineer's jacket on the streets of Seoul in South Korea

This photo of men in their Yarmouth Oilskins made by Johnson & Sons Ltd - under the Yarmouth Stores' umbrella - was taken in 1913

The label, which produces about 18,000 unisex garments a year, has also just had a New York boutique join its stockists.

She says some people "talk Yarmouth down" but she believes the investment is giving people more confidence.

"It's really important and provides a positive message, which gives the ripple effect for businesses.

"It will take a bit more momentum - that's not going to be overnight, but in five years we'll be in good stead," she says.

'I'm ever so happy it's revitalised'

Florist Caroline Gummer had been going to Great Yarmouth on holiday for years and decided to relocate there from Kent.

After adopting three children she realised her dream and opened a town centre shop - just six months before the first lockdown.

Florist Caroline Gummer helped prompt a turnaround in fortunes for the arcade

"As a family we went from nought to three children overnight, but I couldn't work a normal job with all the extra bits that come with adoption," she says.

By last autumn, she was becoming disenchanted by the number of neighbouring empty premises in the Victoria Arcade.

"I was tired of the negative comments - nothing's open, nobody comes down here, there's nothing in Yarmouth," she says.

So she asked the landlords if she could advertise shops on social media and have the keys to show potential clients.

It resulted in nine shops opening and the arcade is now almost full again.

The Victoria Arcade has been revitalised by a string of new shop openings

"I'm ever so happy it's revitalised.

"This is a dream and one I would never have achieved in Kent due to the prices of shops - it's exactly where I want to be, doing what I want to do, living in a place I love," she says.

Great Yarmouth's Market Place is being revamped

'It is a place to be proud of'

Former town mayoress Sara Smith set up her café perched on the edge of the resort's golden sands and in the shadow of Great Yarmouth's famous Pleasure Beach in 1999.

She gets up at 06:00 through the summer to meet the demand for freshly-baked goods at Sara's Tea Rooms.

Sara Smith set up her tea rooms 22 years ago on Great Yarmouth's Golden Mile and now runs it with her son Matt

"I've never sold a cake in here that I haven't made," the 70-year-old says.

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She launched it with her late husband Tony, a long-serving borough councillor and mayor, and now runs it with her son Matt, 42.

The pair have been buoyed this year by the string of investments, in contrast to their feelings last year.

"I spent three months on the verge of a breakdown, of 'are we going to get through this?'," Matt says.

"Last season we ran with six tables inside, we would normally have 23 inside - we lost two-fifths of our seats. "Did we earn a living out of it? Yes. But at the start... it was a time of massive panic."

The £26m Marina Centre, which will have three swimming pools, is starting to take shape on the seafront

He says visitor numbers are currently looking good, partly due to the arrival of the big wheel.

"Not everybody wants to ride it, but everybody wants to look at it.

"And I think what they've done with the Marina Centre will be a massive, massive boost... the building felt tired and unloved."

The Smiths' cafe borders Great Yarmouth's long stretch of golden sands

More people are set to holiday at home this summer, but do they think the trend will continue?

"Next year there will be more people going abroad - and we will be competing with that - but we will have done the work, so people will say 'I've been there during Covid times and I'm going to go abroad, but I'm also going to go there," Matt says.

"So many people over the years have put Great Yarmouth down, but it is a place to be proud of," Sara says.