Cleethorpes Townscape Heritage Programme
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About the project
A vision to preserve the buildings that helped to make Cleethorpes one of England’s busiest and best seaside resorts is being realised, thanks to the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Centred on Alexandra Road and Sea View Street, grant funding is available to help property owners to restore the historic shop fronts and buildings, some of which are listed.
The Victorian balconies along Alexandra Road are also being looked at as part of the overall scheme, along with public realm work – some of this has already started with new paving on the retail side of Alexandra Road funded as part of the project. Once complete this work will complement the paving improvements on the Pier Gardens side of the road, which was supported separately by the Coastal Communities Fund.
This investment is helping to breathe new life into historic buildings and public realm within the Cleethorpes Central Seafront Conservation Area by offering;
- An opportunity for historic building owners/occupiers to apply for generous grants to repair their properties, allowing historic details, like shop fronts, iron balconies and windows to be repaired or reinstated
- Improvements to some public areas
- An opportunity for students, building owners and contractors to learn traditional building conservation skills
- A chance to learn about the history of the area, through local exhibitions, guided tours and volunteering opportunities
The Townscape Heritage, (TH) Project, supported by £1.9m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund with a further £1m from North East Lincolnshire Council, has an ambition to ensure the resort’s unique heritage features are restored for a new generation to enjoy.
Watch a video created in 2024 about the Cleethorpes Townscape Heritage Programme:
FAQs
Balcony and shop front restoration projects
Through the project, with co-investment from private individuals, several balconies along the historic Alexandra Road have been restored.
Typically dating back to the early 1900s, the balconies were fabricated by several different Scottish foundries and front 26 properties. There are six blocks of differing designs along the road. Working with the Scottish Ironwork Foundation, research has been carried out to identify the designs and Scottish foundries that supplied the structures.
Paint analysis research has been undertaken working in partnership with The University of Lincoln School of History and Heritage Dept, to determine the original colour of the balconies in the resort, and has helped identify a range of heritage colours for the balconies to be painted.
Typically, for the balcony restorations, these have been removed off site, away from the marine environment, for stripping back to the cast iron, priming and re-painting.
The balcony from Numbers 21 to 24 Alexandra Road was manufactured by J & A Law Glasgow and is marked on columns. Similar columns exist at Southport in their 1902 catalogue, thus dating this structure to the early part of the last century. Other similar examples of the balcony panels exist as balconies at Worthing, and as a railing in Edinburgh. Shop fronts and building enhancements have also been undertaken within the project at numbers 21-22 and 24, Alexandra Road.
Number 41 Alexandra Road, also known as Woodliffe Villa is a Grade II listed building. As part of the works, the late 20th century shop front was replaced with a new shop front to the original design and entrance and redecorated using colours chosen as part of the heritage scheme. This property has its own single cast iron balcony.
Number 33 Alexandra Road has had a colourful past, including being a purveyor of oysters in the early 20th century, Newman’s jewellers in the late 1960s and more recently, a string of different occupiers. The building facade has been updated, including restoration of the shop front to its Victorian heritage.
42-45 Alexandra Road: This stretch of buildings on Alexandra Road consists of a terrace of several purpose-built shops with residential accommodation behind and above built between 1887 and 1906. This project is currently on site (summer 2025).
35 – 37 Sea View Street was a former grocers and newsagents store. Through the National Lottery Heritage Fund, there has been a heritage restoration to the façade of the building, and alongside this, the owners are undertook a full internal refurbishment of the property. Heritage works start at 35 – 37 Sea View Street, Cleethorpes | NELC. This was the location of the Sea View Street historic bottle.
Balcony photos – use the arrow to scroll through these.
Mermaid Café: 150 years ago, in 1874, the Mermaid Café building on Cleethorpes North Prom sea front was constructed as a waiting room for the recently opened Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway. It now forms part of the listed buildings on Cleethorpes Railway Station. The building owners have restored the interior of the building, with the National Lottery Heritage Fund and The Railway Trust helping to co-fund the renovation. Mermaid rides the crest of a wave in Cleethorpes | NELC
Dolphin Hotel: Nearly 250 years ago, the Dolphin Hotel, or the “Cleethorpes Hotel” as it was known at the time came into being. The Dolphin Hotel sits on the corner of Market Place and Alexandra Road in the seaside resort of Cleethorpes, and over the years has played a major role in the history and development of the town. The building has been a hotel, restaurant, oyster bar, café and in more recent years, various nightclubs, and now (2025) the current owners are starting a major project to restore the building. Work starts on site on the refurbishment of the Dolphin in Cleethorpes | NELC
Sea View Street Bottle
Sea View Street, known as Town Street in the district of Itterby, many sailors would have been coming and going, preparing for their voyages at sea.
At this time, a common occurrence was to bury a bottle of urine as a superstition for a safe journey home. However, they seldom survive, let alone over 200 years!
Earlier this year, heritage works were carried out at 35-37 Sea View Street as part of the National Lottery Heritage funded Townscape Heritage (TH) project for Cleethorpes. During development, excavations were being carried out at the rear of the building in preparation for building foundations of a new extension. Workers had to manually excavate an area, as it was too tight for a small digger to work in.
It was during these works that a rather unique find was made – a sealed bottle full of liquid. Since then, it’s been on quite the journey with Lincoln University doing analysis on the the contents.
A message, an expensive alcohol or something else: The story of what was in the Seaview Street bottle | NELC
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