Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Scunthorpe is a large industrial town in the unitary authority of North Lincolnshire in Lincolnshire, England of which it is the main administrative centre. A predominantly industrial town, the town is the United Kingdom's largest steel processing centre and is also known as the "Industrial Garden Town". It is the third largest settlement in Lincolnshire.

Steel industry The Iron industry in Scunthorpe was established in the mid 19th century, following the discovery and exploitation of middle Lias ironstone east of Scunthorpe. Initially iron ore was exported to iron producers in South Yorkshire. Later, after the construction of the Trent, Ancholme and Grimsby Railway (1860s) gave rail access to the area iron production in the area rapidly expanded using local ironstone and imported coal or coke. Rapid industrial expansion in the area led directly to the development of the town of Scunthorpe, eventually incorporating several other former hamlets and villages, in a formerly sparsely populated entirely agricultural area.

From the early 1910s to the 1930s the industry consolidated, with three main ownership concerns formed – the Appleby-Frodingham Steel Company, part of the United Steel Companies; the Redbourn Iron Works, part of Richard Thomas and Company of South Wales (later Richard Thomas and Baldwins); and John Lysaght's Normanby Iron Works, part of Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds.

In 1967 all three works became part of the nationalised British Steel Corporation (BSC), leading to a period of further consolidation – from the 1970s the use of local or regional ironstone diminished, being replaced by imported ore via the Immingham Bulk Terminal. Conversion to the Linz-Donawitz process (or "basic oxygen" process) of steel making from the open hearth process took place from the late 1960s onwards and was complete by the 1990s. Both the Normanby Park and the Redbourn works closed in the early 1980s.

Following privatisation in 1988 the company, together with the rest of BSC, became part of Corus (1999), later Tata Steel Europe (2007). In 2016 the long products division of Tata Steel Europe was sold to Greybull Capital with Scunthorpe as the primary steel production site. In 2012 the steel industry remained the major employer in the area and its largest operator was Tata Steel Europe. The number employed in the industry fell from 27,000 at its height to around 4,500 (excluding outside contractors) by the mid 2010s. The steel works and the former ironstone workings have both had large scale detrimental environmental effects in the district, including air pollution and subsidence.

In May 2019, after a drop in future orders, and a breakdown in rescue talks between the government and the company's owner, Greybull, British Steel Limited entered insolvency. Industries associated with the steelworks include metal engineering as well as a BOC plant.

Other industries Although the historical predominance of the steel industry made Scunthorpe a virtual monotown, there are other industries in the town. These include food production, distribution and retailing. North of the town next a waste management firm, Bell Waste Control, which services the majority of industry in Scunthorpe and the surrounding areas. On the Foxhills Industrial Park, north of the A1077 northern bypass, are many distribution companies, notably a large building owned by the Nisa co-operative type mutual organisation which has its UK headquarters there. Also on the Foxhills Industrial Park is a 500,000 square foot factory occupied by Wren Kitchens, employing 350 full-time workers.

2 Sisters Food Group have a large chicken processing plant in the town. Key Country Foods produces meat products on an industrial scale. The Sauce Company produces sauces, soups and other foodstuffs for the catering and supermarket sectors. Ericsson Mobile Platforms produces printed circuit boards for the telecommunications industry. There are a number of other firms, mostly involved in manufacturing and light engineering.

In the 2001 census 19.3% of the working age population were economically inactive.

Retail Scunthorpe has two major shopping centres, effectively a single site: the Foundry Shopping Centre and the Parishes Centre. The former was constructed in the late 1960s/early 1970s during a wholesale reconstruction of the old town; the latter was constructed in the early part of the 2000s decade on the site of the town's old bus station. There are also many well known retailers on High Street. On 6 January 2011 Marks and Spencer closed their High Street store after 80 years of trading, but a new Marks and Spencer store opened near the football ground in 2014.

However the size of the remaining retail units reflects the size of the area's population and with larger shopping facilities within reasonable travelling distance in Grimsby, Hull, Doncaster, Lincoln, Leeds and at Meadowhall Centre, Sheffield.

The once-thriving market, mostly under cover in market halls just to the north of the Central Library, at the eastern end of the High Street, had shrunk noticeably in the last ten years, and has now moved to the new St John's Market, close to the Bus Station. The opening date was 22 March 2019.

All of the big food retailers are represented in the area. There is a Tesco Extra, and an Aldi (in the former Toys R Us unit) opposite the football ground, while Sainsbury's (formerly a Safeway) have their store on the site of the old Scunthorpe United stadium, The Old Show Ground. Morrisons have a store at the bottom of Mortal Ash Hill (known locally as "Motlash") (A18 road) at the Lakeside Retail Park, on the eastern entrance to the town, while Asda have a store on Burringham Road. In 2011 Asda opened another store in the former Netto, on Charlton Street.

On 24 October 2014 Marks and Spencer's returned to the town after almost a 4-year absence. The store is housed in a purpose built location at the North Lincolnshire Shopping Centre, beside Glanford Park. Debenhams, Boots, B&M Bargains, Costa Coffee and Subway have also opened stores at the centre.

Transport Scunthorpe railway station lies on the South TransPennine Line which has trains from Manchester Airport to Cleethorpes. Scunthorpe station (SCU), has two platforms and runs three different services. Platform 1 serves the TransPennine Express Cleethorpes route, whilst Platform 2 serves the TransPennine Express Manchester Airport route, and the Northern Doncaster route. The Northern train is the local stopping service, which runs from Monday-Saturday, and is served by TransPennine Express at the first and last service of the day. For local people traveling to Doncaster, it is often preferred to use the TransPennine Express services, as they go direct into Doncaster, and do not rely upon the 1980s pacer trains that Northern run today. The station is operated by TransPennine Express, and was made more accessible when lifts were added in 2019.

The town lies five miles (8 km) north of the M180, and the M181 terminates Glanford Park, on the outskirts of the town. Before this motorway was opened in 1979, all the east–west goods traffic took the A18 to Grimsby. Humberside Airport is a short drive to the east along the M180. The town's bus station is off Fenton Street. The bus station is predominantly used by Stagecoach in Lincolnshire that operate services within and out of the town along with Hornsby Travel. East Yorkshire operate services to Hull and Goole.