0:00:04 > 0:00:10In 1840, one man transformed travel in Britain.
0:00:10 > 0:00:17His name was George Bradshaw and his railway guides inspired the Victorians to take to the tracks.
0:00:17 > 0:00:22Stop by stop, he told them where to travel, what to see and where to stay.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26Now, 170 years later,
0:00:26 > 0:00:30I'm making four long journeys across the length and breadth of the country
0:00:30 > 0:00:34to see what remains of Bradshaw's Britain.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59I'm now more than halfway through my journey
0:00:59 > 0:01:01from Liverpool to Scarborough,
0:01:01 > 0:01:03and today I'm moving from west to east
0:01:03 > 0:01:06across the mighty county of Yorkshire.
0:01:09 > 0:01:15I'm hoping that my battered 150 year-old copy of Bradshaw's handbook
0:01:15 > 0:01:18will again prove a useful guide,
0:01:18 > 0:01:22not only to the areas of Victorian history, but even to its present day.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28Today I'll be discovering how the railways made Hull
0:01:28 > 0:01:30one of the biggest white fish ports in the world.
0:01:30 > 0:01:34The railways make fish an article of cheap mass consumption.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38They create the trawling industry and it grows phenomenally.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40I'll be searching for liquorice in Pontefract.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44- I'm guessing that is a liquorice plant. - This is a liquorice plant.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47It's a Mediterranean plant, it came from Spain originally.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51That's why in Pontefract we gave it the nickname, "a stick of Spanish".
0:01:51 > 0:01:55'And I'll be finding out why cod might soon be off the menu.'
0:01:55 > 0:02:00We're starting to see a lot more warm-water species than we normally associate with the Mediterranean.
0:02:03 > 0:02:08All this week, I'm travelling across the country.
0:02:08 > 0:02:10Having started in Liverpool,
0:02:10 > 0:02:15I pass through Manchester and the West Yorkshire moors.
0:02:15 > 0:02:20Now I'll turn south along the Humber estuary
0:02:20 > 0:02:23and finally up the coast to Scarborough.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29Today I'm leaving York for Pontefract.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31I'll visit Hull,
0:02:31 > 0:02:34and the coastal resort of Bridlington.
0:02:47 > 0:02:49This is my first stop.
0:02:49 > 0:02:55Bradshaw's Guide describes mid-19th Century Pontefract as a large town of 11,000 people.
0:02:55 > 0:03:00At the castle, it tells me, Richard II was put to death,
0:03:00 > 0:03:05and it was the scene of several notable beheadings.
0:03:06 > 0:03:11But there's another thing that Pontefract was famous for in Bradshaw's day.
0:03:11 > 0:03:18My reason for coming to Pontefract is an intriguing reference in my Bradshaw's Guide
0:03:18 > 0:03:24to liquorice cakes being made here and the root being grown in the fields around Ackworth.
0:03:27 > 0:03:33Some say it was monks who first grew liquorice in Pontefract, over 600 years ago.
0:03:33 > 0:03:38The soft, loamy soil around here was perfect for liquorice's long roots.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42But I'm struggling to find any sign of liquorice growing in these fields now.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46- Hello.- Hello.- You're got lots of liquorice here.- Yeah.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48Do they grow liquorice round here?
0:03:48 > 0:03:51They used to do years ago, but I don't know if they still do it.
0:03:51 > 0:03:56There used to be a farm, but I think they built some houses on them. I don't know for certain.
0:03:56 > 0:04:00Hello, ladies. What do you think Pontefract is famous for now?
0:04:00 > 0:04:02Pontefract liquorice.
0:04:02 > 0:04:08Yeah, but it's not as much now because all the fields have gone, you know. They don't grow it any more.
0:04:08 > 0:04:15When I was a child, there were sticks of liquorice we used to chew.
0:04:15 > 0:04:16- Close by?- Yeah.
0:04:16 > 0:04:21The liquorice fields of Bradshaw's day seem to be long gone,
0:04:21 > 0:04:28but one man, I'm told, has the last liquorice bush in Pontefract.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31'Tom Dixon, who's from a family of liquorice growers.'
0:04:31 > 0:04:35- Hello, Michael, how are you?- Very well, indeed. What a lovely house.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37My great-grandfather built it in 1810.
0:04:37 > 0:04:44He built it specially here because this was all the best liquorice land in Pontefract.
0:04:44 > 0:04:45In fact, in the country.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49It's a Mediterranean plant, it came from Spain originally.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53- That's why in Pontefract we gave it the nickname, "a stick of Spanish". - A stick of Spanish.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57It's known all through Yorkshire and Pontefract as a stick of Spanish.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59- Would you like to come in?- Thank you.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07- Memorabilia galore.- Memorabilia.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09These are sticks of liquorice, Michael.
0:05:09 > 0:05:11They've just been dug up the other day.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15My great-grandfather used to send Queen Victoria
0:05:15 > 0:05:19a bunch of this once a month to Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22She used to chew it all the time.
0:05:22 > 0:05:28We had a doctor here from Manchester, one of the eminent transplant surgeons in this country,
0:05:28 > 0:05:31and he said, "Your family killed Queen Victoria."
0:05:31 > 0:05:36I said, "Why?" He said, "She ate that much liquorice that she lost all her teeth."
0:05:36 > 0:05:39It causes very high blood pressure, which she died of.
0:05:39 > 0:05:44So, he says, "Your claim to fame is your family killed Queen Victoria."
0:05:44 > 0:05:49That's a terrible burden to carry through life.
0:05:49 > 0:05:54I suppose that considering it causes diarrhoea, it would explain why she spent so long on the throne.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57Very good, never thought of that!
0:05:57 > 0:05:59Tell me about this thing.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03Well, there's a firm in Pontefract called Hillaby's.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07They got a phone call, I think it was in the late '30s -
0:06:07 > 0:06:12could they make a pair of boots for Charlie Chaplin in The Gold Rush?
0:06:12 > 0:06:18- I remember it.- Do you remember it? - Yeah, yeah, it's a very sad film in a very pathetic scene, isn't it?
0:06:18 > 0:06:20He's absolutely down and out, he's nothing to eat
0:06:20 > 0:06:24and so he takes his boots off and starts to eat his boots.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27That's one of the remaining boots.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29It's unbelievably realistic as a boot, isn't it?
0:06:29 > 0:06:37It's unbelievable. I've been offered money for it by Charlie Chaplin collectors, but it's not for sale.
0:06:37 > 0:06:44In Bradshaw's time, the Pontefract fields grew enough liquorice to supply many local factories.
0:06:44 > 0:06:50When the railways arrived, it was transported all over the country and even overseas,
0:06:50 > 0:06:52but by the 1960s, all that had stopped.
0:06:52 > 0:06:58That, Michael, is the last commercial crop growing, just up the road from where we're stood now.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02- As you can see, the fields were full of it.- Absolutely full of it.
0:07:02 > 0:07:08- Right.- 'It became cheaper to import liquorice from Spain, Italy and Turkey but, thankfully, Tom has
0:07:08 > 0:07:13'his own local supply which he's been nurturing for the last ten years.'
0:07:13 > 0:07:15I'm guessing that is a liquorice plant.
0:07:15 > 0:07:21- This is a liquorice plant, Michael. - Some smell.- Slight.- But what you're really interested in is the root.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25It's that root, Michael. And those roots now, because this plant's been
0:07:25 > 0:07:30in about 10 to 12 years, those roots will go down at least eight feet.
0:07:30 > 0:07:34- Wow!- Massive big root ball.- Right.
0:07:34 > 0:07:41- So when this crop was harvested, the whole plant, including its root, was dug up.- The whole lot was dug up.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47There was men in the trenches and they used to dig it out.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52There was no machinery, there was nothing, it was all hand dug.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57And so then, what would you do with it?
0:07:57 > 0:08:01It would be brought here, to this house where you've had a look,
0:08:01 > 0:08:05and it would be stored in the cellars till the market price was right.
0:08:05 > 0:08:10Quite a lot of it was shipped by rail down to Boots the Chemist in Nottingham.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13Ah, and Boots used it in what?
0:08:13 > 0:08:16They used it in stomach medicines, cough medicines, chest medicines...
0:08:16 > 0:08:20Any medicine that you can think of, liquorice was used in it.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24And that was just to give medicine a sweet taste,
0:08:24 > 0:08:26or was it medicinal as well?
0:08:26 > 0:08:27No, it's medicinal.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30It's used in a lot of remedies.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33A surgeon in London actually uses the root,
0:08:33 > 0:08:38or thin strands of the root, when he's doing a cancer operation,
0:08:38 > 0:08:42or a gut operation, and he sews them up with liquorice.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46It stimulates the stomach and just dissolves and disappears.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50Tom, I think you've been telling me some tall stories this afternoon.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54I don't think so, Michael. Everything I tell you is perfectly true.
0:08:57 > 0:09:01Pontefract's liquorice factories have almost disappeared, too.
0:09:01 > 0:09:06There are now just two left, including the Dunhill Haribo factory.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10Until recently it was owned by Richard Godson's family.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14My great-grandfather bought the company in 1919.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16- Your great-grandfather?- Yeah.
0:09:16 > 0:09:21- My grandfather and my father both worked in the business as well. - How fantastic.
0:09:21 > 0:09:26'Pontefract's liquorice was originally made into medical lozenges.
0:09:26 > 0:09:31'Then in the 1700s, George Dunhill added sugar and created a sweet called Pontefract cakes.'
0:09:31 > 0:09:37Here we've got a pan with all the ingredients needed to make Pontefract cakes.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40I'm not yet getting the distinctive smell of liquorice.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43When we further process the mass down the line,
0:09:43 > 0:09:50high temperatures will enhance the flavours and turn the mass from a brown colour to a black sweet.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52The women who nipped and rolled the cakes
0:09:52 > 0:09:58were called Spanish Thumpers and could make around 3,500 per hour.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02I imagine that your special recipe will be a very closely guarded secret.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06- That's correct, Michael, very closely guarded.- I won't press you on that one, then.- OK.
0:10:06 > 0:10:11'In 1994, the factory was sold to German manufacturer, Haribo.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14'It was keen to keep up the tradition of Pontefract cakes,
0:10:14 > 0:10:21'and the factory now produces more liquorice sweets than anywhere else in the UK.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23'I admit, I've never enjoyed liquorice,
0:10:23 > 0:10:27'but maybe a fresh Pontefract cake will change my mind.'
0:10:36 > 0:10:39Actually, not really, it's just not my kind of thing, Richard.
0:10:39 > 0:10:44- I'm very sorry.- Well, we can't convert everybody, can we?
0:10:44 > 0:10:47Well, I'm still not a fan, but it's good to see that
0:10:47 > 0:10:51liquorice cake production is still in full flow in Pontefract.
0:10:55 > 0:11:01For the next leg of my journey, I'm travelling east from Pontefract and following the River Humber.
0:11:01 > 0:11:07Bradshaw describes the estuary here as two miles broad, widening to five or six at its mouth.
0:11:10 > 0:11:15There was no bridge in Bradshaw's time, just a ferry.
0:11:15 > 0:11:21The Humber suspension bridge, just outside the city of Hull, was built only in 1981.
0:11:29 > 0:11:36In Bradshaw's time, taking the train to spend time in Hull was an excursion filled with excitement.
0:11:37 > 0:11:44In 1840, the railway started selling discounted tickets on outings to glamorous places.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47These were the first monster excursions.
0:11:47 > 0:11:55A train left Leeds for Kingston-Upon-Hull with 1,250 aboard and it was 40 coaches long.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59Today, my train has been reduced to just two carriages,
0:11:59 > 0:12:03but I'm sure the attractions of Hull are undiminished.
0:12:10 > 0:12:15When you think of Hull, does it bring any other European city to mind?
0:12:15 > 0:12:19Well, according to Bradshaw's Guide, Venice.
0:12:25 > 0:12:31Bradshaw writes of a Hull which, "in its low situation close to the banks
0:12:31 > 0:12:35"and surrounded by the masts of the shipping in the docks,
0:12:35 > 0:12:39"seems to rise like Venice from amidst the sea."
0:12:39 > 0:12:46I confess, of all the things that spring to mind whenever I think of Hull, Venice isn't one of them,
0:12:46 > 0:12:51but maybe Bradshaw's Guide will make me look at the city afresh.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54And if the station's anything to go by, I look forward to it.
0:12:54 > 0:12:56Come and look at this.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58Isn't that magnificent?
0:12:58 > 0:13:03Isn't that a wonderful Victorian railway shed, complete with setting sun.
0:13:03 > 0:13:05It lifts the heart.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13In Bradshaw's time, Hull was expanding into a grand Victorian city.
0:13:13 > 0:13:15Its wealth came from whaling.
0:13:15 > 0:13:21At its peak in the 1820s, Hull had 60 ships, the largest fleet in Britain.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28But when the railway arrived in 1840, the whalers turned to fishing.
0:13:28 > 0:13:33Hull soon became one of the biggest white fish ports in the world,
0:13:33 > 0:13:37as maritime historian Dr Rob Robinson explains.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40The railways make fish an article of cheap mass consumption.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44They create the trawling industry and it grows phenomenally
0:13:44 > 0:13:47over the 30-40 years after the railways arrived in Hull.
0:13:47 > 0:13:52Before railways were here, it was difficult to transport fish any distance over land.
0:13:52 > 0:13:58A large number of the textile towns had both man and woman at work
0:13:58 > 0:14:02in the family and they needed a cheap fast food, fish was the ideal answer.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06And the demand for fish grew so rapidly, that more and more trawlers
0:14:06 > 0:14:11were built and worked out of Hull to the fishing grounds of the North Sea.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17By the 1850s, 20 fish trains were leaving Hull every day.
0:14:17 > 0:14:23The quantity consumed in Manchester alone went up from three to 80 tonnes a week.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26The price of cod dropped by three quarters.
0:14:29 > 0:14:34I've seen photographs of the railway lines running along the dock pontoons, alongside the warehouses,
0:14:34 > 0:14:37the trawlers coming right alongside the railway wagons.
0:14:37 > 0:14:42Yes, the railways came before the fish docks, but the demand was such
0:14:42 > 0:14:47that specialist fish docks were created and when the railways came, they spread their way through
0:14:47 > 0:14:54the fish docks and large trains of wagons would be along the dock,
0:14:54 > 0:14:56in a morning, waiting to be loaded with fish,
0:14:56 > 0:15:01to take the early morning fish trains out, distributing fish across the country.
0:15:01 > 0:15:08My Bradshaw's Guide talks about standing on a high position, looking out over the estuary of the Humber
0:15:08 > 0:15:12and makes the comparison to Hull, in its low position,
0:15:12 > 0:15:16rising from the water like Venice. What do you think of that comparison?
0:15:16 > 0:15:23I think it's a good comparison. Hull itself is very close to the water and it has a river on two sides.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27The other two sides, at the time Bradshaw came here, were a string of docks.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30Water was almost like a pearl necklace around the city.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34Yeah, there's quite an interesting link between Hull and Venice in that sense.
0:15:34 > 0:15:40I'm very grateful to you. Next time, I won't go to the Grand Canal, I'll buy a ticket for here.
0:15:40 > 0:15:41We'll get you a gondola.
0:15:44 > 0:15:48Hull's trawler fleet travelled ever further north
0:15:48 > 0:15:53into icy Arctic water to keep up with the increasing demand for fish.
0:15:53 > 0:15:58It required a tough breed of trawlerman, like skipper Ken Knox,
0:15:58 > 0:16:01who worked his way up from the bottom-most rung.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03This is where I started.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06I went from a school desk to this school.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08A culture shock.
0:16:08 > 0:16:13You had three buckets of potatoes to peel and this is feeling homesick, seasick...
0:16:13 > 0:16:18It really was a new environment, you could say.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21How many days would you be at sea?
0:16:21 > 0:16:22The average time was three weeks.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26How long would you be at home once you finished that voyage?
0:16:26 > 0:16:28Usually just two or three days.
0:16:31 > 0:16:37Trawlers had to stay at sea until they'd caught enough fish to cover the cost of the voyage.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43They had to cope with the most extreme weather.
0:16:44 > 0:16:51Gales, fog, freezing temperatures that wrapped the ship in thick ice, threatening to capsize it.
0:16:51 > 0:16:59And in the areas that we used to fish, it was a natural phenomenon for ice to form.
0:16:59 > 0:17:06As the sprays came on board the ship, the temperatures were so low it formed to ice.
0:17:06 > 0:17:08The skipper would know
0:17:08 > 0:17:12when to start the crew clearing the ice.
0:17:12 > 0:17:17All the windows up here would be iced up, you wouldn't be able to see out of them.
0:17:17 > 0:17:22The skipper relied on his clear view screen to steer the ship to safety.
0:17:22 > 0:17:30It's a heated window and it spins round at 3,000 revolutions, so it's permanently clear.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34So, the skipper would spend hours just looking through here and using
0:17:34 > 0:17:39- his searchlight to see what is ahead of him.- Do you miss the sea, Ken?
0:17:39 > 0:17:44I do, very much. 22 years coming from the bottom rung in the galley,
0:17:44 > 0:17:47all the way up to reach this stage.
0:17:47 > 0:17:52I could quite happily say that I would do it all again.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58But Hull's trawling days were coming to an end.
0:17:58 > 0:18:04In the early 1970s, the Icelanders became fiercely protective of their fish stocks.
0:18:04 > 0:18:10They attacked British trawlers scooping fish from their waters in what became known as the Cod Wars.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14'The Icelanders' shells had plunged holes through
0:18:14 > 0:18:17'the trawler's steel plates, some of them below the water line,
0:18:17 > 0:18:19'and at one stage she had settled low in the water.'
0:18:19 > 0:18:25As a result, quotas were imposed on British trawlers, limiting their catch.
0:18:25 > 0:18:30Hull's fleet of 127 trawlers was reduced to just six
0:18:30 > 0:18:33and the industry collapsed.
0:18:33 > 0:18:37These days, Hull's docks are busy again.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40It's the fastest growing cargo port in Britain,
0:18:40 > 0:18:45but now it's dealing in Scandinavian timber rather than fish.
0:18:49 > 0:18:54Before I continue my journey, I'm going to spend the night here,
0:18:54 > 0:18:59and my Bradshaw's Guide has found me a great place to stay.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02How wonderfully convenient, my hotel is in the station.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04Can I have a half of bitter, please?
0:19:04 > 0:19:10'In the past, it's provided a bed for some very distinguished clients.'
0:19:10 > 0:19:12This hotel is called The Royal
0:19:12 > 0:19:18in honour of the fact that Queen Victoria and Prince Albert stayed here in 1854.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20I love these classic railway hotels.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24This one even has the arches of a railway station.
0:19:24 > 0:19:30Perfectly positioned to provide for the weary traveller a well-earned rest.
0:19:33 > 0:19:41'I'm now moving on from Hull, up the North Sea coast to Bridlington.'
0:19:49 > 0:19:54Somewhat surprisingly, Bradshaw's describes the coastal erosion.
0:19:54 > 0:20:01"All this coast of the East Riding is in the process of change, the sea gaining on the shores."
0:20:01 > 0:20:07So, back then, the Victorians were already worried about the cliffs crumbling away.
0:20:07 > 0:20:13But one thing they could never have expected was that the North Sea could run out of cod.
0:20:16 > 0:20:21I'm keen to find out from climate expert John Pinnegar, what the real situation is.
0:20:21 > 0:20:27Over the years there have been many changes, obviously Hull isn't the fishing port it used to be,
0:20:27 > 0:20:33some of that's to do with politics, to do with being driven out of Icelandic waters and so on.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37Can you draw any kind of conclusions about environmental change?
0:20:37 > 0:20:41There's a general thought that cod are moving northwards, as with most species.
0:20:41 > 0:20:46Between about 40 kilometres and 400 kilometres over the last 25 years.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50Is anything moving from warmer waters into our colder waters?
0:20:50 > 0:20:56It's very interesting, we starting to see a lot more warm water species, that we normally associate with
0:20:56 > 0:21:01the Mediterranean, things like red mullet, anchovy, and also sea bass.
0:21:01 > 0:21:06Sea bass have their northern limit to the commercial fisheries in Yorkshire here,
0:21:06 > 0:21:09although they're caught further north by small fishermen.
0:21:09 > 0:21:14There's around 25,000 small fishermen in the UK that regularly fish for sea bass.
0:21:14 > 0:21:19Sea bass numbers in the Channel have quadrupled over the last ten years.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23So maybe the worry for the British public is not so much that we're not going to have any fish,
0:21:23 > 0:21:26but that we've got to change our tastes.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29We'll have to move from, say, cod to sea bass.
0:21:29 > 0:21:34Absolutely. In Britain, we're fairly restricted in the fish
0:21:34 > 0:21:38that we tend to eat, so particularly in the south of England, people prefer cod.
0:21:38 > 0:21:43Maybe they'll have to get used to eating sea bass and red mullet and more anchovy.
0:21:43 > 0:21:47Other things like John Dory, as well, all of which are very nice to eat,
0:21:47 > 0:21:51and people eat them further south, but not traditionally here.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54- Let them eat sea bass! It could be worse.- It could be a lot worse.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05- Thank you, John. Thanks for making the journey. Bye-bye.- Bye.
0:22:14 > 0:22:19This must be one of the most beautifully kept,
0:22:19 > 0:22:23one of the prettiest stations on the network.
0:22:23 > 0:22:29Hello! I just wanted to say what a beautiful station, what a beautiful buffet this is.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31It is, it works very well.
0:22:31 > 0:22:36It's one of the best kept stations on the line, if not in the country.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38I would say possibly in the country.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40Has it been like this for many years?
0:22:40 > 0:22:45It started off approximately 23 years ago
0:22:45 > 0:22:49by a lady called Madeleine Crook, who was the proprietor before me,
0:22:49 > 0:22:54and she started off with a couple of tubs of flowers, and over the years, it's got to what it is now.
0:22:54 > 0:22:58Do many people come in and say, "Congratulations, this is really lovely"?
0:22:58 > 0:23:00A lot of people do, yeah.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02Thank you very much.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07Bradshaw was captivated by Bridlington.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11He says, "This attractive resort lies on the Yorkshire coast,
0:23:11 > 0:23:16"but at that point where the line turns westward from Flamborough Head
0:23:16 > 0:23:23"and then sweeping round to the south forms a capacious bay called Bridlington Bay."
0:23:27 > 0:23:30In Bradshaw's day, Bridlington was a holiday spot
0:23:30 > 0:23:34for industrial workers arriving by train from West Yorkshire.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38It's still a popular destination, whether it's a spot of fishing
0:23:38 > 0:23:43you're after, or an afternoon on the wide sands of the bay.
0:23:43 > 0:23:49'It's always been a working fishing port, too, and just like Hull,
0:23:49 > 0:23:53'its fishermen have had to adapt to changes in the North Sea.'
0:23:53 > 0:23:55Frank the sea bass man, how are you?
0:23:55 > 0:24:01'Local fisherman Frank Powell now casts his nets only in Bridlington waters.'
0:24:01 > 0:24:03I love your transport.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05Yes, well, it's all right for the job, yes.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08Anyhow, let's be going, because the net's drying out,
0:24:08 > 0:24:11and in this sun, the bass won't be very good. Let's get on, shall we?
0:24:15 > 0:24:20He's found a new, more sustainable way to fish, using the tide.
0:24:20 > 0:24:22His nets stretch from beach to water.
0:24:22 > 0:24:27When the tide comes in, the fish lodge in the net.
0:24:27 > 0:24:28Here we are, Michael.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32'Then at low tide, Frank moves from net to net to collect the catch.'
0:24:32 > 0:24:34Another bass for you. A sea bass.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37- A lovely fish.- Beautiful.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41A beautiful, silvery, fat fish.
0:24:41 > 0:24:46- So you have a net which runs from the sea, up the beach.- Yes.
0:24:46 > 0:24:48What about the bit that's still in the sea?
0:24:48 > 0:24:50We have to wade out there, Michael.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53Well, you're dressed for it. Are you going out there?
0:24:53 > 0:24:56- I am, and so are you - I've got a pair of waders for you.- OK.
0:24:56 > 0:25:01'With no hooks and no engines, it's eco-friendly, and there's little danger of overfishing,
0:25:01 > 0:25:05'as only small numbers are caught at a time.'
0:25:05 > 0:25:07So you have to pull it all the way out, do you?
0:25:07 > 0:25:10Yeah, you just keep going like this.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14- All the time, until you come to the end.- Did you find anything out there?
0:25:14 > 0:25:18No, that's it. Most of the fish today have been up the beach.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20Have you always fished like this, Frank?
0:25:20 > 0:25:25No, I started off on trawlers from Hull, deep sea ones, when I left school.
0:25:25 > 0:25:33When Hull collapsed in '74 after the Cod War, I moved to Bridlington and carried on fishing there.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36Would you mind if I go ashore and dry myself?
0:25:36 > 0:25:40Certainly not! Go on, then, but don't fall over on this net.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44You do this sea bass fishing under some kind of licence certificate?
0:25:44 > 0:25:49Yeah, we have a licence for the sea bass.
0:25:49 > 0:25:51We're issued with a permit.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55You're responsible for maintaining the fish at a sustainable level, are you?
0:25:55 > 0:25:58Yes, well, as you can see, it's very low impact fishery, isn't it?
0:25:58 > 0:26:01What have I caught today, six or seven bass?
0:26:01 > 0:26:05If I do it twice a day, I mean, you're talking about a premium fish now.
0:26:05 > 0:26:12It's wild sea bass, and with a Marine Stewardship. It's got the stamp, we've got these tags,
0:26:12 > 0:26:17we put a gill tag into its gills and that goes on record to say when it was caught,
0:26:17 > 0:26:22the traceability of the fish, and wherever it goes, it can be traced.
0:26:23 > 0:26:27And getting so few fish, can you make a living with this?
0:26:27 > 0:26:29Yes, I think if you can do it twice a day, yes.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31Let's see the day's catch.
0:26:31 > 0:26:36We'll get those out and show you what we've caught. Mind the spikes.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40Here we are, a bass and a mullet.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44All the same size, that shows the selectivity of a gill net.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47- It's important to have them the same size?- Definitely.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51It gets rid of the juveniles. There's no juvenile fish among that lot.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54Everything there, what you catch, you keep.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58There's no waste, which I think is a big thing nowadays in fisheries.
0:26:58 > 0:27:03Well, Frank, I've really enjoyed it and now the moment has come to remove my welly.
0:27:03 > 0:27:08We ought to check it for bass, I think!
0:27:08 > 0:27:13Maybe it won't be long before sea bass replaces cod as the nation's favourite.
0:27:15 > 0:27:17With slightly damp feet, I head for the station.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20Good evening.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31So, my Bradshaw's Guide has proved very useful.
0:27:31 > 0:27:38It found me a convenient hotel in Hull and taught me to view that city with new eyes.
0:27:38 > 0:27:42It didn't persuade me to enjoy liquorice,
0:27:42 > 0:27:48and given the choice between a Pontefract cake and a Bridlington sea bass,
0:27:48 > 0:27:51I'm sorry, no contest.
0:27:53 > 0:27:58On my next journey, I'll be catching up with a very old local in Scarborough.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01Excuse me, is this the 2,000 year-old man?
0:28:01 > 0:28:05Er, no, actually, this one's 4,000 years old, he dates from the early Bronze Age.
0:28:07 > 0:28:11I'll be finding out about the fisherman's knits in Filey.
0:28:11 > 0:28:13All the patterns have a meaning.
0:28:13 > 0:28:17The zig-zag pattern - you never walk down the cliffs
0:28:17 > 0:28:21- in a straight line.- No. - Then we have the diamond mesh.
0:28:21 > 0:28:23- The nets?- The nets, the crab pots.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27And I'll be bird watching on the wild cliffs of Bempton.
0:28:27 > 0:28:32We've got 200,000 breeding sea birds here, which is just amazing.
0:28:32 > 0:28:38The gannets are a relatively recent colony and maybe in the last 30 years or so.
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