Death of seafood giant Frank Flear
FRANK Flear, one of the UK’s great seafood pioneers, has died at the age of 84.
A larger than life figure, he created and built two major companies, Bluecrest, which later became an integral part of Young’s Seafood, and latterly Seachill, now one of the biggest salmon and white fish processors in the country, as well as providing employment for thousands of Grimsby people.
He also helped save Grimsby’s fishing industry by successfully leading a campaign to build a modern new fish market just as the old building was on the brink of collapse.
Born into a family of nine children and steeped in fishing tradition, his first job was as a seafood buyer with Ross Group, which merged with Bluecrest over a decade ago to become Young’s Seafood.
Ross Group later gave him a factory to run in what he once described as the most of exciting of times to be in seafood. It also gave him the desire to run his own business and at the age of 42 he set up Bluecrest Foods.
Flear later helped save hundreds of jobs by taking over a seafood factory from Findus, which was pulling out of Grimsby, a move he described as one of his proudest moments.
Then, with a number of other former Bluecrest executives, he launched Seachill 14 years ago.