Hull – for those of you out there who are unfamiliar with this place - I will give you a clue – It is a lesser known fishingvillage, sort of like a backwater because it is right at the end of the A63, one way in, and one way out!
Actually this is not entirely true. Hull is not a fishing village; it is actually a city with 250,000+ residents. The city itself is about 15 miles across and 10 miles wide and there is 7 miles of dockland, including Britains largest Europoort for Ferries across to the continent.
Villages such as Swanland, Melton, North Ferriby etc, hail from the west side and are very exclusive, but Hull itself is - A City!
However, those throughout Britain who have never been to Hull, tend to have a few misconceptions about the place. Okay, friends at Uni.’ told me it smelled of fish, I think those of us who live here are impervious to this, but even they had to admit they loved the place and lots of them have stayed on.
My Father was born and raised in Edinburgh Scotland, and as such, came to Hull to find work and stayed. Lots of his family and friends followed suit, but my Grandparents remained in Scotland. Every year Granddad comes her, and he loves Hull, every year I go to Edinburgh, and usually conversations go something like this..
“Where are you from Lassie?” “Hull.” “Eh?…” A look appears on thier face as though Hull is somewhere in Outer Mongolia and he has just found out I am the daughter of Attila the Hun, then…”Ah, Hull, that wee fishing village”
I usually nod pleasantly and grin, but after reading some ops on Hull, I decided it was time someone proved what we have to offer here, Its time to give the low-down. Let’s face it, Newcastle is not New, Kings Lynne, has nothing to do with Elvis and Grimsby is grim! But Hull IS NOT dull!
Driving under
the Humber Bridge – the world largest single span suspension bridge and along the A63 into Hull is quite pleasant. The new Arco (Hull Company) building resembles the bridge and there is the expanse of the river Humber on one side, the railway out of the city on the other, and plenty of trees. As you approach the city itself, you would be surprised as to how industrial it is, Yet nestled among this Industry is St Andrews Quay, an out of town shopping centre with a UCI cinema, Macro, Megabowl, McDonalds drive thru and quite a few large retailers. They are also building a huge indoor fish market here.
Getting nearer the approach to the city centre more and more factories, such as Hygena (Hull Based part of MFI), Compaq, Malcolm West and AJK & Birds Eye (both Hull based fish packaging) spring up. As you drive over the s bend that is the Daltry Street Flyover the expanse of the Smith & Nephews Pharmaceutical Factory with its green neon lights is visible.
Smith & Nephew, famous for Elastoplasts etc, are a Hull based company too. Mr Smith began his career with a little chemist shop down Whitefriargate (pronounced white – fra- gate to locals) at the turn of the last century.
So we drive further into Hull, passing the Kingston Retail Park, with its Toys R Us, Odeon Cinema, Olympic Sized Ice Arena and a whole host of other retailers.
We can turn left into the city centre here, but I think we will continue on. On our left now, is the Princes Quay. This is a huge glass shopping mall that is supposed to look like a docked ship (I cannot see this myself). Parking here is cheap 80p for 2 hours, and you can walk straight into the mall. The stores include, River Island, Gap, JJB, The Disney Shop, Topshop, Body Shop, Gadget Shop (another Hull company) and many, many more small and large.
Princes Quay was built on a disused dock, The princes Dock, hence the name I suppose, So what is so different about this mall? It floats! Yes – it is a floating structure built on some sort of pontoon.
On the left opposite the Quay is the Marina, there is a lot of nightlife around here, but by day, there is a Victorian pier, plenty of lovely boats to look at, and it is quite a pleasant walk.
As a tribute to my Friend Alison – who used to live in Hull I mention the Manxman. This was a boat that her and her partner owned, it was here at the Marina as a floating night-club and everyone loved it, but the powers that be in council closed it down due to the Deep (more on that later). This was my fave and is sadly missed!
It is from here that the ferry used to go across to the South of the Humber pre – The Bridge.
Now I am going to take you down the Quayside, to Hull City Centre. On your left is the Princes Quay again, on your right, café bars and pubs, also here is the Trinity House Naval School – for boys (and girl) An ancient secondary school where seamanship is taught and the boys wear lovely sailor uniforms.
The Beverley Gate, part of the old Wall of Hull has been excavated here, and we are now in the throng of city centre shops, pubs and street life.
However, just across from Marks & Spencer is the Queens Gardens, a tranquil park, with lakes, fountains and flowers. What really fascinates me about this little haven is that this used to be another Hull Dock, it was filled in and turned into a garden. In fact this was the very dock that Daniel Defoes hero Robinson Crusoe set sail from in the book!
Overlooking the park is some of the university campuses and the main building Hull College of FE, here is where you will find all the lawyers lurking as the Law courts and Guildhall are here too!
Now for a cultural Tour of the area.
Ferens Art Gallery is Hull’s largest Gallery and the only one I have visited for quite a while so the only one I am willing to judge. This Gallery is cool and airy with a variety of exhibitions; recently Alphonse Mucha work on the Art Nuveau period was housed here. There is a teashop and plenty of places to sit and rest. Town Docks Museum this houses the story and history of Hulls infamous fishing industry, from the humble beginnings of the whalers, out in the Arctic icy water, armed with harpoons, through the Cod Wars and on to the North sea Ferries. (Actually I feel another op coming on!)
Wilberforce House – William Wilberforce was a Hull politician in the Georgian period. He lived in the house that is now a shrine to his life, including a wax dummy of him. Wilberforce was one of the leading figures in Britains abolition of the slave trade. He fought mercilessly to free slaves, due to the appalling conditions they were subjected to. Suffering ridicule and torment he eventually won the day. Hull is twinned with Freetown Sierra Leone because of his works.
This museum is not for the faint hearted, mock-ups of conditions in the Galley ships, instruments of torture and shackles are on display, to show the suffering of these people.
However, in the second half of the house, it has been kept with original furnishings and gives insight into homes of that period. There is also a costume gallery, which shows how peoples body shapes have changed in the last 250 years!
Next door is the Archaeological Museum that houses a life-size replica of an Iron Age village. Roman Mosaics, an ancient boat, which has to be kept constantly wet for fear of disintegration and many other artefacts, found in this region, from Roman, and Viking invasions.
Next door again is Street Life Museum. This is a great place for the kids. Here you experience the sights sounds and smells of town life from a number of times. From a slum London Village trough to buses during the war years. They even have taped and recreated conversations as to show what people would be discussing at that time. Kids can climb on board the train or bus, or even a moving mock-up of a Horse Drawn stagecoach from Hull to York.
Everywhere I have mentioned is free to enter making it well worth a visit and all are within a 15-minute walk of each other.
NightClubs and Pubs.
After a full day sight seeing, its time to get some liquid refreshment. Hull city centre is saturated with Pubs Clubs and restaurants, all are heaving on weekends and all have different genres for different tastes, but whoever you are, and whatever your thing, you will be guaranteed to find something to satisfy. Hull New Theatre is also in the centre and offers top shows reasonably priced too!
Outside the City Centre
So we have left the throng of the city centre and we are travelling over the river Hull via Myton Bridge. This is where the hull meets the Humber and is the site of the Tidal Barrier.
Sammy’s point is here, at the moment they are constructing The Deep an undersea visitor attraction. Continuing on in this direction travel eastward toward the seaside town of Withernsea, this is the dock area, and where ferry goers will visit. Cruise from here to Rotterdam or Zebrugge, but further out ids the ancient market town of Hedon, or the East Coast bird sanctuary of Spurn point, that piece of land that sways and always gets cut off!
Turning left here we can avoid all of the residential areas bar one. Garden village. This was built by James Reckitt for the staff of the Reckitt and Colman Factories in the Twenties. Reckitts still remain in Hull famous for firelighters, toilet duck and the like, but now the houses are privately owned.
Out here we have East Park, where I was raised. Closed at the moment due to fear the deer will catch foot and mouth, this park is huge, it has boating lakes, duck ponds, swing parks, animals, play areas. We loved it as kids. There is a Bowling Green, tennis courts and even a sports centre with a swimming pool with fun slide and wave machine here now!
I think that concludes our quick visitors guide to Hull, now I will amaze you with some facts….
1. We have the worlds smallest window 2. We have the worlds largest (I think) single span suspensions bridge. This is controversial due to a Japanese construction. 3. We have our very own telephone exchange so we do not use BT 4. All of our public phone boxes are white 5. We have two universities, Hull and Humberside 6. It is actually called Kingston upon Hull, after a king called it such, before this it was Wyke. 7. We are home to the Hull Truck Theatre. Playwright John Godber is director here and as such his plays Up and Under (Now a film) and Bouncers started life here. 8. The Beautiful South & Housemartins are here. 9. Maureen Lipman, Norman Collier, Joe longthorne and my mate Debra Stephenson (Michelle in Bad Girls) are all Hullites. 10. The streets are paved with fish. Literally. The city has a fish trail. Whereby all types of fish are imbedded into the paving stones (silver metal ones really) follow the trail through all the old and new sites in Hull. 11. Paragon Station, the train station here, is the end of the line. They use it for ads such as Ferror Rocher and TV programmes because it looks so old. 12. We have 3 local radio stations to suit different tastes and all are top quality. 13. We have no fewer than 6 McDonalds! 14. People here are very friendly!
So stay in one of the many hotels or B & Bs here and you will be pleasantly surprised. It’s a nice place with very little litter or graffiti Although some ops have been less than favourable I love it here!
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Being sited on the other side of the river, I can say this is a comprehensive review of the city, although the new delevopment to the north has been omitted, probably because it's too near Bransholme! Just one point, the bridge is shared between both banks, mainly as us on the south side have to travel over for the amenities, it is not exclusive for Hully-Gullys!! (Sorry if that is a bit personal, just flowed there!!!)
stevecook 04.12.2001 11:42
A great opinion on the centre of Hull and it's history. I noticed you neglected to mention the housing to the north of the city ;o)
Celia86 04.09.2001 23:26
I LOVE HULL!! HULL CITY R GODS!! U shud hav at least mentioned the footy team, if you don't know much about them, ask me, I know all!! Good op other than that tho!!
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Advantages: Pretty fast, reasonable service, wine has high alcohol content Disadvantages: Not always reliable, cattle class is crowded, tickets are expensive
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