When I first read about Hull in the running for the City of Culture back in September, I found it quite amusing, but it turns out that the campaign has gathered momentum.
And when you come to think about it, there has been quite a lot happening in recent months – the Freedom Festival and Clipper Race are two good examples.
There is no doubt about it, Hull doesn’t have the best of reputations and has even been voted the worst place to live in recent years.
(Slightly better news last year though – we were second from bottom)
Schools in Hull constantly appear at the bottom of education league tables, Humberside police struggles to climb up the ranks and the national coverage of the horrific flooding of Hull won’t have exactly drawn in the tourists.
So is it true? Is Hull the worst place to live?
We have all heard the complaints (you’ll hear some in this blog), but I genuinely think we have one of the best cities in Yorkshire and is on the rise. We have an historic old town centre, beautiful buildings and old pubs in Hull, fantastic sporting facilities and an excellent University that really puts Hull on the map.
We have a new £160m St Stephen’s Shopping Centre, The Deep (which has already attracted over 2 million visitors), and what’s more, property that is cheap as chips – just as well with all that fish.
In our defence – unlike most cities – we don’t have the wealthier suburbs to prop up our results, which can partly explain our league table performance, and I also think the flooding showed just how resilient and community-minded our residents are.
So, with a £1.5million cash injection in the last five years, Hull has gone from strength to strength. It really gets unfair press when dubbed one of the worst places to visit, and try as you might, I doubt you’ll be able to persuade me otherwise.
