IT is always nice to be one step ahead of the curve.
And no, I’m not talking about fashion.
I’m still waiting for cravats to become en vogue again.
Anyway I’m delighted that what I’ve been going on about for years has now gone global.
Alongside Rio de Janeiro, the Akagera National Park in Rwanda, Quebec and Vancouver in Canada and Dominica – home of the world’s first sperm whale reserve – and the Dolomites in Italy which host next year’s Winter Olympics, Hull has been named as one of the 25 destinations across the world that you should visit next year.
The much-anticipated annual list is published by esteemed magazine National Geographic.
The East Yorkshire port city makes the list on account of its “many-layered maritime heritage” and its “laid-back charm”.
Although anyone who has experienced Spiders Nightclub at chucking out time may challenge that claim to a laid-back vibe.
Nevertheless I’m delighted that a city I was fortunate to discover many years ago and where I have made great friends and had some wonderful times, is finally getting a bit of the global credit it deserves.
National Geographic tells its readers: “Hull was one of the world’s busiest whaling ports in the 19th century and a fishing and shipping hub until the 20th, before falling on hard times. Over the past decade, the city has undergone significant revitalization. Warehouses around Humber Street’s old waterside Fruit Market are now lively independent bars, restaurants, and art galleries.”
Much of that urban renaissance has been led by Hull-based property group Wykeland whose managing director is Dominic Gibbons.
Dominic, alongside his friend and fellow Hull businessman Shaun Watts of Chameleon Business Interiors, have championed Hull and have run several “cultural tours” of the city where they and other local entrepreneurs have invited guests to join them on a tour of some of the historic places that Kingston Upon Hull, to use its formal name, has to offer.
I have been fortunate to join those trips, which have taken in Hull Minster, the Streetlife Museum of Transport, the Freedom Festival and several historic pubs in the city’s Old Town, including the George Hotel which boasts the smallest glazed window in England.
The pub sits on a street beautifully named The Land of Green Ginger.
Those cultural tours have twice taken in Hull Trinity House.
It is a seafaring organisation which includes a charity for seafarers, a school, and a guild of mariners.
It was started in 1369 as a religious guild providing support and almshouses for the needy, and established a school for mariners in 1787 at a time when it had responsibilities including management of the harbour at Hull and buoys and pilotage in the Humber Estuary.
It now still operates as a charity and the Hull Trinity House Academy which is a secondary school for boys.
Whilst the Trinity House is very much a ‘working’ building, concerned with the day to day running and administering the Charity and Guild, it also contains a wealth of artefacts and memorabilia given by what it calls its ‘Brethren’ over the years.
It sees itself as a museum, but this is probably one of the world’s most exclusive museums given that the Brethren only open it on selected Mondays during the year.
But it is well worth a visit.
The Council Room still has reed straw scattered on the floor, as all the rooms in the building used to have, to gather up the mud and dust from the unpaved streets of the city in years gone by.
The Cook Room is dedicated to many of the artefacts about Captain James Cook and his voyages of exploration, which were financed in part by Wardens and Brethren of The House.
Hull is certainly in good company on the National Geographic list: other places it recommends that you need to visit next year include Beijing, the North Dakota Badlands, Route 66 in the USA and the Basque country.
The story is featured in The Northern Agenda email newsletter which quotes Hull City Council leader Mike Ross, who said: “This is tremendous recognition for the city of Hull. I know what a brilliant place it is and it is wonderful to see it on this sort of list. Hull should be on anyone’s list of places to visit.”
I agree.
If you fancy a weekend away with a difference, then I heartily recommend Hull.
:::
A SLIGHTLY truncated blog this week due to the fact that I’m off to a conference in Leeds today hosted by the Financial Conduct Authority which is focused on promoting growth opportunities across the North of England.
I compered an event for Leeds-based fintech group PEXA earlier this month and I’m due to produce a series of video interviews for the company in the coming weeks.
PEXA’s chief operating officer Simon Wright is taking part in a panel discussion at today’s event at Aspire in Leeds which will also feature a keynote speech from “a senior government representative”.
Given Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves is a Leeds MP, you never know.
If she does make an appearance then hopefully she will listen to plenty of good old Yorkshire common sense as she formulates her much-anticipated budget speech which she will make on November 26.
I’m sure she already knows that the late date for the budget is not doing any favours to her ambition to grow the economy.
All I hear from businesses is caution when it comes to making any decisions before they know the outcome of the Chancellor’s announcement in just over a month’s time.
Most are anticipating bad news, but if it is, then they would rather hear it sooner rather than later and crack on with running their businesses.
:::
LEEDS United’s plans to expand its Elland Road stadium will go before the city council’s planning committee next week.
If approved the historic stadium will see its capacity expand to almost 53,000 “making it one of the largest grounds in the UK” according to one media report I read yesterday.
If it is one of the largest football stadiums in the UK is it as big as Wembley Stadium?
No that’s 90,000 capacity.
What about Old Trafford?
Not that’s 74,000.
How about Tottenham Hotspur Stadium?
No, that’s almost 63,00.
Is it bigger than West Ham’s London Stadium?
No, that’s 62,500.
How about Liverpool’s home, Anfield?
No, that’s 61,000.
What about the Emirates Stadium where Arsenal play?
That’s over 60,000.
Celtic Park in Glasgow?
That’s 60,000 too.
Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium is 53,400, Everton’s new stadium is 52,888 and Newcastle’s St James’ Park is 52,305.
So it won’t even be one of the largest football stadiums in the North of England.
Perhaps it would have been better to say that it will be the biggest stadium in Yorkshire.
Have a great weekend.