KINGSTON UPON HULL

'Kingston upon Hull', more usually referred to simply as 'Hull', is a city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is located on the north bank of the Humber estuary, near the east coast, and on both sides of the River Hull, which flows into the Humber.

History

Since the 12th century, a settlement has existed on this site. It was established as a result of the founding between 1150 and 1179 of the Meaux Abbey in the area. It is said that William le Gros, Earl of Albemarle and founder of the abbey was hunting in the area and decided that the point at which the River Hull met the River Humber was ideally suited for a market and port.
The town was originally called Wyke (or Wyke-upon-Hull), but in 1293 Edward I, as a consequence of an arrangement between the king and the Abbot of Meaux, Wyke was granted the right to hold a market and fair, was made a manor and a free borough, had a harbour constructed, and had its named changed to Kingston upon Hull ('the King's town upon Hull').^[1]
The location became strategically important to the English in conflict with the Scottish in the late 13th century. Edward I selected the site for its ideal proximity to his kingdom's adversary. Kingston-upon-Hull was an advantageous port from which to launch his campaigns, sufficiently deep within the boundaries of England to afford security. The associated royal charter, dated April 1, 1299 remains preserved in Hull's Guildhall Archives.
The charter of 1440, constituted Kingston upon Hull a corporate town and granted that instead of a Mayor and Bailiffs there should be a Mayor, Sheriff and twelve Aldermen who should be Justices of the Peace within the town and county. Hull was a major port during the later Middle Ages and its merchants traded widely to ports in northern Germany, the Baltics and the Low Countries. Wool, cloth and hides were exported, and timber, wine, furs and dyestuffs imported. Leading merchant, Sir William de la Pole, helped establish a family prominent in government. Bishop John Alcock, founder of Jesus College and patron of the grammar school in Hull, hailed from another Hull mercantile family.
Between the 13th and 16th centuries, Hull was the second port of England (after London), and a sophisticated metropolitan and international city. Its maritime history is thought to have been a key factor in the transmission of syphilis: the earliest evidence of syphilis in medieval Europe is at the site of an Augustinian friary (destroyed 1539) in Hull. This friary provided medical care including palliative care and burial rites for "wretched souls". Carbon-dated skeletons from the friary display bone lesions typical of tertiary venereal syphilis. This casts doubt on the New World origin theory of syphilis. Examination of the friary site revealed bone lesions on two/thirds of the skeletons examined, including those closest to the altar, a position reserved for richer and more generous patrons of the order. This suggests that the privileged of Hull had had syphilis for a long time.^[2] Carbon dated skeletons of monks who lived in the friary showed bone lesions typical of venereal syphilis. The find in Hull disputes the assertion that syphilis came from the New World through contact of Christopher Columbus's crew with American natives.^[3]
Hull grew in prosperity and importance during the 16th and early 17th centuries. This is reflected in the construction of a number of fine, distinctively decorated brick buildings of which Wilberforce House (now a museum dedicated to the life of William Wilberforce) is a rare survivor.
In 1642 Hull's governor Sir John Hotham declared for the Parliamentarian cause and later refused Charles I entry into the city and access to its large arsenal. He was declared a traitor and despite a parliamentarian pardon was later executed. (He was actually executed by the parliamentarians, not the royalists, when he tried to change sides.) This series of events was to precipitate the English Civil War since Charles I felt obliged to respond to the 'insult' by besieging the city, an event which played a critical role in triggering open conflict between the Parliamentarian and Royalist causes. For some of the Civil War, and for some of the Interregnum, Robert Overton was governor of Hull.

Hull in 1866.

Hull developed as a British trade port with mainland Europe. Whaling until the mid 19th century and deep sea fishing until the Anglo-Icelandic Cod War 1975–1976, which resolution led to a major decline in Hull's economic fortune. At one stage it was the "third port" in England, due largely to the success of the Wilson Line of Hull shipping firm, the largest privately owned shipping concern at that time. The significance of this successful firm in Hull is seen by statues in the city centre to the brothers that ran it. It was only when it was sold to John Ellerman in 1915 that it declined and was in correlation with the decline of Hull as a port to rival London and Liverpool. It remains a major port dealing mostly with bulk commodities and commercial road traffic by RORO ferry to Rotterdam and Zeebrugge on mainland Europe. The city remains a UK centre of food processing.
Because of its docks, industry and proximity to continental Europe, the city sustained particularly significant damage in bombing raids during the Second World War and much of the city centre was devastated. In fact, Hull was the most severely bombed city outside London during World War II, with 95% of houses being damaged or destroyed.^[4] Of a population of approximately 320,000 at the beginning of World War II, approximately 192,000 were made homeless as a result of bomb destruction or damage. The worst of the bombing occurred during 1941. Little was known about this destruction by the rest of the country at the time since most of the radio and newspaper reports did not reveal Hull by name but referred to it as a "North-East" town.^[5] Most of the centre was rebuilt in the years following the war, but it is only recently that the last of the "temporary" car parks that occupied the spaces of destroyed buildings have been redeveloped.

2007 flooding

Hull was hit particularly hard by the June 2007 United Kingdom floods, with the local topography resulting in standing water over a wide area affecting 20% of the city's housing and damaging 90 out of its 105 schools. Despite this, the city was largely overlooked by the media, which favoured the more dramatic but localised flooding in Sheffield and Doncaster, leading council leader Carl Minns to declare Hull the "forgotten city" of the floods.^[6] Damage to schools alone has been estimated at £100 million.^[7]

Geography

The Tidal Surge Barrier

Kingston upon Hull is near the east coast of the United Kingdom, on the northern bank of the Humber estuary. The city centre is close to the Humber, making the city roughly semi-circular in shape. The city is surrounded by the rural East Riding of Yorkshire, making it quite isolated from many of the large cities of the United Kingdom, when compared to the large conurbations of West Yorkshire for example.
Much of Hull lies on reclaimed land at or below sea level. The Hull Tidal Surge Barrier is at the point where the River Hull joins the Humber Estuary and is lowered at times when unusually high tides are expected. It is used between 8 and 12 times per year and protects approximately 10,000 people from flooding.^[8] Due to its low level, Hull is expected to be at increasing levels of risk from flooding due to global warming.^[9]
The boundaries of the city are tightly drawn and exclude many of the nearby villages which make up the larger metropolitan area. Cottingham is the largest of these.

Administration

Hull's administrative status has changed several times. It was a county borough within the East Riding of Yorkshire from 1889 and in 1974 it became a non-metropolitan district of Humberside. When that county was abolished in 1996 it was made a unitary authority.
The governing body of the city is now Hull City Council. The council was designated as the UK's worst performing authority in both 2004 and 2005, but is now rated as a two star improving adequately council after its recent corporate performance assessment. ^[10] The Liberal Democrats won overall control of the City Council in the 2007 local elections, ending several years where no single party had a majority.^[11]

Twinning

Hull is twinned with:

★ Freetown, Sierra Leone
and is sistered with

★ Niigata, Japan

★ Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

★ Reykjavík, Iceland

★ Rotterdam, Netherlands

★ Szczecin, Poland
Hull, Massachusetts in the USA is named after this city, as is Hull, Quebec, which is part of the Canadian national capital region.

Economy

Industry

Hull is a very busy port, with 18.5% of UK imports and 15% of the UK's seaborne trade passing through in 2004.^[12]
Hull is also home to some major industries and well known British brands, such as BP, Croda International, Smith & Nephew, Reckitt Benckiser, BAe Systems and Seven Seas.

Princes Quay Shopping Centre built over Princes Dock.

Shopping

There are two large shopping centres in Hull - the Prospect Centre and Princes Quay Shopping Centre, the latter of which is built on stilts in the former Princes Dock. There is also a new Vue cinema due for completion autumn 2007. The indoor Trinity Market features around fifty stalls and is situated next to the city's Holy Trinity Church. Due for completion in Autumn 2007, the new St. Stephen's development will also become home to several large stores, including Zara, H&M, Next, Oasis, and Topshop, whilst the Quay West development due for completion in 2010 will see Prince's Quay extended with another 60 shops and two new department stores (John Lewis and Debenhams are tipped to lease these) and other leisure facilities.
Shops in Hull took £484m between April 2006 and 2007. A rise of £13m over the previous 12 month period. [1]

Statistics

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Kingston-upon-Hull at current basic prices published (pp.240-253) by ''Office for National Statistics'' with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.

Year	Regional Gross Value Added¹	Agriculture²	Industry³	Services⁴
1995	'2,748'	5	1,014	1,729
2000	'3,231'	3	1,205	2,023
2003	'3,711'	6	1,406	2,299

¹ Components may not sum to totals due to rounding

² includes hunting and forestry

³ includes energy and construction

⁴ includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

Demographics

According to the 2001 UK census, Hull had a population of 253,400, a decline of 5.3% since the 1991 UK census. The population figure has subsequently been re-estimated to 249,100 as of July 2005.^[13] For many years Hull was one of the least racially diverse cities in England, however in recent years large numbers of foreigners have come to the city as refugees, students or workers.

Education

Universities

Kingston upon Hull is home to the University of Hull, which was founded in 1927. There are 16,000 students in attendance.^[14] Associated with the university is the Hull York Medical School (HYMS), which took its first intake of students in 2003 as a part of the British government's attempts to train more doctors.
The University of Lincoln grew out of the University of Humberside, a former polytechnic which was based in Hull. Through the 1990s the focus of the institution moved to nearby Lincoln, where the administrative headquarters and management moved to in 2001. Since then the main campus has been sold to the University of Hull and now contains the Faculty of Health & Social Care, Business School and the Hull York Medical School. The University of Lincoln retains a small campus in Hull city centre.

Schools

There are over 100 local schools, including the independent Hymers College and Hull Collegiate School (Formed by the joining of Hull Grammar School and Hull High School in September 2005). There is a large further education college, Hull College and two large sixth form colleges, Wyke College and Wilberforce College.
Hull has had low examination success rates for many years and was often found near the bottom of government league tables. This, however, is a problem that many large inner-city Local Education Authorities have. In 2006, Hull’s secondary schools’ examination succession rate rocketed by 75% from 28.9% of pupils achieving 5 or more GCSEs with grades of C or higher in 2004 to more than 50%, bringing Hull close to the national average. This was partly due to a major restructuring of Hull's secondary education system, which involved several closures, mergers and the construction of an entirely new school. In common with many other regions, the number of pupils passing five GCSEs dropped when the system was changed to count only those pupils passing English and Maths as part of the five.
Trinity House school situated in Myntongate is one of the oldest Guilds and the oldest presea training school in the UK.
The City of Hull has established a Youth Enterprise Partnership to help support the City's enterprising young people in the last four years teams from Hull (K H Smilers, Avain, Tops Off and Force-7 have reached the National Finals of Young Enterprise with two of them winning it and going on to the European Finals. It has also established a Youth Enterprise Bank to give finnancial support to its enterprising young people.

Religion

Holy Trinty Church - Hull.

Hull is in the Diocese of York and has a Suffragan Bishop. In 2001, the city had the lowest church attendance in the United Kingdom.^[15]
Unlike many other ancient English cities, Hull has no cathedral. It does, however, contain Holy Trinity Church, which is the largest parish church in England when floor area is the measurement for comparison. Other churches, such as St Nicholas's in Great Yarmouth, are larger when other measurements are taken. The church dates back to about 1300^[16] and contains what is widely acknowledged to be some of the finest mediæval brick-work in the country, particularly in the transepts.
There are several seamen's missions and churches based in Hull. The Mission to Seafarers has a centre at West King George Dock. The
St Nikolaj Danish Seamen's Church is located at 104 Osborne Street, Hull and has services (in Danish) every Sunday.

Transport and infrastructure

The Humber Bridge from the south side

The main route into and out of Hull by road is the M62 motorway, which is one of the main east-west routes in northern England. It provides a link to the cities of Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds as well as the rest of the country via the UK motorway network. The motorway itself ends some distance from the city; the rest of the way is along the dual carriageway A63. The east-west route forms a small part of the European road route E20.
The city's rail terminus is Hull Paragon railway station. Services are provided to the rest of the UK, including direct services to London, provided by Hull Trains.
Transport within the city is provided by two main bus operators: Stagecoach in Hull and East Yorkshire Motor Services. A smaller operator, Alpha Bus and Coach, provides one of the two Park and Ride services in the city, whilst East Yorkshire Motor Services provide the other. Generally, routes within the city are operated by Stagecoach and those which leave the city are operated by EYMS.
The new St Stephen's development will integrate Hull's bus and railway stations into one structure. The combination is expected to see 24,000 people passing through each day.^[17] The development will also include shopping and leisure facilities along with car parking space. It is currently under construction and is expected to be completed in 2007 at a cost of £160 million.
P&O Ferries provide daily overnight ferry services from King George Dock in Hull to Zeebrugge and Rotterdam. Services to Rotterdam are worked by ferries ''Pride of Rotterdam'' and ''Pride of Hull'', the largest ferries operating in the United Kingdom.
The nearest airport is in Lincolnshire, Humberside Airport, which mostly provides charter flights and also has four KLM scheduled flights to Amsterdam and Aberdeen each day. Doncaster/Sheffield airport is within one hour's drive of the city and provides low cost flights to many European destinations.
Hull has the most 20 miles per hour zones and speed bumps in the UK, in an attempt to increase safety in its residential areas.
Hull is close to the Humber Bridge, which provides road links to destinations south of the Humber. The bridge was constructed between 1972 and 1981 and at the time was the longest single-span suspension bridge in the world. It is now fourth in the list.^[18] Prior to construction of the bridge those wishing to cross the Humber could either take a ferry or travel inland as far as Goole.

Telephone system

A Kingston Communications K6 telephone box in Hull, without the Royal Crown of its national counterparts

Hull is the only city in the UK with its own independent telephone network company, Kingston Communications. Its distinctive cream telephone boxes can be seen across the city. The company was formed in 1902 as a municipal department by the City Council and is a fine example of municipal enterprise. It remains the only locally operated telephone company in the UK, although it is now privatised. Initially Hull City Council retained a 44.9 per cent interest in the company and used the proceeds from the sale of shares to fund the city's sports venue, the KC Stadium, amongst other things. On 24 May 2007 they sold their remaining stake in the company for over £107 million.^[19]
Kingston Communications were one of the first telecoms operators in Europe to offer ADSL to business users, and the first in the world to run an interactive television service using ADSL, known as Kingston Interactive TV (Or KiT). As such, Hull has a modern telephone infrastructure. Indeed, as early as the 1950s, Hull had an advanced telecommunication infrastructure. This included cable television and radio, which was installed as default into every new council house (of which there were many), and most private properties in the city. Kingston Communications has significant market power in both the dial-up and ADSL broadband internet market in Hull and the adjoining built-up areas.

Policing

Policing in Kingston upon Hull is undertaken by Humberside Police. In October 2006 the force was named (jointly with Northamptonshire Police) as the worst performing police force in the United Kingdom, based on data released from the Home Office.^[20]
HM Prison Hull is located in the city and is operated by HM Prison Service. It caters for up to 1000 adult male prisoners.

Culture

Museums and art

The Deep at night.

Hull has an extensive museum and visitor quarter which includes Wilberforce House, Hull and East Riding Museum, the Ferens Art Gallery, the Maritime Museum, Streetlife and Transport Museum, the Spurn Lightship, the Yorkshire Water Museum, the Arctic Corsair and the Deep, the world's only submarium.
Worthy of mention is the Fish Trail, which takes you from the new town and around the Old Town, following a wide variety of sealife engraved in the pavement.

Classical music

Hull is home to Hull Sinfonietta, the only large professional chamber ensemble in the Humber region, and the Hull Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the most accomplished amateur orchestras in the country. Also resident in the city is one of the UK's oldest independent youth orchestras - Hull Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, which was established in 1952.
The city is also the home of the Hull Choral Union, the Hull Bach Choir - which specialises in the performance of 17th and 18th century choral music, the Hull Male Voice Choir, the Dagger Lane Operatic Society - a Gilbert & Sullivan society, the Arterian Singers and the Kingston Singers.

Literature

Hull seems to be particularly attractive to poets - the Australian author Peter Porter has described it as "the most poetic city in the United Kingdom".
Philip Larkin, arguably the greatest English poet of the mid-20th century, wrote extensively in his poems about Hull. Among poems which contain descriptions of the area are "The Whitsun Weddings", "The Building" (about the Hull Royal Infirmary) and "Here". He also christened the city as "Coventry-by-the-Sea", as he saw many parallels between the two industrial cities.
Scottish-born Douglas Dunn's ''Terry Street'', a portrait of working-class Hull life, is one the outstanding poetry collections of the 1970s. Dunn was an important mentor to younger Hull poets including Peter Didsbury, Sean O'Brien and others, many of whom appeared in the 1982 Bloodaxe anthology ''A Rumoured City''. Current Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, lectured at the University of Hull between 1976 and 1980 and Roger McGough studied there. Among the younger poets associated with Hull are Maggie Hannan, David Wheatley and Caitriona O'Reilly.

Theatre

The city has three main theatres. The larger is the Hull New Theatre, which opened in 1939. It features musicals, opera, ballet, drama, children's shows and pantomime. The Hull Truck Theatre is a smaller independent theatre established in 1971. It regularly features plays, notably those written by John Godber. The Hull Truck Theatre will have a new home in the St Stephen's development. The Northern Theatre Company is also based in the city.

Nightlife

Hull has a lively nightlife, attracting people from outlying areas as well as inhabitants of the city. Hull has the concentration of pubs and bars expected of any large city in contemporary Britain. Until recently at which point late 4-6am bars have taken over with many of the notable clubs shutting down including Heaven and Hell, Rhythm Room and Planet Earth. The drinking culture in this city tends to step towards late bars.
Some of the bars and clubs in the City include The Welly Club, Magma, Sharkeys, Pozition, Spiders, V-Bar, Zachariah Pearson, and The Sugarmill. There are lots of popular wine bars and pubs around Hull University and its student accommodation area, including The Haworth Arms and The Gardeners arms.

Popular music

In the 1960s, Hull band ''Rats'' were spotted by David Bowie. They changed their name to 'The Spiders From Mars' and became a globally known sensation. Mick Ronson (guitar) was the best known of the band members and he later went on to record with Lou Reed and Bob Dylan. There is a Mick Ronson Memorial Stage in Queen's Gardens in Hull.
In the 1980s, Hull bands such as The Red Guitars, The Housemartins and Everything But the Girl found mainstream success. Paul Heaton, former member of The Housemartins who then went on to front The Beautiful South. Another former member of The Housemartins, Norman Cook, now performs as Fatboy Slim. In 1983 Hull born Paul Anthony Cook, Stuart Mathewman and Paul Spencer Denman formed the group Sade, in 1984 the singer Helen Adu signed to CBS and the group released the album Diamond Life. The album went Triple Platinum in the UK and is still the biggest selling album from a UK female singer to date. Also vocalist and actor Roland Gift (who formed the Fine Young Cannibals) grew up in Hull.
Current bands from Hull include The Paddingtons, who were signed by former Oasis mentor Alan McGee and have had two singles enter the UK's Top 30 and the music scene currently boasts well in excess of 250 unsigned bands. Ones to look out for include, CLEM, Turismo, Mr Beasley, The Favours, The Neat, The Johnsons, 59 Violets, The Talks, Fonda 500, Windum Earl, Last People On Earth, Popdog, The Ivy Sins, Ernest and Kill Surf City and many many more.
The Adelphi is locally known and regarded as the home of live music in the city and has achieved legendary status worldwide, having giving breaks to such bands as The Stone Roses, Radiohead, and Oasis in its 26 years.
Other local music venues remain popular including The Springhead which caters for cover bands and has been recognised nationally as a Live Music Pub of the Year.
Original Live Music Nights to take note of are The Sesh night at the popular Linnet & Lark on Princes Ave and The Sidekicks Lounge at The Lamp on Bev Rd. Both nights support local talent and both are free entry gigs which are well supported with over 200 people attending on a weekly basis. The Ringside on Beverley Road caters for the Punk and Emo crowd and the likes of The Wellington Pub and Tigers Lair host many a fine acoustic nights featuring more local talent.
Up 'n' Coming talent from across the UK is featured at The Welly club through its association with Club NME every Thursday and it sometimes plays host to some star names at its successful Indie Night Yo Yo.
The bigger National bands play either at Hull City Hall, KC Stadium, University Of Hull, or at the Hull Arena.
On the record label front, Pork Recordings started in Hull back in the mid 1990s and has released some fine workings of Fila Brazillia and Mr Beasley amongst others. The Sesh night has released four DIY compilations featuring the cream of Hull's live music scene and there are currently a few labels emerging in the city, including Purple Worm Records and Empire.

Festivals

The city hosts the ''The Humber Mouth'' literature festival every year- the 2007 season features writers such as Will Self, Shami Chakrabarti, Joanne Harris, Raj Persaud, Mike Gayle, Jackie Kay, Jean 'Binta' Breeze, Robin Ince, Dan Rhodes, Steven Hall, Christopher Reid.
The annual Hull Jazz Festival takes place around the Marina area for a week at the beginning of August.
This is followed, in early September, by the Sea Fever Festival, an International Sea Shanty Festival.
Early October sees the arrival of Hull Fair which is Europe's largest travelling funfair and takes place on land adjacent to the KC Stadium.
In 2007 the Hull Metalfest began in the Welly Club, it is the second largest UK Metal festival after the Download Festival. It featured Major Label bands hailing from America, Canada and Italy, as well as the UK.

Sport

Kingston Communications Stadium.

The city has a professional football team playing in the Championship (second tier), Hull City AFC, who play at the Kingston Communications Stadium. The club has never played in the first tier, making Hull England's largest city never to have seen first division football.
Hull is something of a rugby league hub, boasting two teams. Hull FC are in the Super League and, along with Hull City AFC, play at the Kingston Communications Stadium. Hull Kingston Rovers have recently been promoted to the Super League and play at Craven Park. In addition, there are several lower league teams in the city, such as East Hull, West Hull, Hull Dockers and Hull Isberg, who all play in the National Conference League.
The city also boasts Hull Ice Arena, a large ice rink and concert venue, which is home to the Hull Stingrays ice hockey team who play in the Elite Ice Hockey League.
New to the city is the Hull Hornets American Football Club, which, as of 5 November 2006, has acquired full member status of the British American Football League and is now eligible to apply for competition in the 2007 regular season.
In mid-2006 Hull was home to the professional wrestling company 1PW, which held the Devils Due event on 27 July in the Gemtec Arena.
The city did have, up until 2006, a Speedway Team, called Hull Vikings. However, they disbanded when they were evicted from Craven Park and ran into considerable financial difficulty. The sport has long and interesting history. Previous to the Second World War meetings were staged at Hull White City. In the early post war years the Hull Angels raced in the National League Division Three at Hedon before closure late summer 1949 saw the team move to Swindon. The sport was revived at The Boulevard and operated for many years with the Hull Vikings featuring World Champions Ivan Mauger, Barry Briggs and Egon Muller at various times.
For details of the activities of the Angels and the Vikings compiled by local speedway historian Roger Hulbert look at www.speedwayresearcher.org.uk

Media

Hull's daily newspaper is the ''Hull Daily Mail'' which was named Yorkshire Daily Newspaper of the Year in 2003, 2004 and 2006. Mail News and Media also has an internet presence, with separate sites for local news, sports and nightlife. Local listings and what's on guides include Tenfoot City Magazine and Sandman Magazine. The BBC has its new ''Yorkshire and Lincolnshire'' regional headquarters at Queen's Gardens, from which the regional news programme ''Look North'' is broadcast. Radio services come from BBC Radio Humberside, Viking FM, KCFM, Magic 1161, Hull University Union's Jam 1575, and Kingstown Radio, the hospital-based radio station, which all broadcast to the city.

Accent

The local accent is quite distinctive and noticeably different from the rest of the East Riding; however it is still categorised amongst Yorkshire accents. The most notable feature of the accent is the strong I-muatation^[21] in words like ''goat'', which is in standard English and across most of Yorkshire, becomes ("''geuht''") in and around parts of Hull, although there is variation across areas and generations. In common with much of England (outside of the far north), another feature is dropping the H from the start of words, for example Hull is more often pronounced 'Ull in the city. The vowel in "Hull" is pronounced the same way as in Standard English, however, and not as the very short /U/ that exists in Lincolnshire.
The rhythm of the accent is more like that of northern Lincolnshire than that of the rural East Riding, which is perhaps due to migration from Lincolnshire to the city during its industrial growth. One feature that it does share with the surrounding rural area is that an /i/ sound in the middle of a word often becomes an /a:/: for example, "five" may sound like "fahve", "time" like "tahme", etc.
The vowel sound in words such as ''burnt, nurse, first'' is pronounced with an /E:/ sound, as is also heard in Liverpool and in Middlesbrough, yet this sound is very uncommon in most of Yorkshire.
The generational and/or geographic variation can be heard in word pairs like pork/poke or cork/coke, or hall/hole, or spur/spare, which some people pronounce identically while others make a distinction; anyone called "Paul" (for example) soon becomes aware of this.
An amusing postcard is produced mocking the Hull accent. It lists a number of words and phrases as they are spoken (by some) in the city and a 'translation' to the Queen's English. For example, someone in Hull telling you that they had received a ''fern curl'' could be telling someone they had received a ''phone call''.

Reputation

British Extracting Company building standing derelict beside the river Hull

Hull's history is that of a solidly industrial city, with working-class sensibilities. Like many other cities and towns, it has suffered the negative effects of Britain's transition to a post-industrial society. These effects include, among other things, a decaying infrastructure, an obsolete industrial base, and areas of urban blight. These factors contribute to Hull having the second highest level of deprivation in England, after Liverpool.^[22] In 2005, Hull was named "the worst place to live in Britain" in the Channel 4 programme "The Best and Worst Places to Live in Britain".^[23]
In spite of these issues, many of the city's residents are very proud of Hull, its history, and its traditions, using such terms as "underrated", "thriving", "fantastic", and "wonderful" to describe their home.^[24] Many residents and visitors also credit it for its down-to-earth, working class-attitude and its friendly nature. The University of Hull boasts a reputation of being one of the friendliest universities in the United Kingdom.^[25]
Hull's national reputation is also reflected by the positive striving of the Council to improve the city's welfare. However, the city has had poor performance in terms of most socioeconomic indicators in comparison with the rest of the UK. Hull City Council was designated as the UK's worst performing authority in both 2004 and 2005, which the Council are trying to improve with its new £160 million St. Stephen's project. These efforts helped ensure Hull's absence from the 2006 list of "Worst Places to Live in Britain", a list which included, among other places, Nottingham, Manchester, and areas of London.^[26]
Hull is seen as something of a national oddity: a large city, in the midst of a very rural part of Yorkshire, at the very edge of the nation.^[27] The rest of the East Riding has always looked upon Hull as a very different entity, and government decisions have taken this into account with things such as post codes, telephone networks and other regional groupings.

Regeneration

As with many cities across the country, areas of Hull are undergoing regeneration. These include the ''St Stephen's'' and ''Quay West'' projects. ''£300 million Quay West'' (being built on brownfield land) will provide an open air expansion of the existing Princes Quay shopping centre.

One Humber Quays, home to the World Trade Centre Hull & Humber.

Overlooking the Humber, the new £165m Humber Quays development, now with World Trade Centre status Humber Quays, is adding new high quality office space to Hull's waterfront. Phase 1 of the project includes two office buildings (one complete, one under construction), and 51 new apartments. Phase 2 will include a new 200 bedroom 4 star hotel, a restaurant, plus more high quality office space.
The East Bank of the River Hull will see a stunning £100m residential development connected to Hull's old town. The Boom will include over 600 luxury riverside apartments, shops, boutiques, bistro cafés, a 120 bed luxury hotel, plus health and education facilities.
St. Stephen's is being built on the site of the old bus station and is a 52,000 sq m scheme, anchored by a 24 hour superstore, providing shop units, residential areas, as well as a new 'transport interchange'. This will include a new bus station and renovated railway station and is said to be the second system in England which integrates railway and bus stations, leisure and shopping facilities under the same roof, after Doncaster's, Frenchagate interchange. This project is aimed to be completed by the end of 2007. Stores leasing area in St Stephens include Zara, Topshop, Oasis, H&M, Next, and Tesco.

People associated with Kingston upon Hull

:''Most of the notable people associated with the city can be found in the and categories.''
Other people associated with the city include:

★ John Alderton, actor, grew up in Hull and attended Kingston High School.

★ John Clappison , ceramic and glass designer

★ Tom Courtenay, actor, born in Hull

★ Jon Culshaw, impressionist and comedian, also began his career as a DJ on Hull station Viking FM.

★ John Godber, playwright, has been Artistic Director of the Hull Truck Theatre Company since 1984.

★ Marion Hood, singer, grew up in Hull and performed in music hall there as a girl and young adult.

★ JK and Joel, presenters on BBC Radio 1, began their partnership on local radio station Viking FM.

★ Philip Larkin, poet, spent 30 years as Librarian of the University of Hull.

★ Andrew Lincoln, actor, spent some time growing up in Hull.

★ Maureen Lipman, actress, born in Hull.

★ Mick Ronson, lead guitarist with Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, considered by many to be one of the world's greatest guitarists.

★ Barrie Rutter, actor, born in Hull.

★ Debra Stephenson, actress, born in Hull

★ Clive Sullivan, rugby league player, played for both of Hull's rugby league teams. The main road into the city from the Humber Bridge is named after him (Clive Sullivan Way).

★ Roy North, Actor born in Hull and Hull City A.F.C. fan

★ Ronald Magill, who played Amos Brierley for 19 years in Emmerdale Farm born in Hull

References

External links

★ WikiTravel Guide

★ Hull City Council

★ Hull City Council - Photo archive web site

★ Hull Daily Mail

★ Holy Trinity church

★ Information about Port of Hull

★ Hull Philharmonic Youth Orchestra

★ Prince's Quay shopping centre

★ Quay West Project

★ St Stephens Project

★ The University of Hull

★ "The Humber Mouth" - Hull Literature Festival

★ Photograph of every public house in the city.

★ Hull Fish Trail.

★ Hull York Medical School

★ Pink Noise and other Hull bands of the 1980s

★ Hull Memories - Audio Recordings of Hull-born Edith Symonds

★ History of Hull's Theatres Past and Present

★ Photographs of modern and historic features in Kingston upon Hull

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