www.hull.gov.uk

History

• Cabinet: The Cabinet makes most day-to-day decisions. It consists of the council leader, council deputy leader, and eight other councillors (called Portfolio Holders), all elected by the full council.
• Cabinet Committees: The Cabinet appoints councillors to Cabinet Committees to handle specific responsibilities, such as granting of contracts above a certain monetary value. 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. They gained control again in the 2008 local elections with an increased majority.

  Geography

  At (53.741, -0.333), north of London, Kingston upon Hull is near the east coast of the United Kingdom, on the northern bank of the Humber estuary,
     The city is surrounded by the rural East Riding of Yorkshire, isolating it from the rest of the United Kingdom.

  The parishes of Drypool, Marfleet, and Sculcoates, and most of Sutton parish, have been absorbed within the borough of Hull in the 19th and 20th centuries. Much of their area has been built over, and socially and economically they've long been inseparable from the city. Sutton alone retained a recognizable village centre in the 1960s, but on the south and east the advancing suburbs had already reached it. The four villages were, nevertheless, distinct communities, of a largely rural character, until their absorption in the borough—Drypool and Sculcoates in 1837, Marfleet in 1882, and Sutton in 1929.

  Some areas of Hull lie 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 the homes of approximately 10,000 people from flooding. Due to its low level, Hull is expected to be at increasing levels of risk from flooding due to global warming. 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. The plight of the city at that time was largely overlooked by the media, which focussed upon the more dramatic, localised, flooding in Sheffield and Doncaster, leading council leader Carl Minns to declare Hull the "forgotten city" of the floods. Damage to schools alone was estimated at £100 million. At around 01:00 GMT on February 27 2008, Hull was north of the epicentre of an earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter Scale and lasting for nearly 10 seconds. This is an unusually large earthquake for this part of the world.
     Located in Northern England, Hull has a temperate maritime climate which is dominated by the passage of mid-latitude depressions. The weather is very changeable from day to day and the warming influence of the Gulf Stream makes the region mild for its latitude. The average total annual rainfall is with rain falling on 109 days of the year. January is usually the coldest month and November the wettest.The warmest month is August and the driest is February.

  Demography

  According to the 2001 UK census, Hull had a population of 243,589, a decline of 7.5% since the 1991 UK census. The population figure has subsequently been re-estimated to 256,200 as of July 2006. In 2001 approximately 53,000 were aged under 16, 174,000 were aged 16–74, and 17,000 aged 75 and over. |- !Year |1801 |1851 |1901 |1911 |1921 |1931 |1941 |1951 |1961 |1971 |1981 |1991 |2001 |- !Population Hull |21,280 |57,484 |236,772 |281,525 |295,017 |309,158 |302,074 |295,172 |289,716 |284,365 |266,751 |266,180 |243,595 |} » There was no census in 1941: figures are from National Register. United Kingdom and Isle of Man. Statistics of Population on 29 September 1939 by Sex, Age and Marital Condition
  
  
     There is a discrepancy of 6 between Office of National Statistics figures (quoted before) and those on the Vision of Britain website (quoted here).

  Transport and infrastructure

  The main route into and out of Hull by road is the M62 motorway/A63 road, 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 A63 dual carriageway. The east–west route forms a small part of the European road route E20.
     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. Prior to construction of the bridge those wishing to cross the Humber could either take a ferry or travel inland as far as Goole.
     Public 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. Hull Paragon Interchange, opened on 16 September, 2007, is the city’s new transport hub combining the main bus and rail termini in an integrated complex. It is expected to see 24,000 people passing through the complex each day. From the railway terminus, services are provided to the rest of the UK, including direct services to London, provided by Hull Trains. 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 Humberside Airport which is away in Lincolnshire, this mostly provides charter flights and also has four KLM scheduled flights to Amsterdam and Aberdeen each day. Robin Hood Airport in South Yorkshire is from the city centre 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. Every 20–mph speed limit sign in the city displays artwork created by schoolchildren.
     Road transport in Hull suffers from delays caused both by the many bridges over the navigable River Hull which bisects the city and can cause disruption at busy times, and from the remaining three level crossings in the city. The level crossing problem was greatly relieved during the 1960s with the closure of the Hornsea and Withernsea branch lines, the transfer of all goods traffic to the high level line that circles the city, and by the construction of two major road bridges on Hessle Road (1962) and Anlaby Road (1964).

  Economy

  Hull is a very busy port, handling 13 million tonnes of cargo per year. Several well-known British industrial firms, including Airfix, BP, Smith & Nephew, Seven Seas, and Reckitt Benckiser, have facilities in Hull.
     There are three large shopping centres in Hull city centre - the Prospect Centre, Prince's Quay and St. Stephen's, the last of which opened on 20 September, 2007 and is home to several large stores including Zara, H&M, Next, Jane Norman, and Topshop. Princes Quay, built on stilts in the former Prince's Dock, is also due for redevelopment in the near future. 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. The centre includes a new Vue cinema which opened on 21 December, 2007 and is the first fully digital cinema in Europe.
     The indoor Trinity Market which is due for renovation features around 50 stalls and is situated next to the city's Holy Trinity Church and the historic Hepworth's Arcade. Shops in Hull took £484m ($991m) between April 2006 and 2007, a rise of £13m over the previous 12 month period. Below is a table of trends of regional gross value added for Hull at current basic prices.

  Year	Regional Gross Value Added (millions of GB₤)	Agriculture	Industry	Services
  1995	2,748	5	1,014	1,729
  2000	3,231	3	1,205	2,023
  2003	3,711	6	1,406	2,299

  Includes hunting and forestry » Includes energy and construction
  
  
      Includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

  Regeneration

  Areas of Hull are undergoing regeneration. These include the Quay West and St Stephen's projects. Costing £300 million Quay West (being built on brownfield land) will provide an open air expansion of the existing Princes Quay shopping centre. Overlooking the Humber, the new £165 million Humber Quays development, now with World Trade Centre status, is adding new high quality office space to Hull's waterfront. Phase 1 of the project includes two office buildings (both complete), 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 £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. The development is to be linked to the City Centre by a new swing footbridge across the River Hull which is described as an "iconic" addition to Hull's skyline.
     St. Stephen's is a new shopping centre built on the site of the old bus station. It is a scheme, costing over £160 million. It is anchored by a 24-hour superstore and provides shop units, residential areas, car parking, and a new transport interchange. The interchange includes a new bus station and renovated railway station and is said to be the second system in England to combine railway and bus stations with leisure and shopping facilities under one roof, after Doncaster's Frenchgate interchange. Stores leasing area in St Stephen's include Zara, Topshop, Oasis, H&M, Next, Jane Norman, and Tesco Extra.

  Public services

  Telephone system

  Hull is the only city in the UK with its own independent telephone network company, Kingston Communications, which has lead to the myth that Hull as a forgotten city. 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's 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.
     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 (KiT). In recent years, Kingston Communications has expanded and diversified its service portfolio to become a nationwide provider of telephone, television, and Internet access services, with close to 180,000 customers projected for 2007.

  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. However, after a year of "major improvements", the Home Office list released in October 2007 shows the force rising several places (although still among the bottom six of 43 forces rated). Humberside Police received ratings of "good" or "fair" in most categories. HM Prison Hull is located in the city and is operated by HM Prison Service. It caters for up to 1,000 adult male prisoners.

  Education

  Universities

  Kingston upon Hull is home to the University of Hull, which was founded in 1927 and received its Royal Charter in 1954. It has a student population of 16,000. 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, to where the administrative headquarters and management also moved in 2001. The University of Lincoln retains a small campus in Hull city centre.

  Schools

  Hull has over 100 local schools; of these, Hull City Council lists 14 secondary schools and 71 primary schools. Schools independent of the City Council include Hymers College and Hull Collegiate School, the latter formed by the joining of Hull Grammar School and Hull High School, run by the United Church Schools Trust. There is a large further education college, Hull College, and two large sixth form colleges, Wyke College and Wilberforce College. Hull Trinity House School has been offering pre-sea training to prospective mariners since 1787.
     Hull has had low examination success rates for many years and was often found near the bottom of government league tables. In the 2007 league tables the city moved off the bottom of the league tables of pupils who achieve five A* to C grades, including English and Maths, at GCSE by just one place, coming 149th out of 150 local education authorities. However, this represents an increase from 25.9 per cent in 2006 to 30 per cent in summer 2007 – an improvement of 4.1 per cent – which is amongst the best in the country.
     In 2003, the city established a Youth Enterprise Partnership to help support enterprising young people. Teams from Hull formed under this partnership (K H Smilers, Avian Enterprise, Tops Off, and Force-7) have reached the National Finals of Young Enterprise, with two teams winning and continuing to the European Finals. The partnership also facilitates events with high-profile speakers during National Enterprise Week, and has established a drop-in facility at the BeSPoKe Centre in Bransholme for young people to learn more about setting up in business. The city has also established the John Cracknell Youth Enterprise Bank to give financial support to qualified individuals.

  Religion

  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.
     Unlike many other ancient English cities, Hull has no cathedral. However, Hull's Holy Trinity Church is the largest parish church in England when floor area is the measurement for comparison. The church dates to about 1300 and contains what is widely acknowledged to be some of the finest mediæval brick-work in the country, particularly in the transepts. Also, nearby is Beverly Minster.
     Hull forms part of the Southern Vicariate of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Middlesbrough.
     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.
     Various Buddhist traditions are represented in and around Hull (External Link)

  Culture

  Museums and art

  Hull's Museum Quarter consists of Wilberforce House, the Arctic Corsair, the Hull and East Riding Museum, and the Streetlife and Transport Museum. Other museums and visitor attractions include the Ferens Art Gallery, the Maritime Museum, the Spurn Lightship, and the Deep, the world's only submarium. The Fish Trail leads its followers through old and new sections of the city, following a wide variety of sealife engraved in the pavement.

  Literature

  Hull has attracted the attention of poets; the Australian author Peter Porter has described it as "the most poetic city in England". Philip Larkin set many of his poems in Hull; these include "The Whitsun Weddings", "Toads", and "Here". Scottish-born Douglas Dunn's Terry Street, a portrait of working-class Hull life, is one the outstanding poetry collections of the 1970s. Dunn forged close associations with such Hull poets as Peter Didsbury and Sean O'Brien; the works of some of these writers appear in the 1982 Bloodaxe anthology A Rumoured City, a work that Dunn edited. Andrew Motion, current Poet Laureate, lectured at the University of Hull between 1976 and 1981, and Roger McGough studied there. Contemporary poets associated with Hull are Maggie Hannan, David Wheatley, and Caitriona O'Reilly.
  

  Theatre

  The city has three main theatres. Hull New Theatre, which opened in 1939, is the largest venue which features musicals, opera, ballet, drama, children's shows and pantomime. The Hull Truck Theatre is a smaller independent theatre, established in 1971, that 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, established in 1975, is also based in the city.

  Classical music

  Hull is home to Hull Sinfonietta, the largest professional chamber ensemble in the Humber region, and also the Hull Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the oldest amateur orchestras in the country. The Hull Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, established in 1952, 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 Arterian Singers and two Gilbert & Sullivan Societies: the Dagger Lane Operatic Society and the Hull Savoyards are also based in Hull.There are two brass bands, the East Yorkshire Motor Services Band. and East Riding of Yorkshire Band.

  Popular music

  In the 1960s, Mick Ronson of the Hull band Rats worked closely with David Bowie and was heavily involved in production of the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Ronson later went on to record with Lou Reed, Bob Dylan and The Wildhearts.
     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 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 Matthewman 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. Vocalist and actor Roland Gift, who formed the Fine Young Cannibals, grew up in Hull.
     The Adelphi is a popular local venue for alternative live music in the city, and has achieved notability outside Hull, having hosted such bands as The Stone Roses, Radiohead, Green Day, and Oasis in its history. Another popular music venue is the Springhead, which caters to a variety of bands and has been recognised nationally as a Live Music Pub of the Year.
     The record label Pork Recordings started in Hull in the mid-1990s and has released 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.

  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. The drinking culture in the city centre tends towards late bars while the wine bars and pubs around Hull University and its accommodation area are popular with students. In particular, the areas around Newland Avenue and Prince's Avenue have seen a rapid expansion in continental style bars and cafes encouraged by the redesign of the street layout.

  Festivals

  The city hosts the The Humber Mouth literature festival every year- the 2007 season featured writers such as Will Self, Shami Chakrabarti, Joanne Harris, Raj Persaud, Mike Gayle, Jackie Kay, Jean "Binta" Breeze, Robin Ince, Dan Rhodes, Steven Hall and 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 one of 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's 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, such as: Dead To Fall (USA), From A Second Story Window (USA), Ion Dissonance (Canada), Belay My last (USA), Abel Is Dying (Italy), Eternal Lord, Annotations of an Autopsy, With Chaos in Her Wake, Postmortem Promises, Clone the Fragile and many more.
     The Hull Global Food Festival held its first annual event in the city's Queen Victoria Square for three days in 2007. According to officials, the event attracted 125,000 visitors and brought some £5 million in revenue to the area. The next event is scheduled for 22 August–24 August 2008.
     The first Hull Comedy Festival, which included performers such as Stewart Lee and Russell Howard was held in 2007 and it's anticipated that this too will become an annual festival.

  Media

  Hull's daily newspaper is the Hull Daily Mail which was named Yorkshire Daily Newspaper of the Year in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007. 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.

  Sport

  The city's professional football team, Hull City AFC, will play in the Barclays Premier League, having just been promoted to that division. The team play at the Kingston Communications Stadium.
     Hull is something of a rugby league hub, having two teams who play in the Super League. Hull FC, along with Hull City AFC, play at the Kingston Communications Stadium and Hull Kingston Rovers who play at Craven Park. There are also 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. Rugby union is catered for by Hull Ionians who play at Brantingham Park.
     The city also has 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.
     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. Beverley Racecourse is a famous horseracing track near to Hull.
     Greyhound racing returned to the city on 25 October 2007 with the re-opening of The Boulevard stadium as a venue for the sport.

  Dialect and accent

  The local accent is quite distinctive and noticeably different from the rest of the East Riding; however it's still categorised amongst Yorkshire accents. The most notable feature of the accent is the strong I-mutation in words like goat, which is [gəʊt] in standard English and [goːt] across most of Yorkshire, becomes [gɵːt] ("geuht") in and around parts of Hull, although there's 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. "Guide" and "guard" for example are therefore homophones.
     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 word pairs spur/spare and fur/fair illustrate this.
     The generational and/or geographic variation can be heard in word pairs like pork/poke or cork/coke, or hall/hole, 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're spoken (by some) in the city and a 'translation' to the Queen's English. For example, someone in Hull telling you that they'd received a fern curl could be telling someone they'd received a phone call.

  Reputation

  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, a diminished industrial base, and areas of urban blight. These factors contribute to Hull having the second highest level of deprivation in England, after Liverpool. Hull was named "the worst place to live in Britain" in the Channel 4 programme "The Best and Worst Places to Live in Britain" and the "second worst place" in 2007, after being absent from the 2006 list of worst places to live.
     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. Many residents and visitors also credit it for its down-to-earth, working class-attitude and its friendly nature, such as John Prescott. The city is also known for it's sunsets.
     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 £200 million St. Stephen's project.
     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. 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.

  Notable people

  » Most of the notable people associated with the city can be found in the and categories.
  
  People from Hull are called Hullensians and the city has been the birthplace and home to many notable people. Amongst the most notable persons of historic significance with a connection to Hull are William Wilberforce who was instrumental in the abolition of slavery and Amy Johnson, aviator who was the first person to fly solo from England to Australia. Notable entertainers from the city include actor John Alderton and actress Maureen Lipman. Playwrights Richard Bean, John Godber and Alan Plater have close connections with Hull.
     Musicians include Paul Heaton of the Housemartins and The Beautiful South Notable sportspeople include Clive Sullivan, rugby league player, who played for both of Hull's professional rugby league teams. The main A63 road into the city from the Humber Bridge is named after him (Clive Sullivan Way).

  Twinned cities

  Hull has formal twinning arrangements with several places:
  

  	Country		Place		County / District / Region / State	Date
  	Sierra Leone		Freetown		Western Area
  	Japan		Niigata		Niigata
  	United States		Raleigh		North Carolina
  	Iceland		Reykjavík		Reykjavík
  	Netherlands		Rotterdam		South Holland
  	Poland		Szczecin		West Pomeranian

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

  Further Information

  Get more info on 'Kingston Upon Hull'.

  
  

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