Re: Is Hull that bad? : Mon Apr 09, 2012 10:47 pm  

I am not from Hull but went to school and university there. I support Hull FC, although owing to my current working arrangements have not been to a game for over a year.

During my time in the city, many people I met who were from Hull had one main ambition - to get out of Hull. Those who stayed on for uni did so as it was cheaper then going away, plus the uni is decent.

Of those university students I know not from Hull, very few, if any, have remained in the city after completing their studies. They have been lured away by the offer of better jobs, better prospects and better money in Leeds / York / Sheffield / Manchester etc...

In short, pretty much everyone I know with any serious ambition has left the city. It's a shame, because these are the type of people the city needs to retain if it is serious about moving up. Some of these people are earning very decent livings, but not putting any of their hard-earned back into Hull, aside from the occasional weekend visit to see friends.

The problem is, there is nothing really to keep people there. Having spent time working in other UK cities, and abroad, I feel Hull has very little to offer. Ok, there are other places that are not much better, but Hull is out on a limb and you have to spend over an hour travelling before you get to any other major conurbation worth visiting. You can live in Wakefield / Cas and be in Leeds within 20 minutes on a fast train.

Back around 2002-2005 I really though the city was going somewhere. There was lots of regeneration and promise, talk of a top 10 city and all that. Most of it came to nothing, and now we have hit hard economic times the city is on its booty again.

Hull has some fine Georgian architecture, some excellent surrounding areas, and it is a bloody good night out. Unfortunately, that alone is not enough to attract and keep people in the area.

Re: Is Hull that bad? : Tue Apr 10, 2012 10:52 am  

Hull has suffered from depressed labour rates for decades and that has led to a problem in attracting and retaining talent.

As philanthropic as James Reckitt was, with his "Garden Village" for workers, sports and medical facilities etc, that philanthropy never extended to paying attractive wages. The same applied to other local industries such as Blackburn Aircraft, Armstrong Components, Fenners, Hollis and Smith & Nephew. At the end of WW2 both Ford and GM wanted to build car plants on the North bank of the Humber but they were thwarted when it cam to finding suitable land. The indigenous employers saw no reason to release land to a company that was bound to drive up local labour rates.

That is also one of the major reasons that Hull was never viewed as an attractive target for migrant workers when they started to hit the UK. Little heavy industry that had a high demand for unskilled labour.

I do recall one story though of a London stockbroker who relocated to Bridlington prior to the "big bang". He actually won Rail Commuter of the Year and when questioned, his reasons were simple. His family had always wanted to live in a house overlooking the sea and by moving to Bridlington from the South London suburbs, he got his dream home for 1/10th of what a similar South Coast house would have cost him. He would drive each morning from Brid to York, catch the Pullman to King's X and repeat the journey each evening. He figured his total daily commute, although longer in miles traveled was actually around the same in time spent. Plus he had the benefit of a table to work at on his journey. Once the big bang occurred, he simply opened another office in York and worked mainly from there.

Re: Is Hull that bad? : Tue Apr 10, 2012 8:06 pm  

tiger2000 wrote:

The comparison he made between crime rates in Hull City Centre and other areas were meaningless and 'cherry picked' to show Hull in the worst possible light.

That is because Dally seems to dislike everything about Hull and its inhabitants and will jump at the chance to vilify it at every opportunity. He's a wind up merchant who likes to make a statement and then wait (in his ivory tower) for people to take the bait. Dally = Snob of the highest order.

Re: Is Hull that bad? : Tue Apr 10, 2012 8:21 pm  

HullFC50 wrote:

Dally = Snob of the highest order.

Never been called that before!

Re: Is Hull that bad? : Wed Apr 11, 2012 2:21 pm  

I think the education figures are slightly skewed also by not including the East Riding schools. I am from Hull and proud to be. I was educated in Beverley - which although has a HU postcode, the figures go towards the East Riding rather than Hull

Re: Is Hull that bad? : Wed Apr 11, 2012 4:17 pm  

Dally wrote:

Never been called that before!

I bet you have been called 'braindead' and 'idiot' before though!

Re: Is Hull that bad? : Wed Apr 11, 2012 8:24 pm  

I don't think the citizens of Hull need to explain themselves to the likes of Dally!

Re: Is Hull that bad? : Thu Apr 12, 2012 9:22 am  

Born in Beverley, raised in Hull and currently residing in Anlaby (West Hull village) and I am very happy thank you very much. As well as working in Hull city centre my work has taken me to a few of the big cities across England, and I can honestly say I wouldn’t leave Hull for any of them.

Re: Is Hull that bad? : Thu Apr 12, 2012 3:51 pm  

Dr Hfuhruhurr wrote:

Born in Beverley, raised in Hull and currently residing in Anlaby (West Hull village) and I am very happy thank you very much. As well as working in Hull city centre my work has taken me to a few of the big cities across England, and I can honestly say I wouldn’t leave Hull for any of them.

Agree

Re: Is Hull that bad? : Thu Apr 12, 2012 10:49 pm  

Can someone sum up the thread please? Assume answer is a resounding 'Yes', seeing as Hull is a toilet.