Not just the fact more people live in Leeds centre, but the uni is in the centre, meaning students are about 24/7 and there are more office based jobs. Go down Princes Ave or Newland Ave any evening and there are people about having meals/drinking etc... the centre is attempting to change though with Vue and Reel along with eateries opening later in both Princes Quay and St.Stephen's, I think Pizza Express and Nando's in Princes Quay stay open till about 11pm. Shops in St.Stephen's stay open a bit later than the rest of the centre too - closing times vary between 5:30 and 7:00. Also there are more events on at Hull Truck and Hull New Theatre and 2 new restaurants opening soon in the centre as well, so it doesn't go too bad despite not having the people knocking about.
Had a team bonding day in there years ago. Alcohol and team bonding dont go!! Cant remember the exact quote but went something like- How can we become closer as a team and as a company guys? Sack you you c**t!! Happy days.
Princes Dock St can be really good in an evening - 'half past the weekend' starts again on Easter Bank Holiday weekend, which is where the Quayside eateries all stay open whilst live bands play beside the water.
This is true. I've seen the live music on my walk home from work. It's a nice little scene actually. This summer, I shall actually have to stop by for a beer.
Where I live in Reading, there are a handful of empty boarded up shops, maybe 10-15, always new shops opening to replace others, always lively, lots of people around. The few long-term boarded up shops tend to have art displays in them too which makes the area more appealing. There probably is around 200 shops in a close area. The main shopping centre is open until 8pm on weekdays - great for popping in after work. What it misses badly, is a nightclub :-( The difference is that there is a lot of money around here. There isn't a lot of money at all around Hull. I do hope my old city comes out of the slump one day and I would be mostly amused if it happened during a Tory government, he he!!
Holbeck and Beeston are holes. I never hesitate in admitting that. But they're hardly the city centre, are they? They're declining old industial inner-city areas like any city which has predominantly shifted from manufacturing to services will have. Our city centre, on the other hand, is one of the nicest in the UK. Yours is decrepit and soulless. I quite like our stadium being in a horrible old wreck of a place anyway. Rather that than some unimposing drone-dome just outside the city centre like Hull and Donny have, and like Peter Ridsdale was hell-bent on building.
Leeds is pure identikit blandness. It's nicest buildings were built by a man from Hull (corn exchange, town hall). The only new build tower that has gone up that I like is Bridgewater Place, all the rest are either basic or terracotta clad mad. Leeds could be anywhere, there isn't anything unique about it. Hull may be rough around the edges in areas, but it's far from soulless - it's full of character, tradition and history. Is there anywhere as unique as Ye Olde White Harte and Ye Old Black Boy in Leeds? honest question.
One sad thing about Hull on a night out is the decline of the Marina area, I saw Pepis being knocked down a few years ago, not claiming the pubs down there were the greatest but I suppose it's memories of the nights out, a bit like when you go past LA's now and there is just a vacant lot there. So many other places gone elsewhere too, I remember Oasis down Albion Street and that one with the revolving dancefloor on George Street and they've all vanished into history, not to mention Fez Club, Rhythm Room, Boom Bar and so many other places.
Did they close due to Police pressure as there was a lot of scrapping going on? Green Bricks and Minerva still stand. Minerva is nice.
Well they're renervating Tower, as Tokyos. It's just taking them a bloody long time to do it though. You said about the Marina going down hill, but Fruit is starting to pull punters in. Been to a few decent gigs down there. All a matter of opinion though. I can't say i go to the centre an awful lot. Usually down the Avenues. Went to Adelphi on Paddys Day. Some history of great bands in that place.
Leeds has some quality architecture. It says a lot that Leeds attracted a Hull architect to do our fantastic Town Hall and Corn Exchange if that's true. A Hull man also wrote most of Leeds United's records back in the 70s. The Civic Hall, Millennium Square, Briggate, the Headrow, Albion Street, Commercial Street, City Square, the Queens Hotel/train station area are all very nice for architecture and tend to be populated almost 24/7. Various shopping arcades are well-attended too, if you're into that sort of thing. I think there's other places like Newcastle that are prettier, but Leeds combines the old with the new very well, even if there are some generic buildings that have popped up like you'll get anywhere. As for your pubs, I don't visit them in Leeds City Centre very often, except for one or two round the station before a game. Got enough round my local area when I'm in Leeds. The Scarborough Taps is a highly-rated pub, and there's a couple just off Briggate like the Angel Inn that I think are very historic and go right back to the origins of the City of Leeds in those Low-Inns (Loins -> Loiners). In short, you're talking ****e if you think Leeds is identikit blandness. It could do with a couple more distinctive landmarks, but there's a reason why our city centre is so highly-rated across the country and was voted best place to visit in the UK a few years ago. Like Face said above, there's **** all happening after hours. Not that I've been more than twice for nights, but my mate living there doesn't rate it at all. Says the students mainly just keep to themselves since there's bugger all going on in the city, which is a lot different from Leeds. It's not soulless as in historyless, just not vibrant or lively at all. I'm not in a great position to judge it, but it doesn't sound like anyone's disputing that the place isn't really a thriving, bustling centre fit for a county of half a million odd people.
So you walked from the station to the KC ? There is more history and soul in one street of Hull's centre than in the whole of Leeds. It is after York, the Yorkshire city with the richest history and longest cosmopolitan outlook. Member of the Hanseatic League when the Leeds knuckledraggers hadn't even learnt to cross the river Aire. Back to school son....
Nothing much going on? **** me, that's possibly why the birds are tweeting in the trees when I'm wobbling home mid week. Who gives a **** what Leeds is like? I spent several years there and thought it was pants, you like it but not enough to live there. Excellent. Now before Izal ripped in usual style, Hull is what it is partly because the people are more solid and stoic. Instead of whining with our hand out, we get on. Unfortunately it means the funding goes elsewhere. One good sign of Hull's worth is it has the largest retention rate of any University. People that visit here tend to stay.
Nope, got a bus from the station to my mate's house after a brief look round the city centre, and walked to the KC from there. We did go down a long street full of foreign food emporiums, if that's the historic, soulful street you're referring to. That might be true, but our city's Yorkshire's number one now and it can't be disputed. Muich like football, there's plenty of pleasure to be derived from having a proud history, but when you've got **** all in the present, something's up. We've got a host of national companies HQ'd in Leeds, the only Bank of England centre outside London, shopping to rival anywhere else outside the capital, restaurants, nightlife and other sites of interest like the Museums, WY Playhouse and buildings mentioned above like the Town Hall and Corn Exchange. Hull is no longer a rich or cosmopolitan place in comparison with Leeds. My city attracts wealth and excellence. Yours leaks it - mainly to Leeds, I imagine. And DMD, people were discussing Leeds and criticizing Hull long before I turned up, darling. Try pay attention for once, eh, or the nurse will have to come give you the sleepy pills again.
Students tend to stick to themselves in most places. As someone else said, Hull's more vibrant areas, on days other than the weekends, are the Avenues. Which is where all the students get houses and is near enough to the university itself. Everytime i've been in Hull city centre its been pretty full. Leeds, as i've said, has had more money spent on it.
He didn't just create buildings in Leeds - he was one of the best architects in the country at the time - sadly most of the buildings he created in Hull were lost to the Luftwaffe while Leeds was busy hiding. As for 'prettiest' centres, places like Leeds and Newcastle have been pumped full of ERDF funding, something which Hull doesn't receive much of due to it being surrounded by one of the richest areas in the country.
Leeds= fur coat and no knickers. Transiently trendy but absolutely in the shadow of Liverpool and Manchester in all senses (culturally, artistically, historically, musically and importance-wise) A few shiny buildings and lots of empty flats don't win any brownie points, even the nearest airport is Bradford's
