I mentioned Rotterdam but didn't hold it up as an example of maintaining an old town ... it was flattened during WW2. I recommended a taxi ride from Rotterdam to see Willemstad. I find it smacks of desperation to attract visitors to Hull's Old Town when it looks like it does. Maybe you've all got Culture Capital Fever.
Let's not forget, much of our old architecture was destroyed during the war. This makes it even more important that what survived is preserved. We're very lucky to have the old town we do - but the future happens around it. Maybe not everything that happens will be great, in fact it isn't, but blanket dismissals are childish & ignorant.
The City of Culture happened in spite of much scorn from not just other cities around the UK, but some of Hull's own people and those in its close surroundings. Just makes it more sweet. I'm going to really enjoy the celebrations, don't know about you?
Hessle has Kingburn Athletic, and I'd say as far as local involvement goes Kingburn are as successful as Hull City. All the other points you raise I'd say are part of the City of Culture hype. Once its done, let's review that again. I can't see any bight future for Hull I'm afaid.
Not really We won the city of culture bid because of the thrive be cultural scene, not the other way around Investment from renewable energy is nothing to do with CoC Successful football team ditto The only thing vaguely related is the paving etc Anyway I realise you're just a WUM so whatever, crack on
Ignorant? So would you like to give us a potted history of Hull since, say, 1920? Are you telling me the decline hasn't been consistent, and that there are genuine grounds to believe the worst is over? What are they please? Why would anyone build a settlement on a flood plane that doesn't even have its own fresh water supply?
Denmark. And before you ask, yes, I can criticize Denmark in volumes too. Take the polluted groundwater for example, or the racism, or the sanctimonious, petite bourgeois neighbours
Thriving cultural scene? For heaven's sake man, they have that most places, not just Hull or England or the UK but across the whole continent. The City of Culture goes the rounds and is awarded to places to get them going!
I think the decline has been near consistent, hence the glaring ray of light we have now with City of Culture. There was a time when I was growing up that I'd wonder if the place I lived in even existed, such was its lack of exposure nationally. I personally think it bottomed out with that Crap Towns rubbish and the legacy it, and similar dross, spawned. I think Hull was mocked mercilessly at that point, as opposed to simply being ignored, and has steadily clawed it's reputation back from there, albeit on a rocky road. City being promoted to the PL changed a lot, people took notice of the city again, and now COC is (hopefully) the catalyst for something more sustainable going forward - a real turn in the road. You don't change perceptions like that overnight, but I think to refuse to even try, and in fact be complicit in its image destruction, is not to be admired at all. I dread to think what the people you liaise with in whatever town you're in now think of Hull and its people after speaking with you. It doesn't help, it just makes it worse, and then you have the cheek to complain about how bad it is. It goes beyond ignorance when you think of it like that.
I've been in Denmark more or less since 1975, and even then companies provided good bathing facilities for employees so that the capitalists could keep their own dirt at the end of the working day. Why do I mention this? Because in 1975 the Danes used to tease me, saying that as an Englishman I'd never had a bath before. They said that a "Liverpooler" is washing your face with you collar tucked into your shirt. That is how Danes thought of British personal hygiene. Hey, they don't need me to give the United Kingdom a bad reputation, it goes ahead of us. Try mentioning German concentration camps to a South African, and you'll get a lesson on how WE invented concentration camps during the Boer War.
Speaking generally, the type of person that slags Hull off, is more often than not the same type of person that I'd rather didn't come here anyway. If they think somewhere else is better, they're free to go there instead. Win, win as far as I can see. I'm looking forward to the City of Culture stuff.
All the more reason for you to re-educate them in your privileged position as a Hullensian...whether you like it or not!
You have made some valid points in this thread, but got sucked into the house confrontational debating style that prevails on here unfortunately, and have overplayed your hand. Your 'opponents' have also gone down the same road. Big shame. It's neither all **** nor all good. Some uncomfortable truths underneath the COC hype, and an element of the Emperor's New Clothes will sooner or later be evident. I have yet to visit a city in another country that is comparable with Hull. Rotterdam? 4 times the size of Hull and in an affluent compact country where it is THE port. Copenhagen? Untouched by the Luftwaffe, another prosperous capital city in a compact country and without a history of slums, We are battling isolation, ignorance (by central govt agencies) , lack of funding (by central govt agencies), and deep seated poverty. Throw in a truly **** local council who have throttled the life out of this city for generations and there are some major challenges. But as a city, we have turned the corner. Later than most other cities and with a lot of catching up to do, but there is a feeling that we can do it, we are doing it and things are possible. I suspect that feeling was entirely absent in 1975.
****ing hell. What a surprise. Pretty much backs up what I said about you earlier; that your attitude towards places says more about you than the places themselves. Do you have grandchildren?
