Mandelson: Culture city will '˜follow in footsteps of Liverpool'

As many as 1m visitors are expected to come to Hull next year generating business for the city, and the 2017 team is inviting companies to become Business Club members at a cost of £25,000.

The firms get a special logo which they can use in their own marketing, free tickets to events and quarterly business club meetings.

Speaking at an event at the University of Hull Lord Mandelson said 2017 would “put Hull irreversibly on the UK and European map” as happened in Liverpool, which was European Capital of Culture 2008 and Glasgow, which held the same title in 1990

“They were massive catalysts in the transformation of those cities,” he said. “When people saw the year that took place in the 90s in Glasgow, peoples’ view of that city, that part of the world changed and in my view it led directly to the decision to locate the Commonwealth Games there. “A city that can rise to that kind of occasion is capable of achieving so much more and that’s the legacy we want people to take from the City of Culture.”

And he gave a sharp reminder to the BBC of the expectations that were raised when Director General Tony Hall promised to be “unashamedly Hullcentric” during 2017.

“That’s quite a high bar for him to struggle over,” he said. “He has to do a damn sight more than make sure Hull is named on the weather map that follows the evening bulletins.”

At least four businesses told organisers they would be signing up.

Victoria Farmer, from Red International Communications, said they were interested in becoming a club member as a way of launching and promoting their business locally. She said: “We are going to speak further. They (the 2017 team) are so engaging, the strength of personnel on the team is immense. I am totally with them.”

Shiv Nand from Pepperells Solicitors, a family-based firm based in Scunthorpe and Hull, said they were still considering whether to sign up. He added: “I am very happy that City of Culture is supporting businesses in the region, not just Hull, but also wider Yorkshire.”

Meanwhile sessions are being held tomorrow at the Deep business centre for people working in tourism. The sessions organised by Visit Hull and East Yorkshire (VHEY) have been fully booked. VHEY will be launching “welcome training courses” in April, designed to help people “sell” the city to visitors.

Preparations for City of Culture are in full swing, but details of the programme will not be released till September.

In the coming weeks details of a community arts grants programme will be announced, which will offer grants of anything between £300 and £10,000, which City of Culture chief executive Martin Green said they expected to be “heavily oversubscribed.” They will also be announcing details of a volunteer programme, to get the 4,000 people needed on board.

Roughly 50 per cent of the £18m budget for City of Culture in Hull will be private and Yorkshire Water, KWL, BP and Sewell Group have already signed up as major sponsors.