Hull hits purple patch as venue
for night owls

The scheme, which is similar to the Blue Flag accreditation for good beaches, is run by the Association of Town Centre Management, Europe’s largest membership organisation, and aims to reward those who provide “a better night out” for visitors.

Hull is only the third Purple Flag recipient in Yorkshire, emulating the success of Halifax and Sheffield.

Its assessment report shows the city exceeded the standard required in 17 out of 30 criteria, and met the standard in the 13 others.

Assessors praised Hull Truck Theatre in particular for its “outstanding contribution to community relations and providing varied entertainment for city centre users”.

The report also praises the organisations who worked together to achieve the accreditation, including Hull Business Improvement District (BID), Humberside Police, Hull Council, Hull Citysafe and the city’s NHS primary care trust.

Kathryn Shillito, the BID’s city centre manager, said: “We know from the efforts put in by our own partnership and by talking to other towns and cities that it takes an enormous amount of hard work to achieve a Purple Flag award.

“The fact that Hull has succeeded reflects credit on everyone who has supported our campaign, from the various organisations that have driven the application to the individual businesses who have worked together to bring the improvements to our city centre.

“The fact that those improvements have now been recognised officially, by inspectors from outside the city, as being worthy of an accreditation shared by only 35 other towns and cities, shows how far we have come. The challenge now is to use our Purple Flag to let people know why the assessors rated Hull so highly, and to make sure we keep on improving.”

Purple Flag status has been shown to increase visitor numbers and investment. Lord Mayor of Hull Danny Brown, said: “It is excellent that the vibrant mix of arts, culture, dining and events and the good management of the city centre has been recognised by Purple Flag.”