Retail park sale raises fishing group hopes

Owners the Junction Fund have sold St Andrews Quay in the city to Threadneedle Strategic Property Fund for 81.9m.

The Junction retail park alongside the busy A63 Clive Sullivan Way and overlooking the River Humber sells mainly bulky and electrical goods from outlets including B&Q, Comet and Currys.

Capital & Regional, who manage the park, have a 13.4 per cent stake.

The fishing heritage group Stand has had a long-held aspiration for a permanent memorial in the area. Earlier this year Capital & Regional offered the group a "generous" 50-year lease on a piece of land close to the Sailmakers pub, overlooking the Humber.

The group is hopeful that the plans can still come to fruition.

It is hoped the memorial will act as a focal point of remembrance for bereaved families, as most fishermen lost at sea have no grave.

Some of those who perished were boys of 15 making their first trip to sea.

The chairman of Stand, Charles Pinder said they had spoken to Capital & Regional through their agents and had been told that the new owners were "sympathetic".

He said: "As soon as the contracts on the lease are signed, which will be in partnership with Hull City Council, as soon as they are signed, we can get on with the details of having the memorial commissioned and the garden landscaped."

Despite once being home to the biggest deep water fishing fleet in the world, Hull has previously had little in the way of a formal reminder to those who worked and died in the fishing industry.

Between 5,000 and 8,000 men and boys are believed to have died while sailing from Hull since the mid-19th century.