And finally… Hull shoots for the stars
The city is celebrating a boost to its economy this week after Hull City AFC sealed a dramatic promotion into the Premier League, sparking fresh optimism across the city’s ongoing regeneration landscape.
For a place that has spent the past decade steadily reshaping its waterfront, culture quarter, and transport links, the timing feels almost scripted and could serve as a final push for Hull’s next phase of growth.
Top-flight football rarely travels alone: It brings media attention, improved city branding, and, crucially, visitors who need somewhere to sleep, eat, and spend.
Weekend fixtures against top-flight clubs are expected to draw significant visiting supporters, who will all be in need of hotel options, which coincides nicely with recently announced plans for a Marriott-owned Moxy 122-bed hotel, developed by Wykeland.
The city may now want to also add some five-star options for the League’s more discerning fans.
Beyond hotels, wider gains could include improved leisure spend, increased use of the waterfront bars and restaurants, and renewed interest in retail and night-time economy projects that have been part of Hull’s long-term regeneration strategy.
From the marina to the MKM Stadium, Hull is back on the Premier League map – and as for the 25,500-seater stadium itself, watch this space to see if talks resume on its redevelopment.
The promotion comes as the city is one year into its 20-year Hull City Centre roadmap, which sets out a framework for regeneration through to 2045, and as housing projects such as East Bank Urban Village are getting underway.
And still Beverley road is an eye sore !
By ken brady
Every city has it’s beauty and not so beautiful spots. I think overall the council over the last 20 years have been trying to rebrand the city and it’s been successful.
By Lew
As a fairly recent convert to visiting Hull, and having spent 30+ years involved in urban regeneration elsewhere in the UK, I think that the city centre and its waterfront are very much heading in the right direction. I can’t speak as a resident of Hull, and no doubt areas outside of the city centre face major challenges like many of our cities do, but as both a visitor and a regeneration professional, I look forward to seeing Hull’s continued upward trajectory. It’s a fine place, unpretentious, always friendly in my experience, plenty to see and do both daytime and nightime, and is rightly full of civic pride. My only note of caution is the reference to ‘five star options’ – that really is a very significant step up from four star options, and would be extremely difficult to deliver in the short-medium term I suspect. Apart from that – keep going!!
By Anonymous