Well, I sure there are plenty of ex-University students who have fond memories of their days in Hull. But that is hardly representative. Middle class students living mainly in the middle class part of town, with occasional forays into poorer areas in search of cheap places to live.
What I found very noticable, following that recent shallow Location TV programme that slagged the place off, was the ambivalence of the locals when asked whether Hull was a bad place to live. Rather than bristling with civic pride,some of them agreed it had few things to be proud of.
The City is badly run, it has pissed away money and is riven with scandal. It has some hideous housing estates and social problems. The official statistics bear this out. It fares very poorly with regard to education, despite that great facility 'the Deep' with the its emphasis on teaching coach loads of kids what fish look like.
The Stadium is generally recognised as a valuable social asset, but the city centre has been shabby for the past ten years. Only now are they redeveloping they redeveloping the huge area next to the rail station. I just wonder how many Boots, Specsavers and WH Smiths they will be able to fit into the thing.
The city centre has always been a mess, with stupid one way schemes and not enough parking. Last weekend I eventually gave up queuing for a parking space and headed down to the huge retail warehouses towards the Humber Bridge.
Hull is let down by poor local government. It should be a much better place to live than it is, especially for the poorer section of the community who have to endure high levels of drug related crime.
One of its redeeming features is the cheerful disposition of the people. I always crack up listening to the friendly banter and mickey taking. So different from the po-faced standoffishness down South.
moved to brum)
some of us are lurkals 
