One of Hull’s iconic cream telephone boxes is to be given a bright new make-over as part of the city’s celebrations of Purple Flag Week.
In addition an Old Town pub...... will be packed with purple decorations right down to the garish wigs to be worn by the bar staff. Purple ribbons will be tied to lamp posts throughout the city centre, there will be a purple theme to a comedy night in one of the café bars and pubs will promote the week with Purple Flag beer mats and window stickers.
Purple Flag tours of the city centre will be offered by local rickshaw operator Neil Worner, whose vehicle will be coloured purple for the week.
The activities have been organised by the various partners who last year collaborated to achieve Purple Flag status, which recognises Hull as a city with a safe and vibrant night life.
Kathryn Shillito, HullBID City Centre Manager, said: “We worked with Humberside Police, Hull City Council, Neighbourhood Network and the NHS in the city to achieve Purple Flag status because we wanted people to recognise the quality of the evening economy in our city centre and we want to improve it further.
“All the evidence is that the work of the partners has brought more benefits with more people enjoying themselves in the city centre, with alcohol-related crime reduced and with fewer injuries to people as a result.
“That’s something to celebrate so we plan to make the most of Hull’s first ever Purple Flag Week as we work towards retaining the status in the future.”
Purple Flag is an accreditation scheme, which recognises excellence in the management of town and city centres at night, setting standards for managing successful evening economies, benchmarking performance and providing significant recognition for partnerships who deliver key services and initiatives associated with the night-time economy.
Hull was awarded the accolade in November 2012, after assessors from the Association of Town Centre Management (ATCM) visited the area on the night of the Freedom Festival, to find out what Hull had to offer to residents, visitors and workers ‘after hours.
Humberside Police’s Operations Superintendent for Hull, Mark Johansson, said: “The Purple Flag status of the city is one which we are all very proud of and it has brought immense pride to our city.
“Since we were given the award last year, we have been working hard with our partner agencies to build on this success and create an even safer and welcoming atmosphere for Hull’s visitors, workers and residents.
“Without a doubt, the Purple Flag achievement has been a catalyst to improve the offering of our diverse Night Time Economy, with safety being a key attribute. The Police will continue addressing any issues in the city centre, so that the area can thrive and be a destination of choice for people near and far.”
Councillor Bayes, Portfolio Holder for visitor destination said: “The image of Hull has changed dramatically over the last year. The city’s profile has been raised through sporting successes and being shortlisted for the City of Culture 2017 title.
“The Purple Flag status invites visitors to the city centre to experience the many historical and cultural attractions that the city has to offer. Purple Flag week is a great time to celebrate our safe and vibrant city.”
Purple patch: Activities planned for Purple Flag Week in Hull
Members of KC’s building maintenance team will apply an undercoat to a phone box outside the Toni & Guy hair salon in Paragon Street, Hull on Monday, September 23. The following day they will return to complete the transformation from traditional cream to bright purple.
KC’s Community Relations Manager, Anna Millar, said: “People know and love our distinctive phone kiosks so it’s great to be able to give one of them a makeover to draw attention to Hull’s success in gaining Purple Flag status.
“Painting our kiosks a different colour isn’t something we do lightly but we believe this is an achievement that’s well worth celebrating.”
Staff at the Bonny Boat pub in Trinity House Lane will decorate the bar with purple bunting and balloons while wearing purple wigs. On the wall outside they’ll have a cardboard cut-out of Elvis Presley in a purple suit and a figure of Rod Stewart in a pink jacket, all in memory of former licensee Colin Harman, who died earlier this year.
Colin’s partner, Linda Levantiz, said: “Colin is missed so much by everybody and he always used to make a real effort to decorate the pub whenever there was a special occasion. We’ve got the Hull Trinity Festival on our doorstep this weekend leading straight into Purple Flag Week so we decided to do the sort of things Colin would have done.
“We’ll turn the Bonny Boat purple for the week and we’ll have purple giveaways for anyone who buys a drink during the week.”
There may be a few purple faces among the performers at the Purple Flag Week comedy night, which takes place at Jaz café bar in Lowgate on the night of Monday September 23.
Jack Gleadow, who recently performed in So You Think You’re Funny at the Edinburgh Fringe, has assembled a line-up of seasoned comedians plus a few comedy virgins for the show which will start at 7pm and feature Dave Marshall, Mike Morris, Luke Middleton, Jon Newell, Liam Blackwell and MC for the evening Jed Salisbury.
Jack said: “It’s great to organise a night which gives new acts a chance to give it a go. After performing for 12 months I know it can be sometimes hard to get gigs. I may even get up and try a few new jokes myself.”
Neil Worner launched his one-man rickshaw business in Hull city centre earlier this year and has been a popular sight pedalling around the city centre taking revellers between the bars and restaurants, touring the summer festivals and even taking corporate bookings. For Purple Flag Week Neil will be coating his vehicle with purple stickers and, thanks to sponsorship from Hull BID, will offer passengers free tours of the city centre.
OTHER KEY EVENTS IN PURP-HULL FLAG WEEK INCLUDE:
From Wednesday September 18: Purple Flag Week banner displayed at St Stephen’s Shopping Centre, Hull.
Thursday September 19: Lamp posts will be decorated with purple ribbons.
Saturday September 21 and Sunday September 22: Hull Trinity Festival in Trinity Square, Hull.
Thursday September 26: Action 4 Change and Humberside Police are holding an Alcohol Awareness Day in Queen Victoria Square, Hull, between 10.30am and 6pm.
Friday September 27: GOBO launch at University of Hull of GOBO – a projector which will illuminate the wall next to the students’ union with information including crime reduction messages.
Further information:
The campaign for Purple Flag status was led by a partnership which includes HullBID, Hull City Council, Humberside Police, Hull Citysafe, the NHS and many individual businesses.
The award hinged on an inspection by the Association of Town Centre Management (ATCM), which took place during the Freedom Festival weekend last year. Last October it was confirmed that Hull would become one of only 36 holders of the Purple Flag, and one of only three in Yorkshire.
