City partners impress inspectors to secure badge of excellence for night-life

Hull has been recognised for the safety, quality and diversity of its city centre evening economy with the award of a Purple Flag.

The Association of Town Centre Management (ATCM) confirmed the award today after assessing their findings from an inspection of the city centre conducted during the Freedom Festival weekend.

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

The full Purple Flag assessment report shows that Hull exceeded the standard required in 17 out of 30 criteria studied by the inspection team and the accreditation panel which followed. The city met the requirements in the remaining 13 categories.

A national press release from the ATCM, also issued today, praises Hull Truck Theatre in particular “for its outstanding contribution to community relations and providing varied entertainment for city centre users.”

The full ATCM report praises the partnership efforts of the various organisations who worked jointly to secure the accreditation, including Hull BID, Humberside Police, Hull City Council, Hull Citysafe and the Primary Care Trust.

The document highlights the public safety role carried out by the volunteer Street Angels and by crime prevention initiatives including CCTV and the Pubwatch radio system.

Private businesses are recognised for the part they play in creating an evening economy which is described as “vibrant” and “varied” in terms of food and dining, pubs and bars, late-night bars and nightclubs and art and culture.

The ATCM also reports positively on public transport, with the interchange found to be clean and accessible and with “an abundance” of taxis.

The decision to award a Purple Flag to Hull was today welcomed by the partners behind the application.

The Lord Mayor of Hull, Councillor Danny Brown said: “We are very proud that the city has gained the Purple Flag award.

“Hull has a great array of attractions, with something for everyone. There are many cultural experiences such as the Hockney exhibition and forthcoming Leonardo da Vinci exhibition at Ferens, the ever popular Freedom Festival and Humber Mouth Literature Festival, as well as the Diamond Jubilee and Olympic Torch events which saw the city at its very best. The continued regeneration has seen the look of the city transform and the hard work of the Council and its partners means the city is a clean, safe and attractive place to spend time.

“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. This sees Hull amongst a handful of cities to have met the Purple Flag standard and it will bring more people into the city to experience the many attractions we have to offer.”

Humberside Police Night Time Economy and Licensing Inspector, Colin Connolly said: "We are really pleased to attain the Purple Flag standard. It was a robust assessment process and a lot of hard work has gone into making the city centre a safer place for the local community, residents, businesses and visitors.

"This has been achievable through partnership collaboration and successful initiatives, such as Section 27 dispersal orders and Drinks Banning Orders, which address anti-social behaviour and alcohol related offending during the night time economy.

"We will continue to provide a highly visible policing presence, dedicate relevant resources, and work with our partners so that people feel safe and reassured when visiting the city centre."

Peter Dawson, Public Health Manager NHS Hull, said: “The award of Purple Flag shows that Hull is working towards a safer drinking environment in the city centre.

“This will hopefully lead to fewer accidents and fewer visits to the accident and emergency department at Hull Royal Infirmary, which in turn will reduce the strain on local NHS provision.”

Dr Tony Banerjee, Chair of the Hull NHS Clinical Commissioning Group, added: “Achieving Purple Flag status shows that we are making progress towards two of our key public health indicators – reducing alcohol-related admissions to hospitals and, in the long term, tackling liver disease in the under-75 age group.”

Kathryn Shillito, Hull BID 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.”