HullBID is stepping up its efforts to improve the city centre’s evening economy with this year’s Yum! Festival of Food and Drink, which starts tomorrow (Thursday).

The organisation has made changes to this year’s programme with the aim of attracting more people into the city centre during the early evening. The move is part of an overall strategy which sees HullBID working closely with businesses in the leisure and hospitality sectors to help them generate increased footfall.

HullBID City Centre Manager Kathryn Shillito outlined the strategy at the latest meeting of the HullBID Board, which comprises representatives from a cross-section of city centre businesses as well as delegates from Hull City Council.

Kathryn told Board members how her team recently supported Cuckoos café and restaurant in Princes Dock Street with the launch of their early evening menu and how BID brings together evening economy businesses for regular meetings to develop new ideas and partnerships.

She added that Yum! will build on the achievements so far by presenting international food and entertainment, including cooking demonstrations and live music, in the Festival marquee in Queen Victoria Square from 6pm until 9pm on each night.
Tomorrow (Thursday) the spotlight will be on British fare, with food from Thieving Harry’s café bar and live music from the Hillbilly Troupe. On Friday Stanley’s Brasserie will offer American cuisine with music from New Orleans-influenced Jazz P’zazz. Saturday night will see Tapasya Indian restaurant present sample dishes from their fine-dining menu against a backdrop of authentic Indian music and dance by Gvants.

HullBID will reveal details in the coming weeks of Hull Trinity Festival, which will once again support city centre evening economy businesses with live music from Friday 26 to Sunday 28 September.

Kathryn said: “HullBID works very hard to promote the evening economy and the changes we have made to the Yum! Festival programme are designed to be part of that, offering a package of free entertainment to encourage people to stay in the city centre after work on Thursday and Friday and to attract people into the city centre earlier on Saturday evening. Once the activity has ceased at 9pm, we hope visitors will go on to enjoy a drink in one of our many bars.

“By holding regular meetings of our evening economy group we are able to work closely with the police and the licensing authority and bring them together with the people who run such businesses as pubs, café bars, clubs and even taxi companies.

“Our partnership with Cuckoos to help them launch their evening tapas and meze menu shows how we can support businesses directly when it comes to introducing new and innovative ideas.”

For full details of the Yum! Festival of Food and Drink visit the website at www.yumfestival.co.uk and Twitter @YumFoodFest
Sidebar

Cuckoos café and restaurant in Princes Dock Street won the Service With A Smile category in this year’s inaugural HullBID Awards and is ae embarking on its next phase of business development with a new venture targeting the growing evening economy.

Stefan März and Laura Ashbridge have added authentic Greek meze nights to their offer every Friday and Saturday and, with the help of HullBID, they unveiled their new menu and gave representatives of city centre businesses a taste of things to come.
Among the businesses in the area which attended the event were Segal’s Jewellers, Ian Blowers Jewellers, 1884 Dock Street Kitchen, Bridge McFarland Solicitors and Princes Quay Shopping Centre.

Claire Suggitt, Centre Manager at Princes Quay and a HullBID Board Director, said: “We work closely with the businesses in Princes Dock Street, helping them to promote what they do and incorporating them into our events.

“It’s fantastic to see Stefan and Laura launching this new venture and as words gets round we hope all the businesses along here will be busy with people coming to enjoy lovely food and drink in a really nice atmosphere.”

Picture details: Stefan März and Laura Ashbridge of Cuckoos with the HullBID Service With A Smile Award accompanied by Kathryn Shillito (left) and Claire Suggitt (right).