Kingston upon Hull, England, United Kingdom

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, 25 miles (40 km) inland from the North Sea, 50 miles (80 km) east of Leeds, 34 miles (55 km) south-east of York and 54 miles (87 km) north-east of Sheffield. Hull is the fourth-largest city in the Yorkshire and the Humber region.

The town of Wyke on Hull was founded late in the 12th century by the monks of Meaux Abbey as a port from which to export their wool. Renamed Kings-town upon Hull in 1299, Hull had been a market town, military supply port, trading hub, fishing and whaling centre and industrial metropolis. Hull was an early theatre of battle in the English Civil Wars. Its 18th-century Member of Parliament, William Wilberforce, took a prominent part in the abolition of the slave trade in Britain.

After suffering heavy damage in the Second World War (the "Hull Blitz"), Hull weathered a period of post-industrial decline, doing poorly on measures of social deprivation, education and policing. In the early 21st century spending boom before the late 2000s recession the city saw large amounts of new retail, commercial, housing and public service construction spending.

Tourist attractions include The Hull People's Memorial, the historic Old Town and Museum Quarter, marina and The Deep aquarium. Rugby league football teams include clubs Hull F.C. and Hull Kingston Rovers. The city's association football clubs are Hull City (EFL Championship) and non-league Hull United.

Hull University was founded in 1927 and now enrols more than 16,000 students. In 2017, Hull was the UK City of Culture and hosted the Turner Prize at its Ferens Art Gallery.

Economy: Industry The traditional industries of Hull are seafaring (whaling and later seafishing) and later heavy industry which both have since declined in the city. Companies BP and Reckitt Benckiser, have facilities in Hull. The city is part of the Humber Enterprise Zone.

Port Although the fishing industry, including oilseed production, declined in the 1970s due to the Cod Wars, the city remains a busy port, handling 13 million tonnes of cargo per year. The port operations run by Associated British Ports and other companies in the port employ 5,000 people. A further 18,000 are employed as a direct result of the port's activities. The port freight railway line, the Hull Docks Branch, operates 22 trains per day.

Energy In January 2011 Siemens Wind Power and Associated British Ports signed a memorandum of understanding concerning the construction of a wind turbine blade manufacturing plant at Alexander Dock. The plan would require some modification of the dock to allow the ships, used for transporting the wind turbine blades, to dock and be loaded. Planning applications for the plant were submitted in December 2011, and affirmed in 2014, concerning 75-metre (246 ft) blades for the 6 MW offshore model. A 12.5-acre (5.1 ha) site waste-to-energy centre costing in the region of £150 million is also planned to be built by the Spencer Group. Announced in mid-2011, and named 'Energy Works', the proposed plant would process up to 200,000 tonnes of organic material per year, with energy produced via a waste gasification process.

Other Hull Marina was from the old Humber and Railway docks in the centre of the city. It was repurposed and opened in 1983, it has 270 berths for yachts and small sailing craft.

In July 2014, the former Fruit Market was demolished with a technology hub C4DI (Centre for Digital Innovation) built in December 2015.

The city has chemical and health care sectors, Smith & Nephew’s founder Thomas James Smith being from the city. The health care sector has research facilities provided by the University of Hull through the Institute of Woundcare and the Hull York Medical School partnerships.

Ferry services started after the decline in fishing by the introduction of Roll-on Roll-off ferry services to the continent of Europe. These ferries handle over a million passengers each year.

Trade Merchant's houses such as Blaydes House and some warehouses survive in the Old Town, where trade was centred on the River Hull, later shifting to the Humber docks.

Humber Quays incorporates the World Trade Centre Hull & Humber and offices for The Spencer Group, RBS, and Jon Lee. The quays was a late 2000s development costing £165 million with office buildings, housing, a 200-bedroom hotel and a restaurant.

Economy: Retail In March 2017, the Old Town area was designated as one of 10 Heritage Action Zones by Historic England with the benefit that the area would get a share of £6 million. Retailers such as Heron Foods, and Jacksons began their operations in Hull. The former electrical retailer Comet Group was founded in the city as Comet Battery Stores Limited in 1933; the company's first superstore was opened in Hull in 1968.

Hull has many shopping streets, both inside and outside the city centre. The main non-city-centre shopping streets are Hessle Road, Holderness Road, Chanterlands Avenue, Beverley Road, Princes Avenue, and Newland Avenue.

Additionally, two covered shopping arcades, Paragon and Hepworth. The latter was modernised and renovated in the late 2000s. The city also has the Trinity Market Hall, a grade II listed building Edwardian era indoor hall with 50 stalls, it was last renovated in 2016.

The city centre has three shopping centres, St Stephen's, Princes Quay, and the Prospect Centre. The Prospect Centre on Prospect Street is the smaller and older shopping centre which benefits from large footfall; having chain stores, banks, fashion retailers and the city's main post office.

Princes Quay Shopping Centre was built in 1991 on stilts over the closed Prince's Dock. It has a mixture chain stores and food outlets. It was built with four retail floors, known as "decks", with the uppermost deck converted to a cinema from December 2007.

The St Stephen's shopping centre development on Ferensway adjacent to Hull Paragon Interchange is a 560,000-square-foot (52,000 m²) scheme, that opened in 2007. It is anchored by a superstore and provides many shop units, food outlets, a hotel, and a 7-screen cinema. Since its opening, shopping patterns within the city centre have shifted to the centre from around Princes Quay.

The North Point Shopping Centre (also known by as Bransholme Shopping Centre which is the area of the city it's in) contains a similar range of popular chain and budget retailers including Boyes and Heron Foods. There are also a other outer centres for shopping and retail parks, including St Andrews Quay retail park on the Humber bank and Kingswood retail park (Kingswood).

Nightlife, bars and pubs The main drinking area in the city centre is the Old Town. One pub has Hull's smallest window (The George Hotel). England's civil war was said to be started in a pub situated in the Old Town.

Spiders, which opened in 1979, is an alternative rock nightclub on Cleveland Street, situated in a building that was once The Hope and Anchor pub.

Education: University Hull York Medical School is a joint venture between the University of Hull and the University of York. It first admitted students in 2003 as a part of the British government's attempts to train more doctors.

The Northern Academy of Performing Arts and Northern Theatre School both provide education in musical theatre, performance and dance.

The Hull School of Art, founded in 1861, is regarded nationally and internationally for its excellence as a specialist creative centre for higher education.

University of Hull Kingston upon Hull is home to the University of Hull, which was founded in 1927 and received its Royal Charter in 1954. It now has a total student population of around 20,000 across its main campuses in Hull and Scarborough. The main University campus is in North Hull, on Cottingham Road. Notable alumni include former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, social scientist Lord Anthony Giddens, Woman's Hour presenter and writer Jenni Murray, and the dramatist Anthony Minghella. The University of Hull is a partner in the new University Centre of the Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education (GIFE) being built in Grimsby, North Lincolnshire.

University of Lincoln The University of Lincoln grew out of the University of Humberside, a former polytechnic based in Hull. In the 1990s the focus of the institution moved to nearby Lincoln and the administrative headquarters and management moved in 2001. The University of Lincoln has retained a campus in George Street in Hull city centre whilst Hull University purchased the adjacent University of Lincoln campus site on Cottingham Road.