Thread by @ashtongibbs

Seeing people hating on Hull, and I’m not a happy chappy about it. HULL IS A BLOODY DREAM. 💃🏼

So here’s a thread of why Hull is amazing/things you might not have known about Hull/things I just bloody love about it...

Let me start with the people. Cos we’re a flippin’ great bunch with a solid 11/10 hospitality rating. Nothing fills me with joy more than when I’m at local events and I see the people of Hull come out in full force. (And yes, we’re fiercely proud of our city.)

Our museums are FREE to visit. You can get face to face with a woolly mammoth, stroll down a 1940s high street, climb aboard a tram, witness a full-size whale skeleton - we’ve got all sorts to stick ya nose into.

Chip spice. I really don’t need to elaborate on that. If you’ve never tried it, please do. It’ll change your life.

We’re well connected. 😎 We have an airport with flights to places like Iceland and the Canaries, direct trains to the big cities, ferries over to Amsterdam... the world is on our doorstep.

The marina and Humber Street. It’s bloody gorgeous and is home to some of the best cocktails, food and pop-up shops and galleries. Perfect place for day drinking (and I do love me a day drink!)

Freedom Festival. A free festival of arts, culture, music, dance, theatre and anything you else you can think of. It’s literally got it all. Combine it with good weather (and possibly beer) for one of THE BEST weekends everrrr.

Aunt Bessie’s. You can’t deny y’all love a good Yorkshire pud.

We have an epic theatre scene. Not only are we home to @HullTruck and @NewTheatreHull, but we have some seriously INCREDIBLE theatre companies like @MiddleChildHull and @theroaringgirls doing cool shit 💃🏼

We’ve got the one of the UK’s biggest FREE Pride events, and who wouldn’t wanna spend a day surrounded by rainbows, glitter, music and Ru Paul’s Drag Race stars?!

And we have a Spice Girl there this year. 💁🏼‍♀️ @prideinhull

Did I mention it’s FREE?

We’ve had some pretty cool famous peeps come from Hull, y’know?

Andrew Lincoln lived in Hull for most of his childhood, and isn’t he just a babe?

William Wilberforce was a Hull-born MP, and he devoted his life’s work to leading the abolition of slavery in the UK. @WilberforceHull carry on his legacy by continuing to tackle modern-day slavery.

Our university is super beautiful. Maybe I’m biased, but you cannot deny it’s bloody pretty.

Spiders nightclub - a wonderful place with sticky floors, labyrinths between each room, alternative music and £1.90 cocktails. Guaranteed good night right there. Anything goes.

One of Europe’s biggest travelling funfairs - HULL FAIR! Flashing lights, food to give you a heart attack, lovely jubbly smells, tacky prizes and lots of people wrapped up in hats and scarves.

Jean Bishop, our beloved Bee Lady! 🐝💛 This 96-year-old charity supporter has raised nearly £120,000 over the years and, yes, she has a Pride of Britain award. 🙌🏼

City of Culture/Absolutely Cultured volunteers. These absolute legends are some of the nicest and most interesting people you will ever meet. Talk to them and you’ll leave with a smile on your face! 💙💜

We have an Ale Trail around some of our prettiest traditional and historic pubs. Yes, a trail of ale. 🍻🍻🍻

You’ll come across England’s smallest window, Hull’s oldest pub, and the pub in which the civil war was allegedly triggered.

This is the world’s smallest window at The George Hotel in the Land of Green Ginger. It’s pretty much just a slit. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Fat Boy Slim moved to Hull in the 1980s and became a member of The Housemartins. Fat Boy bloody Slim.

The Humber Bridge!! Okay, so the bridge might not *technically* be in Hull, but when Hullensians see that bridge, they know they’re nearly home. 🖤

It was the longest single span suspension bridge in the world up until 1997, and is still a sight to behold!

We have unusual phone boxes here in Hull. They’re cream instead of red, and we even have a black and yellow one for our Bee Lady🐝, a gold one to honour Hull-born Luke Campbell🥇, and a Pride booth too!🌈

The famous fictional character Robinson Crusoe set sail from Queen’s Dock in Hull in 1651.

The beer is bloody cheap over here, lads

Every year, the marina becomes a huge music festival in the form of @HumberStSesh. Hullensians out in full force, endless food and drink options, numerous stages, and good bloody times. 💃🏼

Philip Larkin, Hull’s adopted son, is one the world’s most famous poets, and he stayed in Hull up until his death. 👓

We have our own lingo and it’s wonderful. 💬

Mafting, croggie, tenfoot, nithered, pattie, twagging, skeg.

These words often leave outsiders looking a little confused.

LCD technology was discovered here in Hull on the @UniOfHull campus by Professor George William Gray. What would we do without it, eh? 📱🖥

Did you know you have Hull to thank for boiled sweets? Yup, they were founded here in the 19th century by sweet manufacturer Needlers, and now you can find them all over the world! 🍬

The Venn Diagram (a thing of beauty to a mathematician like me!) was invented by Hull’s very own John Venn. You’ll now find a building named after him at @UniOfHull!

Born in Hull, Lillian Bilocca was a British fisheries worker and wife who fought for safety standards on the trawlers and became the leader of the “headscarf revolutionaries” following the Triple Trawler Disaster in 1968.

You can also find Lillian Bilocca immortalised in street around the city.

Hull is home to lovely little pockets of creative street art that you’ll find down alleys, decorating buildings and even on derelict houses. 🏠

Speaking of street art, we also were honoured to have the one and only Banksy leave a masterpiece here in Hull.

(Some fucking little idiot decided to deface it, but please please do not judge us on that one single cretin.)

Galleries and exhibitions. Ones that stay here forever, ones that hang around for a few months and even ones that just pop up for a day or two.

Humber Bridge Country Park. A gorgeous little place to walk your worries away. (Or walk your dog, whatever.)

Okay. SO. There are a million more things I could list, and I would LOVE to. Alas, I have a party I’m running late for, and I think I’ve made my point.

Hull is the bomb. Come visit us. I’ll happily show ya round. 💃🏼

It’s been fun. Ashton, out! X

(Cannot believe I was at that for two and half hours! 😅)