Hull Home Tourist

Guest post by Laura Smith

A little while ago I returned from a backpacking trip across the United States. I spent roughly three months visiting endless amounts of libraries, museums, art galleries and as many other cultural attractions as I could fit into my stay in each city. Returning from my trip left me with the nostalgia most travellers find once they become stuck in their old routine once again. I missed the country and the people I’d met there, but most of all I missed the culture. This was when it suddenly dawned on me that I should have begun my travelling at home.

I live in a city which is developing a core for its culture and art scene and I needed to start exploring. In recent years Hull has virtually opened itself up to a whole host of arts and culture suited to every taste, though my favourite part is the new unofficial ‘culture quarter’ of the city, quietly nestled in the Fruit Market.

Once a fully operating fruit trading centre, the area has been rejuvenated lately to host a whole variety of cultural events. The main attraction here is the aptly named venue, Fruit. The venue is one of the most dynamic in the city, hosting music and comedy gigs, theatre production workshops and home to Humber Mud, the monthly event which sees a collection of speakers from a particular aspect of the creative industry talk about their work.

One of the most popular events I have seen take place at Fruit however, is the Cult Cinema Sunday, a monthly event screening cult films of the viewers choice, previously voted for via Facebook. Last month they showed The Room, arguably the worst film ever made, but a favourite amongst cult cinema-goers and one that obviously proved popular in a participation-cinema environment.

It would be rude to comment on the culture of Hull though without mentioning Ferens Art Gallery. Stood prominently in the centre of town, overlooking Queen Victoria Square, this fantastic place often gets overlooked and forgotten about whilst being lodged between Primark and Whitefriargate entrance. Even visitors to the building itself seem to forget it’s there, as I pointed out to my mum last week, who likes to regularly visit the popular café, La Loggia (the homemade soup is rather good). As she strolled through the entrance to head straight to the back of the gallery for afternoon tea I reminded her about the David Hockney exhibition that is taking place at the moment and we spent some time appreciating what the gallery is actually there for.

The truly unique thing about Hull’s culture is that it isn’t just there for you to see and experience, it really works hard to get people involved. The Arts have suffered a huge loss of funding recently on a national scale and this makes it that much more important to take advantage of what is available on our doorstep thanks to the effort of those who truly believe in getting the public involved.

Show your support for culture the next time you have a free afternoon and visit something you haven’t seen before, you’ll be surprised at just how much your city has to offer.

Laura Smith is  a freelance writer and keen blogger. She’d love a big break in travel writing but currently writes on graduate experiences and culture reviews at www.lauramichellesmith.wordpress.com She spends spare time writing fiction and can be found on Twitter @lauramsmith.