Reply to Woe is Me - I Live in Hull By Nick Quantrill

After reading the article by Allen Miles on the 'is Hull crap or not?' debate I want to add my views. It's something that has been on my mind recently owing to my girlfriend moving to the city full time. Although I've lived in Hull all my life it's only now that I've really thought about whether or not Hull qualifies as a 'good place to live.'

I don't want to sound like 'Mr Angry' writing into the Hull Daily Mail letters page because an asylum seeker walked down my street or one of those people who scream 'conspiracy' because Roxanne didn't win Pop Idol. I can be as cynical as the next person can (probably more so) but as a citizen of any city you are only likely to reap what you sow.

It's easy, and very lazy, to say Hull is a poor place. All things that people have highlighted as being bad are invariably true. Yes, Hull has social problems. Yes, Hull suffers from unattractive and unwelcoming amenities and travel links. Yes, culture in Hull isn't all that we'd hope for.

The well-documented problems of Hull are hardly unique to Hull. They only seem like unique problems due to the perception of the negative, scare mongering local press.

If, for example, consideration were given to the fact that schools in the suburbs of Hull are allocated to the East Riding instead of Hull, Hull wouldn't be bottom of the country with regard to GCSEs. It's hardly rocket science! It's basically an easy cop-out to say Hull is crap and a lack of opportunity etc is somehow unavoidable when living in Hull. Hull is as good a place as you want it to be.

If you're musically inclined, form a band. Hull is one of the very places with an independent music venue left. If you are sporting minded, get involved with one of the hundreds of sporting teams (or even set your own up, though I only recommend that for the particularly fool harder of you!). If you are artistically inclined get involved with a project at the Hull Truck Theatre or Hull Time Based Arts etc.

Hull has some amazing things going on if you have a look around. Consider giving some time to The Children's University or a similar project. Or just write something for this website to say how wrong I am. If you can't or don't want to do any of this just don't buy into the myth that Hull is a crap city. It's not where you're at; it's where you're coming from (mannnnn….).

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