Q2 April - June 2018 BID HOTLINE 611888 Kathryn Shillito Catherine Goble City Centre Manager Marketing & Events Coordinator 01482 611889 01482 611802
[email protected] [email protected] Q2Report Business buoyed by City of Culture feedback City centre businesses are being urged to build on the economic success of Hull’s year as UK City of Culture and work to secure lasting benefits. HullBID City Centre Manager Kathryn Shillito said evidence published as part of the Cultural Transformations study by the University of Hull revealed increases in sales, investment and jobs as a result of City of Culture. The data reinforced HullBID’s own research, which revealed that 131 new businesses opened in the BID district during 2017 compared with 87 during 2016, an increase of 51 per cent. The number of business closures in the city centre was down, from 80 in 2016 to 51 in 2017, a reduction of 36 per cent. A snap survey of city centre performance found that even with footfall down by 1.1 per cent, businesses reported an increase of 12.3 per cent in sales across all sectors. The improvement was particularly marked Gary Osborne, General Manager of the Kingston Theatre Hotel. in food and beverage, which was up 22 per cent. General retail sales climbed by 5.3 per cent. Kathryn said: “The overall slight drop in footfall “The Cultural Transformations conference heard that going away very impressed with the city. They didn’t figures only tells part of the story and is to a degree 22 per cent of businesses in the city centre extended have a great opinion of Hull when they arrived but a reflection of the location of footfall counters, their opening hours during 2017 and two-thirds of once they had seen it for themselves they were blown which we’re reassessing.