HUMBERSIDE'S police and crime commissioner has hailed the safety of Hull city centre's nightlife.
Matthew Grove toured the central nightspots to mark six months since Hull gained Purple Flag status.
The status was achieved in October which means the city centre promises a safe and enjoyable night out.
Mr Grove spoke to pub managers, nightclub bosses and restaurant owners during his walk with representatives from HullBID, Hull City Council and Humberside Police yesterday evening.
Mr Grove said: "It is a fantastic achievement that has helped to make Hull a safer place to be at night.
"The drive has helped reduce crime and the victims of crime while also boosting the local economy. We have also banned 107 yobs from the city centre who represented a core group of troublemakers responsible for hundreds of crimes.
"This is a great example of a collaboration between organisations and businesses.
"By working together we have achieved much more and done so without spending large amounts of public money."
Hull's Purple Flag campaign was led by a partnership including HullBID, Hull City Council, Humberside Police, Hull Citysafe, the NHS and businesses.
The partners worked towards achieving Purple Flag status for 18 months and inspectors from the Association of Town Centre Management (ATCM) assessed the city over the weekend of the Freedom Festival in September.
Hull is only the third Purple Flag recipient in Yorkshire, emulating the success of Halifax and Sheffield. The standard has only been achieved by 36 towns and cities in the UK.
Wayne Mason, manager of the Sugar Mill nightclub in Princes Dock Street, said: "I have worked in Hull on and off for ten years and, over the past couple of years, it has got so much better.
"We have worked closely with the police and the local authority and we have seen a huge change for the better.
"The dynamic is totally different and there is less crime, which helps businesses.
"This is a safe area and we need to get the message across."
Guy Toland, who runs Leonardo's restaurant on the same street, also hailed the improvements.
He said: "We have noticed a much better police presence and we feel part of a bigger team now with everyone working together.
"We have quite a few single ladies come here and they say they feel safe.
"It used to be just young people of 19 or 20 that used to come down this way but we have a much better mix of age groups now."
Kathryn Shillito, HullBID city centre manager, is delighted with the success of the achieving the Purple Flag.
She said: "There are plenty of city centre venues offering vibrancy and diversity – these included Hull Truck, the shopping centres, cafe bars and restaurants – and when we combined this with the many police initiatives implemented to make the city a safer environment, we felt we had a good chance of matching the required criteria.
"HullBID saw an opportunity to personally ask Matthew to help us spread the Purple Flag message and he was more than happy to raise awareness."
