Hull City of Culture bid: 'This is where the hard work really begins'

THIEVING Harry's was an apt place to host the party.

After all, Hull, the outsider, the underdog, the no-hope dark horse from the back of beyond, had sneaked up on the rails and pinched glory from the grasp of the bookies' favourites.

While Chester, Aberdeen, Portsmouth and Southampton unexpectedly fell by the wayside, it was Hull which was left standing in the four-way race to become the UK's City Of Culture 2017 yesterday.

And while the great and the good of Hull's bid team gleefully tucked into tea and chocolate brownies at the Bohemian Humber Street café, an air of newly minted confidence pervaded the air.

The drama had first unfolded when excited members of the bid team received an email notifying Hull of its place in the final four – alongside Leicester, Dundee and Swansea – at 10.56am, four minutes before the official announcement was due to be made.

"I'm more relieved than elated," admitted Councillor Steven Bayes, the laboriously titled portfolio holder with responsibility for cultural strategy, as the news sunk in.

"It's been a lot of hard work to get this to come to fruition. And this is just the start. In many ways this is where the hard work really begins. But it's fantastic news. I'm really delighted."

From an outside bet to the final four, it is fair to say Hull's reputation had been building in recent weeks.

Refusing to submit a glamorous, celebrity-led bid, the city had instead focussed on a more worthy approach; give us this and you will transform lives forever, came the call from Hull to Whitehall.

It won't just be a fun diversion for us, was the moral gist, it will help bring our city back to life, give us jobs and help build our civic pride.

Assuming that many beyond the end of the M62 know little – or don't want to know – about what Hull has to offer, the bid also unveiled its latest prong of attack yesterday.

A new motto, Tell The World, was also unveiled, signaling the bid's desire to reach out beyond the borders of the East Riding.

Isabelle Tracy, chief officer of Volcom and member of the City Of Culture bid team, said she was "proud as punch" at making it to the competition's next stage.

"I'm excited now," she said. "This gives us another goal to aim for – and if you don't have a goal you just end up standing still.

"But we have to be realistic now," she added, striking a note of caution amid the rampant joy.

"There is still a lot to do – and you can only get so far on your 'story'.

"Now we have to say what we can deliver, what logistic and structural stuff we already have in place, the nuts and bolts of a bid, such as ticket- ing and hotels. But we have a great opportunity in front of us and we have to make the most of it."

Graham Chester, of the University of Hull, who is a Freedom Festival, Larkin 25 and City Of Culture alumni, was one of the people who helped shape the ideas behind the bid.

For him, Hull's status as the last standing maritime city should now hold it in good stead.

"I think eight of the 11 cities that were in the running were all maritime cities," he said. "So it wasn't something we could shout about. Now it's just us, so we can make a deal of it.

"I'm not frightened of the opposition now. We're not complacent, but I think the hard part was making it on to the shortlist. Getting this far could be our Deano's goal at Wembley. We've got the momentum."

Hull club owner Dave Mays, who is also a member of the City Of Culture steering committee, is one of the independent businessmen who has put his money where his mouth is in recent years – opening Humber Street's Fruit venue, which has become a major plank of the area's fledgling cultural quarter.

For down-to-earth Dave, the announcement signalled that Hull is finally moving in the right direction.

"I'm buzzing, mate," he said, sucking on a cigarette. Over the moon. Fantastic."

"It's been a lot of hard work, but even if we hadn't got it today, I would have been gutted, but it wouldn't have mattered too much.

"The fact that we got the people we did around one table to get this far has been brilliant. That's never happened in Hull before and I think we're all moving in the right direction.

"We're singing from the same hymn sheet. If we can keep that energy and buzz going, we really can move Hull forward.

"Obviously, it's not been perfect today. I would've preferred it if Hull had Chelsea at home for the first game of the season. But you can't have everything, can you?"