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Hull Leasing

Did You Know?

Hull is the only place in the country not to have BT provide its telephone services. The Hull Telephone Department was launched in 1904, later becoming Kingston Communications. For 115 years, they have set Hull apart – and been a symbol of the city’s determination to do things differently.

Hull is home to The Deep, which calls itself the “world’s only submarium”. Visitors may see its 3,500 fish, including sharks and manta rays, while walking under the water through a viewing tunnel.

The George Hotel, one of the oldest surviving pubs in the city, claims to have the smallest window in England - Originally a coaching in, it was said the slit in the wall was used by the porter to look for stagecoaches and customers.

Hull born J. Arthur Rank founded The Rank Organisation. Maybe not the greatest name for a company nowadays, but back then it owned five top film studios including Pinewood. Their productions included Great Expectations, In Which We Serve, Brief Encounter, and a load of Carry On series.

Earle's Shipbuilders in Hull were the constructors of one of the strangest ships ever seen. SS Bessemer was designed by Sir Henry Bessemer, the inventor of the Bessemer process that made steel production quicker, cheaper and easier to manufacture, as well as over a hundred other inventions. Bessemer suffered from severe sea sickness when ever he had to travel by ship. He therefore set his brain to designing a ship that would prevent this.

Humbrol started out in Kingston upon Hull, or just plain Hull, in 1919, under the name of the Humber Oil Company. It started as a maker of bicycle oil to service the boom in cycling in the flat lands around Hull. By 1935 people had been asking if they would produce a paint for renovating bikes, and this is when they developed their art enamel paint. The paint was only produced in black and was sold in a tin with just enough paint to restore the bike frame and mud guards, so no waste, and cost 6d. Within two years there was a range of 12 colours.

The Humber Bridge, one of Hull’s best tourist attractions, is the eighth longest suspension bridge in the world and the longest one which you can cycle all the way across.

The Land of Green Ginger, at the bottom of Whitefriargate in Hull's Old Town, is undoubtedly one of the UK's strangest street names. There have been many theories as to the origin of the name but it remains a mystery as none has been proved conclusively.

This one is probably what we’re most well-known for outside of the city. Not only is the Hull accent very distinctive from the accents of our other Yorkshire neighbours, but we have some of our own unique words too. Some of our favourites are “maftin” (warm/hot), croggy (lift on a bicyle) and the classic “er ner its sner” (look, it’s snowing).

Starting out as a local company in the mid-1970s, frozen food manufacturer Aunt Bessie’s have stayed true to their roots and kept production in the heart of Hull. Today the factory produces an incredible 900 million Yorkshire puddings each and can produce a single bag in just 1.2 seconds, and even been the starred in ITV show Mad in Britain back in 2019.

The town of Hull was founded late in the 12th century. The monks of Meaux Abbey needed a port where the wool from their estates could be exported. They chose a place at the junction of the rivers, Hull and Humber, to build a quay. The exact year Hull was founded is not known but it was first mentioned in 1193. It was called Wyke on Hull.

In 1293 the King acquired Hull. It was renamed Kingston (king’s town) on Hull. The king wanted a port in Northeast England through which he could supply his army when fighting the Scots. The king set about enlarging Hull. He gave the town the right to hold 2 weekly markets and an annual fair lasting for 30 days.