I'm not sure why, but until we started work on this site, I had always tended to think of the shopping centre of Hull as being a bit of a pub-free desert. It's difficult to be more wrong.

In part this impression may have been due to the pubs here falling into two distinct categories. There are a few really large and impressive buildings like the Silvester Arms (the Hull Cheese as was), the White Horse, and - most striking of all - the Punch Hotel. But most of the remainder are small establishments built into rows of shops. These are easy to overlook (except for Flares) unless you are actually looking for them.

Hull City Centre has been changed out of all recognition over the past couple of decades. Pedestrianisation was responsible for much of the improvement: and you might think of the development at Princes Quay as setting the seal on the transformation.