I visited Durham a couple of days ago and it was quite interesting to compare a few things. As a place, it was like a cross between a large Beverley and a small York. Some good picturesque views, but the demographic of people seemed to be almost split into thirds of: eldery tourists, students and then trackie-wearing types.
It came across as quite small for a city, and according to wiki, it's population is around the 42,000 mark. So I found it strange that it had shops that Hull doesn't have, or couldn't keep... such as: Wittards of Chelsea, Jack Wills, Paperchase, Slug & Lettuce and Yates'.
I visited a few places before going to Durham and everywhere I went, there seemed a lot of effort to promote the area and promote Durham as a tourist destination, but I found once I'd got there, once you've been to the castle, the river and the cathedral as well as looked around the shops and popped to a cafe, there isn't a lot all else to do in the city itself (most other things to do are in the wider region), especially when compared to the amount of things you can do in Hull as a tourist, more of which is free. Yet there seemed to be a lot more tourists walking around than you ever see walking around in Hull.
So, it begs the question - instead of focussing on spending money trying to boost shopping, should we instead be spending more money trying to attract extra tourists? As I'm guessing those shops mentioned have opened up in Durham due to tourism numbers? So, by attracting more tourists, you attract more retailers, and by attracting more retailers, you attract more shoppers.
What I mean is that, in Hull, there are quite a lot of stands (I even think there is one in Hull City Hall) full of leaflets promoting York and Leeds. I don't imagine (and can't imagine ever seeing any) that there are stands full of leaflets in York and Leeds promoting Hull and East Yorkshire. Most of Hull's promotion seems to be aimed in Hull, why isn't some of the promtion aimed at Beverley, Driffield, Bridlington, York, Doncaster and Leeds?
All the towns and villages I stopped off at in Durham seemed to all promote the likes of: Durham, County Durham, Newcastle, Gateshead, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Darlington and then lots of promotion for the Lake District and the Yorkshire Moors and Dales too. You don't seem to see any promotion for Hull until you actually get into Hull, other than promotion for The Deep - that seems to be everywhere. If The Deep can do it well, why can't the city/region?
For any of the readers from the other North-East sub-forums, it'd be good to see your viewpoints RE: the North-East's efforts on tourism, as you're in amongst it all the time. And as an opinion on Durham, although there could be more to do, I really enjoyed it as a day out. The only thing that lets it down is that horrible shopping centre development on the riverside - The Gates.
Durham as a county is really nice, lots to see and do and the roads are soo much better than in the East Riding - almost everywhere you go is dualled, meaning the destination time is short - which is always a good thing.
.
It came across as quite small for a city, and according to wiki, it's population is around the 42,000 mark. So I found it strange that it had shops that Hull doesn't have, or couldn't keep... such as: Wittards of Chelsea, Jack Wills, Paperchase, Slug & Lettuce and Yates'.
I visited a few places before going to Durham and everywhere I went, there seemed a lot of effort to promote the area and promote Durham as a tourist destination, but I found once I'd got there, once you've been to the castle, the river and the cathedral as well as looked around the shops and popped to a cafe, there isn't a lot all else to do in the city itself (most other things to do are in the wider region), especially when compared to the amount of things you can do in Hull as a tourist, more of which is free. Yet there seemed to be a lot more tourists walking around than you ever see walking around in Hull.
So, it begs the question - instead of focussing on spending money trying to boost shopping, should we instead be spending more money trying to attract extra tourists? As I'm guessing those shops mentioned have opened up in Durham due to tourism numbers? So, by attracting more tourists, you attract more retailers, and by attracting more retailers, you attract more shoppers.
What I mean is that, in Hull, there are quite a lot of stands (I even think there is one in Hull City Hall) full of leaflets promoting York and Leeds. I don't imagine (and can't imagine ever seeing any) that there are stands full of leaflets in York and Leeds promoting Hull and East Yorkshire. Most of Hull's promotion seems to be aimed in Hull, why isn't some of the promtion aimed at Beverley, Driffield, Bridlington, York, Doncaster and Leeds?
All the towns and villages I stopped off at in Durham seemed to all promote the likes of: Durham, County Durham, Newcastle, Gateshead, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Darlington and then lots of promotion for the Lake District and the Yorkshire Moors and Dales too. You don't seem to see any promotion for Hull until you actually get into Hull, other than promotion for The Deep - that seems to be everywhere. If The Deep can do it well, why can't the city/region?
For any of the readers from the other North-East sub-forums, it'd be good to see your viewpoints RE: the North-East's efforts on tourism, as you're in amongst it all the time. And as an opinion on Durham, although there could be more to do, I really enjoyed it as a day out. The only thing that lets it down is that horrible shopping centre development on the riverside - The Gates.
Durham as a county is really nice, lots to see and do and the roads are soo much better than in the East Riding - almost everywhere you go is dualled, meaning the destination time is short - which is always a good thing.
.