Freedom and Clipper events boosted local economy

An independent study has revealed that the Freedom festival and the start of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race in September generated £9.3m for the region's economy.
Researchers from the Moffat Centre for Travel and Tourism at Glasgow Caledonian University also found that visitors' and residents' perceptions of Hull improved dramatically as a result of the three-day festival, and that 99.5 percent of those surveyed said they would attend Freedom again.
Businesses were stretched to capacity across the weekend as 150,000 people flocked to the city centre – most hotels were full; it was difficult to find a restaurant, café or bar with a spare seat and many takeaways ran out of food despite ordering extra stocks.
And St Stephen's shopping centre had twice as many visitors as usual on the Saturday night of the festival, with more than 9,000 shoppers and diners paying a visit.
Now Freedom has now been confirmed as an annual September festival, while additional celebrations will be organised for the return of the Clipper yachts next July.
Hull City Council's portfolio holder for image and culture, Cllr John Robinson, said: "It is fantastic that the Freedom festival will now have a regular September date in the city after its overwhelming success in 2009.
This will allow us to develop and grow the festival in 2010 and for years to come."