It’s here

The £200 million St Stephen’s retail and leisure development opens this month

She’s the face of the new St. Stephen’s.
Hull-born model Mel Booth (19) is being seen by thousands of shoppers in the advertising campaign to launch the £200 million leisure and retail development - which opens on September 20.
After ten years of planning and almost two years of construction work (during which £2 million was spent every week!) St Stephen’s will totally transform Hull city centre and become one of the region’s great landmarks along with the Humber Bridge, The Deep and the KC Stadium.
And for Mel, who is studying a geography degree in London, being seen on giant billboards in her home town is a really special honour.
“It’s great to see how quickly the city is changing,” says Mel, a former pupil of Hull High School for Girls, whose family live at Brough.
“I’ll definitely be visiting next time I’m home.”

Kick-start for night economy

When Mel does visit, apart from being recognised by throngs of shoppers, she’ll delight in some of the top high street fashion names never before seen in Hull.
They include Jane Norman, H&M and Zara as well as brand-new bigger premises for some of Hull’s existing retailers such as Next, TK Maxx, Top Shop and New Look.
Another major difference will be that shops in St Stephen’s will stay open in the early evening and into the night, thereby kick-starting the local night-time economy.
“We expect shops to be open to at least 7pm during the week, with many already expressing interest to stay open beyond this,” says centre manager David Laycock.
“Thursdays will be our regular late night and I know that some of the stores in this part of the city are considering later hours as a result.”
“There’s also a good mix of restaurants and cafés, offering a relaxed eating experience, plus leisure operators including a Reel Cinema multiplex and Gala Bingo, who’ll be trading late into the evening.”
Across the road, Debenhams has announced it will be staying open later on Thursdays in line with St Stephens, and House of Fraser is also supporting longer hours.
Meanwhile, the central glass-roofed street within the development will stay open 24 hours a day and will lead to the Tesco hypermarket, which will also be open through the night.

Job creation

And when it comes to boosting the economy, more than 2,500 jobs have been created in St. Stephen’s.
They’re mostly retail sector positions in the sales, customer service and merchandising, with other positions in security, catering and maintenance.
And more than 100 positions have been filled – or are about to be filled - by workers who lost their jobs with the recent closures of a number of key factories and shops in the city including Birdseye, Youngs Bluecrest and Kwiksave.
Some of the factory workers have been retrained through a customer care course provided by Hull City Council’s Skills Initiative, while some have gained new skills through training at Hull College.
“Obviously, if you’ve been working on a production line for a few years you might need some training before you begin working in customer services,” says Paul Rands, of City Works, a recruitment and training service which is helping fill positions in St. Stephen’s.

Streetlife Saturdays

The centre will open the very next day after building work is completed - and it’s hoped that most of the shops will be open by then.
A few stores however will be opening in the days and weeks afterwards.
And as a way of introducing the public to the 40-acre site, the St Stephen’s management is staging a series of family fun days known as ‘Streetlife Saturdays’ will be held on the following six Saturdays after opening.
The events will include live music, face painting, stilt walkers, treasure hunts, bingo, competitions to win cars and holidays, and celebrity guests to name but a few attractions.
It’s estimated that more than 446,000 people with a retail spend of £1.65 billion every year live within a 30-minute drive.

the new Paragon Interchange which will bring more than 24,000 people into the city centre each day

New bus and train station

On the south side of the development, the new £18 million bus and train station or “The Paragon Interchange” as its being called is one of the biggest interchanges in the region - and the first in the country to fully integrate train, bus and coach travel.
Opening on September 16, it will handle more than 360 bus movements every hour on more than 60 routes (see below for details of your new bus stop).
Including train passengers, the interchange will deliver more than 24,000 people to the city centre every day.
And part of Hull’s history has been preserved too because the interchange has retained Paragon Station’s Victorian façade, which is a grade II listed building. By contrast, the north side of the interchange is a wall of glass.

Other features include:

• 38 undercover bus bays, plus four undercover coach bays
• Links to Park and Ride
• More comfortable and safer environment for passengers and pedestrians
• 24 hour CCTV and security staff on duty
• Safer pedestrian access
• A dedicated waiting area with comfortable chairs
• Shops and refreshment areas
• Automatic doors to bus bays (which only open when a bus is at the bay)
• Tactile paving for visually-impaired people
• Touch screen information points

The temporary bus station in Albion Street will revert to car parking within a week of the new bus station opening.

looking up from the St Stephen’s entrance; the main shopping street with overlooking oval-shaped coffee shop

St Stephen’s - at a glance

• There are 50 shops including Carphone Warehouse, Clarks, Dorothy Perkins, Oasis, Orange, River Island, Select, Sports World, Starbucks and Topshop
• The average size of the shop units is bigger than those found in most towns and cities
• The Tesco hypermarket is the size of three football pitches
• There are 1,450 parking spaces, some at rooftop level. There’s also a drop-off zone for passengers.
• There’s a120-bed Holiday Inn hotel, plus a seven-screen state-of-the-art cinema
• The 40-acre site spans from Ferensway to Park Street in one direction and from Anlaby Road almost to Spring Bank in the other.
• Partners in the St Stephen’s project are ING Real Estate, Yorkshire Forward, Hull City Council and Hull Citybuild

Further development

A new home for Hull Truck Theatre opens in 2008, plus 220 new homes are set to be built on the site in a later phase. Opening on the site later this year is the brand-new £3 million Albermarle music centre, which includes a performance venue for up to 250 people, and will be used by 600 young musicians every week.