Hull Valentine’s Weekend 2026

On Friday 13th February 2026, me and my boyfriend Aaron travelled to Hull to celebrate Valentine’s weekend; a lovely romantic get-away for us both 😊

Unfortunately, our train to Hull was cancelled so my Dad kindly drove us to our city central Gilson Hotel, which was standard but satisfactory. In the afternoon we had a leisurely wander around the city centre, including shopping centres; Prospect, Princes Quay and St Stephen’s, where we grabbed a veggie whopper Burger King meal

That evening, we hopped in an uber to Big Fun – a soft play area which accommodates for a Friday night 2 hour slot ‘adult night’ serving alcohol 🍸 It was amazing! We had vodka slushies in ‘happy hour’ and cider and felt like right big kids skirting around tunnels ball pools and slides 🤪🤪

Saturday morning, I had a vegan breakfast at the nearest Wetherspoons. Afterwards, we explored free cultural exhibitions / museums. First of all, Ferens Art 🎨 Gallery in Queen Victoria Square “From late Medieval painting to modern art… a journey through painting, sculpture and new media”. It was aesthetically pleasing, intriguing and inspiring, with all it’s different collections and galleries. Then it was to the Streetlife Museum to “journey through 200 years of transport history… from world-changing inventions to historic local icons”. I particularly liked the steam-powered cars, they were giving Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang vibes 😁 Next was the Museum of Archeology “From majestic mammoths to marvellous Roman mosaics”. History expanding 235 million years. In the Museum Quarter gardens I also liked the statue of Mahatma Gandhi and the mosaic toad. We then visited Hull Minster; England’s largest parish church ⛪️ The architecture was absolutely beautiful and breathtaking 😍

As we made our way back to the hotel, we took a detour and climbed the steps of Murdoch’s Connection footbridge to capture spectacular views and photographs of the waterfront marina and docks…

Back at the hotel, I got dressed into my gladrags and we grabbed an uber again, this time to the very much looking forward to Olympus Greek restaurant 😋😋 Me and Aaron shared a feta dip starter, smooth creamy whipped feta cheese 🧀 with accompanying pita bread and for mains we both had halloumi and veg platters; grilled halloumi skewers, chips, side salad, pita bread and mixed vegetables. The food was absolutely delicious 😋😋 Though I do wish we were able to dance to Greek live music 🎶 and smash plates! 😆

What then commenced was a great night out round Hull! At the Dram Shop we drank cheap Dark Fruit cider, vaped and danced merrily to classic rock. There were drag queen performances at Cherry’s Bar and cheeky sex position games 😲 – well it was Valentine’s Day! 😄 It was absolutely hilarious at the karaoke 🎤 bar across the road. I sang my deep female voice renditions of ‘What’s Up?’ (4NonBlondes), ‘Because the Night’ (Patti Smith) and ‘I love rock ‘n roll’ (Joan Jett and the Blackhearts), but the star of the show… there was a guy who sang The Little Mermaid 🧜‍♀️ song ‘Part of Your World’, he really knew how to work the crowd, singing directly to others and getting them to participate, then following that, and in keeping with the release of the new Wuthering Heights film adaptation he sang Kate Bush’s ‘Wuthering Heights’! 😆 It was so incredibly funny, singing in her high pitch, and me, being completely trolleyed at this point, swaying along in all Kate’s quirky mannerisms 😁. It was absolutely packed in the next bar, and I was pretty intoxicated at this point, so Aaron persuaded us to head back to the hotel as the drinks 🍸 were extortionate too!

The next morning, the plan was to store our luggage and go see the new Wuthering Heights film at the vue cinema 🎥 in Princes Quay, however, as we were both hangin’ and feeling rough we decided to travel home early instead. We had some trouble with our tickets at the train station 🚉 but I’m not going to get into that ( I’ve written a complaint letter to Transpennine Express).. On returning home, I spent the remainder of the day napping 😴 lol

It was a truly enjoyable weekend 😄 As a city, I really like Hull, it has a lot to offer.. especially with the Hull fair once a year and it’s popular theatres etc. It is no surprise to me it was awarded City of Culture 2017…

For my blog posts over the next few months, I have three diamond 💎 arts 🎨 to complete, two pub paintings booked, a cross-stitch to have a go at, and a mandala colouring collection. Furthermore, in April, me and my wonderful Grandma, who soon turns 89 bless her, are travelling to Llandudno, Wales with Buckleys travel holidays. I am so excited!  I have never been to Scotland, Ireland or Wales so I can’t wait! There is a mystery tour and a tour of the Isle of Anglesey and Llanberis Pass 😍 So watch this space!

Thank you as ever for reading/viewing. Much love, Lauren xx

Information gained from following sources:

http://www.hullmuseums.co.uk (Accessed 21st February 2026)

http://www.hullminster.org (Accessed 21st February 2026)

http://www.matterarchitecture.uk (Accessed 21st February 2026)

http://www.olympusgreekrestaurant.co.uk (Accessed 21st February 2026)

© 2026 Lauren Parr / https://unicornpostbox.com

Hull / ‘Kinky Boots’ November 2019

Earlier this November, me and my beautiful mum Debbie had a weekend break away to Hull to go see ‘Kinky Boots’, the musical, at Hull New Theatre. Please see below a description of our travels, with accompanying photography. Hope you enjoy 🙂 🙂

Friday 15th November

Unfortunately, when we arrived at the train station to travel to Hull, we soon realised that our train had been cancelled due to the flooding in South Yorkshire! 😦 Oh no, not a great start to our trip. My dad, who is a taxi driver, drove us instead. Nevertheless, when we finally arrived at our Ibis city centre Hotel, we were pleased to be in Hull and excited to go and explore the city.

We found a lovely quaint little fish and chip shop on Savile Street, and tucked into delicious grub and ice cream sundae, yum yum.

We took some nice photographs of Hull City Hall, the Maritime Museum, and Queen Victoria Statue in Queen Victoria Square, before visiting Ferens Art Gallery.

We very much (me especially) enjoyed viewing the various collections Ferens offers in different galleries, in particular we appreciated the ‘Renaissance’ and ‘Modern and Contemporary’ art.

On King Edward Street a gorgeous sparkly Christmas gingerbread house really put us in the festive spirit 🙂

Next, we walked to Queen’s Gardens. Unfortunately, it lacked impressive flower displays,  due to the time of year, however it was nice to see the water fountains. Nearby, fun fair attractions lit up the streets. Strolling leisurely around Princes Quay, we rested in a cafe, indulging in Rocky Road chocolate/marshmallows and frothy coffees, yummy. Later filling our bellies with toasties in Cafe Nero, we then set off on a slow walk towards Hull New Theatre, admiring the city in stunning twilight.

We unexpectedly came across rehearsals for a BBC Children in Need concert, so stayed a while and happily danced along to popular songs.

Kinky Boots is an incredible 2016 ‘Best New Musical’ Olivier winner, with songs by Tony and Grammy winning pop sensation Cyndi Lauper. It tells the story of Charlie Price, living in Northampton, who inherits his father’s drab and dull shoe shop. The business is struggling enormously with sales and orders until Charlie meets the glamorous drag queen Lola, and together they decide to re-brand and design sexy glittery knee-length stiletto heels! 🙂 It’s a very entertaining, funny, uplifting, yet moving story – belting out a powerful message; the importance to accept and love ourselves and others. As Kinky Boots has ended it’s dazzling 3 years in the West End, I was extremely keen to go see a performance on the UK/Ireland tour, and…  We absolutely loved it! Fabulous darling!

IMG_20191115_210227

We got chatting to a great couple, massive fans of Kinky Boots, who have seen multiple performances of the show. At our Hull New Theatre performance they had front row tickets, were the first, we noticed, to stand up cheering during the (well deserved) standing ovation and, as you can see above, made a huge effort to dress up for the occasion, haha! Amazing! 🙂 🙂

Saturday 16th November

We started off Saturday morning with a scrumptious English breakfast at our Ibis city centre hotel, as part of our bed and breakfast deal. The first place on our itinerary for the day was Hull Minster, situated in Old Town. There was a craft fair on inside which was very enjoyable to walk around, I bought mum a pretty blue and turquoise brooch for her coat, as a souvenir.

The next port of call was the harbour of Humber Dock Marina, where we took some selfies with the plentiful pleasure boats.

The pier making our way to nearby The Deep was breezy and blustery, so we walked more briskly as the rain poured.

The Deep aquarium was brilliant fun. We loved exploring all the exhibits, such as ‘Awakening Seas’ – learning the four billion years history of the ocean, ‘Lagoon of Light’ – gazing upon colourful cute tropical fish; gaping at the turtles, rays and sharks in ‘Endless Ocean’, becoming mesmerised by jellyfish in ‘Cool Seas’, and my personal favourite, we were delighted to peep at the gorgeous Gentoo penguins as they played and swam in ‘Kingdom of Ice’. Another highlight was venturing through the underwater viewing tunnel! Slightly scary but stunning. I bought mum a teddy turtle as a gift also, awwww 🙂

Afterwards, we ate pizza and indulged in vanilla milkshakes with whipped cream at an Italian restaurant, close by to the aquarium. The Minster looked beautiful lit up as we journeyed back towards our Ibis hotel.

Saturday evening, we got cosy in our hotel room watching Saturday night television and drinking complimentary tea/coffee. Wild, haha! Another tasty full English / continental breakfast the next Sunday morning, and we were on our travels back home. Luckily, the train was running on our return journey, yey!

Summary

As mum is becoming more and more poorly with her Alzheimer’s dementia, I really do cherish these moments and trips away together. We had such an incredible time; discovering all Hull has to offer, eating out, being bedazzled by Kinky Boots the musical, and being in awe of and appreciating all the amazing diverse underwater sea creatures at The Deep. I personally have visited Hull once or twice before, but it was nice to have the opportunity to see more of the 2017 ‘City of Culture’. I would definitely go again, for sure.

Thank you so much, as always, for taking the time to read / view! 🙂 🙂

Keep a lookout for my next blog post, pencil portraits of two Springador dogs! Woof, woof, hehe! 🙂 🙂

Much love, Lauren xx

 

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© 2019 Lauren Parr / http://www.unicornpostbox.wordpress.com

 

Further information:

https://www.thedeep.co.uk [Accessed 25th November 2019]

https://www.thedeep.co.uk/plan-your-visit/deep-tour [Accessed 25th November 2019]

https://bwml.co.uk/hull-marina/ [Accessed 25th November 2019]

https://www.hcandl.co.uk/museums-and-galleries/ferens [Accessed 24th November 2019]

https://www.hcandl.co.uk/museums-and-galleries/ferens/galleries-ferens-art-gallery [Accessed 24th November 2019]

http://www.hullhistorycentre.org.uk/research/research-guides/history-hull-docks.aspx [Accessed 25th November 2019]

https://hullminster.org/ [Accessed 25th November 2019]

https://www.hulltheatres.co.uk/whats-on/year [Accessed 24th November 2019]

http://www.kinkybootsthemusical.co.uk/ [Accessed 25th November 2019]

http://www.kinkybootsthemusical.co.uk/uk-tour/synopsis.php [Accessed 25th November 2019]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston_upon_Hull [Accessed 25th November 2019]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinky_Boots_(musical) [Accessed 25th November 2019]

 

A Selection of my Photographs: 2016

Here is a small collection of a few of the photographs I took in 2016… I thought I’d just upload a few, as an example of some of my work pre-2017, before I upload any future photography… Hope you enjoy…

1. These photos were taken at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, towards the end of last year. I was actually on a date (the guy with the bug), he turned out to be an absolute tool so is no longer in my life (lol), but I couldn’t resist sharing the photo, the creepy-crawly looks super cool… all the animals there are awesome to be honest, definitely worth a visit if you’ve never been 😀 …

 

2. These next photographs were taken in and around Sheffield city centre, sometime in  September if I remember correctly… I had an appointment in Sheffield, so took the opportunity to take my camera along and make a proper day of it mooching about here and there; the Winter and Peace Gardens, Millennium Gallery and so on  😀 …

 

3. These last photographs were taken earlier on in the year, in Hull city centre, on a first date with the aforementioned tool (haha)… as you can see I visited The Deep, as well as having a lazy stroll around the city itself, admiring some of the gorgeous scenery and architecture Hull has to offer…

 

… and that’s it for the time being folks :D… Please do keep a look out for photographs I post and share here on a later date…

…ciao for now! 😀

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© 2017 Lauren Parr / http://www.unicornpostbox.wordpress.com