A Hull public toilet has been named among the UK’s best tourist attractions.
The Victoria Pier public toilet in the city’s Old Town has been chosen on the Lonely Planet’s Ultimate United Kingdom Travelist – which lists the UK’s top 500 travel experiences.
Entry number 483 in the list simply reads “Spend a penny at Victoria Pier’s public toilets, Hull”.
It is surely among the strangest entries on a list including the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the British Museum in London and the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland.
In fact, the Lonely Planet’s own website describes Hull’s Edwardian-era toilets as “no tourist attraction, that’s for sure”.
The entry in its list of Hull attractions reads: “There are not too many places where a public toilet counts as a tourist attraction, but coach parties regularly stop to take photos of these Edwardian lavatories. The building is interesting but inside they’re not very special. Serviceable, but no tourist attraction, that’s for sure.”
Less of a surprise is entry number 449, which reads “Come face to face with creatures of The Deep in Hull”.
The Lonely Planet’s site describes The Deep the country’s most spectacular aquarium.
It says: “Hull’s biggest tourist attraction is The Deep, Britain’s most spectacular aquarium, housed in a colossal angular building that appears to lunge above the muddy waters of the Humber like a giant shark’s head. Inside, it’s just as dramatic, with echoing commentaries and computer-generated interactive displays that guide you through the formation of the oceans, the evolution of sea life, and global conservation issues.”
The list also includes watching the Tour de Yorkshire road cycling race, which takes in towns and villages to the west of the city, and the Yorkshire Wolds, which border the city.
The Lonely Planet team compiled the list from every highlight in its Great Britain and Northern Ireland guidebooks. Every sight, attraction and experience that had caught writers’ attention over the years were included.
Everyone in Lonely Planet’s London office, plus 20 leading figures in the country’s travel sector, were then asked to reveal their favourite spots and experiences before the voting began. Everybody in Lonely Planet’s UK community was asked to vote for their top 20 experiences. With hundreds of votes cast, Lonely Planet ended up with a score for each of the 500 experiences in the book.
Lonely Planet VP of experience Tom Hall said: “Lonely Planet’s Ultimate United Kingdom Travelist brings together the UK’s most compelling sights and experiences, ranging from world-class museums and giant cathedrals to rollicking festivals, inky lochs and tiny pubs.”
