Hull

A combination of a world record-breaking trawler, a floating lighthouse and a dizzying array of maritime objects that include a stuffed polar bear called Erik are all helping to make Hull one of the top 25 places in the world to visit in 2026.

The East Yorkshire city is on the verge of completing an ambitious £70m transformation, which, supporters believe, will propel it into becoming an international tourist destination.

Hull is the only place in the UK to be included in National Geographic’s annual list of must-visit places, which also features Manila, Beijing and the North Dakota Badlands.

Eyebrows have been raised about the inclusion of Hull, a city that had a reputation problem even in the 17th century, when the poet John Taylor wrote: “From Hell, Hull and Halifax, good Lord deliver us.”

Neither eyebrow of Mike Ross, the city council’s Liberal Democrat leader, went up when he heard the news. “There was a sense of surprise for some,” he said. “But why shouldn’t Hull be one of the top 25 places? It has got so much going for it. This is a place that can do things and we want more people to see that.”

When the Guardian visited on a rainy day in December, it was clear that everything is nearly there. Finishing touches and final decisions are being made for a series of openings taking place in 2026.

The Hull Maritime project includes a new home for a restored trawler, the Arctic Corsair, known as Hull’s Cutty Sark.

A vessel called the Spurn Lightship, which for 50 years guided ships through the treacherous waters of the Humber estuary, will reopen to the public after a makeover.

Swathes of public space are being improved, including a £21m refurbishment of Queen’s Gardens, a former dock; and the city’s much-missed Maritime Museum will reopen after a five-year closure.

The ambitious project is a legacy from Hull’s UK city of culture success in 2017 and has had a number of frustrating delays, but 2026 will be the year things finally start happening.

The Arctic Corsair, the project’s centrepiece, is a deep-sea trawler built in 1960 that operated during the cod wars with Iceland and which once broke world records for landing the largest amount of cod and haddock in a year.

It is an emblem of Hull’s proud trawling history – still within living memory – and has been a visitor attraction since 1999. It was badly in need of restoration and closed to the public in 2018. Today, the 57-metre-long boat positively gleams.

The Arctic Corsair was restored by Dunston Ship Repairs in Hull, where it is docked, and everyone involved in the project has praised the company for going above and beyond what was expected.

For Dave Clark, the technical director at Dunston, it has clearly been a passion project but he will be happy when it makes its way to its permanent home. “People need to be on it, it needs to be seen,” he said. “People need to hear the stories, to see the working conditions … men working 16 hours a day.

“We are all from Hull and most of the people who work for us have been involved in the fishing industry their whole life and you can see the pride that has been put into it.”

Moving the trawler from its current berth to its dry dock home will be a huge challenge involving dredging and a possible 20-point turn.

Men who used to work on the Arctic Corsair have also volunteered their memories and knowledge. They include Cliff Gledhill, a retired maritime engineer who seems to know every working part of the boat’s machinery and huge, labyrinthine engine room.

“It’s 52 years since I first came on this ship,” he said. “If the ship broke down, it doesn’t matter where it was … Iceland or Norway or wherever, the chances were that one of us [engineers] would go.”

He said the Arctic Corsair was important to Hull. “It was a very successful ship with quite a history. It was the pride of the fleet. This is going to be a massive attraction.”

At the city’s Maritime Museum, housed in former dock offices, the rooms are still largely empty but the roof has been fixed, display cabinets are being put in place and boxes are ready to be emptied.

Robin Diaper, a curator, said the museum was a place for tourists to spend time but also somewhere local people could pop in to see Erik, the popular polar bear on long-term loan from Dundee, while they were shopping.

“We wanted to make the whole project world-class,” said Diaper. “It’s of a standard you might see in New York or Paris or London. But we also want a young mother from the Orchard Park estate to be able to just walk in and for it to be hers as well.”

Rooms in the museum that were previously off limits are being used to display far more objects, more boldly. The grade II*-listed former docks building was badly in need of restoration. When it rained, plastic sheeting had to be placed over whale skeletons hanging from the ceiling.

Hull also has the Ferens Art Gallery, the Wilberforce House Museum and its spectacular aquarium, The Deep. With everything happening in 2026 it is a world-class destination for visitors, say tourism officers.

For the council leader Ross, the challenge is for people not to be surprised they might have a great time in Hull, but to know in advance that they will. “If we can do that, we’ve made it,” he said.