The Deep in Hull Review

Reviewed by Louise Totton

We were all really excited to be invited along to spend a day at The Deep; my girls, aged 4 and 6 really love fish and penguins so we set off to Hull with hopes of spending an enjoyable few hours.

We live in Huddersfield, so the journey to Hull took us about 90 minutes. The Deep is really well signposted so we found it without any bother at all. One of our party is disabled, and in spite of staff directing traffic to an overflow carpark (it was very busy), we were directed to a parking area nearer to the door which was great. Parking is normally £2 for 4 hours, which the website told us was ample time for a visit to The Deep, although we were really pleased to be told that blue badge holders are exempt from parking charges.

The Deep is located right on the edge of the Hull estuary, and despite the grim weather, it was lovely to be able to enjoy the view and look at the boats with the kids before we went inside.

We, unfortunately, arrived at the peak time of 11.30, although the website had advised to try to avoid the middle of the day. There was quite a large queue to collect tickets but it did seem to be moving quite quickly so the wait wasn’t massive.

The Deep follows quite a prescriptive path; our journey started with a natural history tour of the beginnings of the Earth, quite apt given that it is believed that all life stems from the sea. At this point, there were no real fish, but there were plenty of interactive screens and bits of information. It is very dark in this part, and my husband did struggle to see / read a great deal because of his sight issues. I enjoyed it, although the children were a little too young to benefit from this part of the attraction and wanted to zoom on ahead to the next part.

We then arrived in a better lit area, with a large, low level tank with some beautiful, large fish living in it. The children were able to see rays and catfish right up close. There was also a little excavation area where they could expose fossils in a sand pit. This area was staffed with a really nice, informative chap who was able to answer questions as well as do a talk about the fish in the large tank.

For me, the highlight was the massive coral tank as we went into the next part of the attraction. I have quite simply never seen such a fantastic display of living reef and fantastic marine fish. We also really enjoyed seeing the penguins, as well as a floor to ceiling tank stocked with piranha, the most amazing swordfish and lots of other really large scale fish.

There are insects, shrimp and some really rather magical looking poisonous blue frogs that almost look painted!

As we were there, there was a March into Science event going on, with some little exhibits that the children very much enjoyed interacting with. Unfortunately, because we were there at a really busy time, the children had to wait rather a long time before they could try their hand at any of the displays. This was also the case for the underwater viewing tunnel; a little bottleneck had formed and as wonderful as the tunnel was, I was starting to feel a little claustrophobic so wasn’t really able to enjoy it fully.

The last part of the route was a lift journey up through the large fish tank. It did look great, but the queue was really rather large, and the children were beginning to tire of queuing so we decided to take the stairs instead. Its three floors, so possibly not recommended if you have mobility issues, but we did just about manage it. At each landing, we stopped and admired the fish so it did break it up and allow rest points. It also meant we could take as long as we wanted to enjoy the view, which we couldn’t have done in the lift.

As you reach the end of the tour, there is the cafe. We decided to give it a miss, because the queues were really substantial, and with a couple of dietary requirements amongst our number, eating in a busy place is always a concern. The food did, however look really hearty and homemade and the prices were really reasonable.

All in all, we probably spent about 90 minutes here from start to finish. Our children may just have been a little too young to fully appreciate it – the reading etc. wasn’t really at their level, and they just wanted to look at all the lovely fish. On that note, all of the fish and tanks looked fantastically well maintained and cared for.

We may well return to The Deep, but not until our kids are a bit older, and on a much quieter day. I’d think 6 and 8 would be more appropriate than 4 and 6. I think for those with older kids, it represents a good value, educational day out. I’m afraid it missed the mark slightly for us, but I still do think it’s a good attraction.

Rating: 3/5

Tickets cost £12 (adult) / £10 (child 3-15 years) / Under 3′s are free. Save 10% by booking online in advance.

For more information or to book tickets visit www.thedeep.co.uk.

The Deep, Tower St, Hull, HU9 1TU | 01482 381000