The Minerva
Below is an article pasted from 'Hull daily Mail' website 30/7/09
Mike


Real ale enthusiasts across Hull are celebrating the news that a historic city centre pub is to reopen its doors.
It is almost a year since the bell for last orders at the Minerva pub rang for the final time.
At the time members of the local Campaign for Real Ale group (Camra) marked the occasion by holding a "wake" to mourn its demise.
Dressed in black, they headed to the pub in Nelson Street and gathered around a miniature coffin to raise a drink to the much-loved venue and the happy times people had shared there.
But now they are preparing to raise their tankards in celebration as the drinking establishment will soon be serving again.
The new licensee Phil Daly, who has been in the pub trade for more than 20 years, said he was just waiting for the final stages of negotiation to be completed before preparing the pub for a grand reopening.
He said: "My hope is to have it open in the next three to four weeks, certainly before the end of August.
"I have tried my hardest to get everything sorted in time for the launch of the Clipper Race in September.
"I used to visit the Minerva and recall seeing in the paper about the fact it was going to close down.
"I tried at that point to get in touch with the right people to try and put a rescue package together, then about three months ago a friend of mine e-mailed me details about the sale of the Minerva.
"And that was it – I jumped at it feet first."