Dinostar at 20: Fruit Market pioneer celebrates anniversary

By Simon Bristow, Co-Editor

The first new business to launch on Hull’s now redeveloped Fruit Market will celebrate its 20th anniversary on Sunday.

Dinostar in Humber Street was opened in April 2004 by Tony Robinson during a break in filming for a Time Team episode near York.

Based in a former fruit warehouse, the building was restored and converted into a dinosaur museum long before the area became the bustling mix of hospitality and retail businesses it is today.

A celebration event will take place at Dinostar from noon to 4pm on Sunday, April 14, featuring a fossil dig and a chance to meet “baby dinosaurs”.

Confirmed activities include:

• A fossil dig, hosted by Dinostar, in which you can search for genuine fossils in sand trays, identify and record your finds, and take them home.

• Make a prehistoric mask, or help paint “Earl” the dinosaur, hosted by Creative Briefs.

• A finds identification, hosted by Hull Geological Society, in which you can have fossils and rocks identified.

• Make a dinosaur terrarium, hosted by Plant & Paint.

• A chance to meet and have your picture taken with “baby dinosaurs”.

The museum features genuine and replica fossils as well as numerous interactive exhibits. There are buttons to press to hear what the ancient creatures might have sounded like, a dinosaur dig, a sand box where you can make a volcano, and dinosaur smells.

Highlights include full size T. rex and Triceratops skulls as well as models and puppets from the BBC TV series Walking with Dinosaurs and Walking with Beasts.