"For many years, I enjoyed working at KCOM (or Kingston Communications as it was then) – the Hull area telephone company with its unique cream telephone boxes and equally unique untimed 5.5 pence local calls.  

One of KCOM’s most successful operations was ‘Information Services’, so called in an attempt to ‘sex up’ the name of the division that produced the annual telephone directories (remember them? If you don’t, ask your parents!). Telephone directories were big business back then, a profitable revenue stream thanks to the advertising space we sold and the ad creation service we provided for businesses.  

KCOM used to have many business units and was often reorganising as it grew into a national company. This would usually involve taking new office space in various locations throughout Hull and further afield. One of these offices was Warehouse 6, the redeveloped warehouse that sits alongside Castle Street, opposite the marina in the city, with Ask Italian restaurant on the ground floor. I remember everyone’s surprise when the Information Services team moved in there and the first day I went there for a meeting: “Wow, this is not our usual ‘traditional’ office space” I thought. “This is wasted on KCOM; these offices would be fantastic for an agency.”  

And so the seed was sown.

Ever since then, I have imagined Warehouse 6 being the home to my own agency one day, even before Pace was crystallised as an idea. So much so, that I have always had an old photo of Warehouse 6 on my noticeboard at home as a little reminder.

So it is with immense pride and excitement that Warehouse 6 is the new home for Pace.  

Pace started out eight years ago (we’ve just celebrated our birthday) in the creative/tech C4DI incubator in Hull’s Fruit Market. This served us well for three years before we outgrew our space and moved in 2018 to our own office at Wykeland House.  I loved our space at Wykeland House – I knew as soon as I walked in to look at it that it was right for us – but five years on, we needed to move again thanks to our continued growth.  

I looked at other options but we wanted to stay in the Fruit Market/marina area. I held off looking at Warehouse 6, thinking we were maybe not quite ready for that leap. But when I went to have a look (“just to rule it out”), I had the same feeling I had when I walked into Wykeland House: this is where we need to be. But this time, it was even more poignant – I actually felt quite emotional. After all these years of imagining it, I could see it becoming a reality.

Everyone here at Pace is excited about our new office – it will be a fantastic new home for us, providing lots of extra space and facilities, and will enable us to be even more collaborative and creative. But no one will be more excited than me. Any office expansion represents a key growth milestone that should be celebrated, but this one is especially meaningful for me.  

Thank you to everyone who’s been part of the Pace story so far – team members past and present; clients old and new; suppliers; friends and families. We wouldn’t be where we are without you.

I’ve always been a firm believer in positive thinking and visualisation. That photo will stay on my noticeboard at home but when I look it at now, it has a whole new meaning and I can’t deny that it will make me smile. Now where’s that photo of…"

Anita Pace