Coffee, Tea and Cakes

The Cyclists' Touring Club [ 1 ] started in the 1878 to promote the interests of cyclists. Establishments such as hotels, cafés and repair shops that met their standards were awarded a large plaque. 

Wikipedia informs me: "CTC is organised at a district level, with CTC Local Groups organising cycle rides on most Sundays and often during the week. The more leisurely rides are planned around café stops, the quality of the ride often being judged on the standard of the cakes; CTC has been referred to as "Café To Café" or "Coffee, Tea and Cakes". 

Eating Out

This sign belongs to a bistro on North Bar Within in Beverley. Like all good establishments they have a website here.

Needler's Way or what's that funny smell?

These new buildings are on the site of the Needler's sweet factory. The factory was demolished a few years ago but while it was making mainly boiled sugary sweets called, I believe, Glacé fruits the smells around there were tremendous. Mixtures of strawberry and  coconut  scents would fill the area hiding the stench from the nearby tannery. Though they knocked down the sweet factory the tannery is still making the area "smell of delicious boiling bovine carcasses" .... [ 1 ]

Another exciting development

If your name is Walker, Tucker or Fuller then it's a good bet your ancestors were involved in the cloth making trade. The fulling of cloths involved them being scoured by soaking them in stale urine and walking up and down on them, this bleached the cloth which was then thickened by felting to give increased waterproofing. I have read that urine was so important to this trade that it was taxed; an early example of the government taking the piss.

Above is a sign on a jewellers which is being tarted up, we're on tenterhooks. Below an uninspired picture of Walkergate, it's the only one I've got so it will have to do. At the end of the 1970s a road, New Walkergate, was built to by-pass all these old streets which were then pedestrianised. 

Surf's up

In 1890, so the story goes, two Hawaiian princes  and their English guardian went surfing in the east Yorkshire resort of Bridlington, in the cold North Sea. So starting a craze in this country for taking boards out to sea in order to be washed ashore ... hmmm. Anyhow the UK tourist people seem to think that folk would rather go to Bridlington than Bondi for their surf, they're nuts, of course!

In Memory of ...

Dotted around Beverley Westwood are a few seats with memorial tags on them. This one seems designed for people with very short legs. 

These were taken a few months back, I've not taken any photos recently so I'm using up old stuff.

Black Mill

Here's the old Black Mill on Beverley Westwood again. 

Hull Road, Beverley

Around here a lot of roads lead to Hull and are called Hull Road. This can lead to confusion especially with the police who are, it has to be said, not the brightest stars in the firmament. Here Hull Road is neatly crossing over Beverley Beck.

Old wrecks

This is looking upstream from the lock at Grovehill and was taken sometime ago so these decaying hulks may have finally been washed away.

Lock Gates at Grovehill

Until the early 1800s Beverley Beck was a tidal stream. The building of a lock meant a constant level of water and better access for Beverley's traders. Nowadays it's pleasure craft that use it.

River Hull

This is where Beverley Beck on the left joins the Hull. 

Figureheads

Here's a couple of naval figureheads in the Maritime Museum. The busty lady, sadly, I know nothing about. The colourful chap is the Earl of Beaconsfield, better known to the rest of the world as Benjamin Disraeli a victorian prime minister no less. This figurehead was rescued from the wreck of The Earl of Beaconsfield which had come to grief on the east Yorkshire coast, then it stood in someone's garden for a few decades then it was rescued and renovated. You can read more here.

Old MacDonald had a place ...

This used to have the golden M hanging over but it not any more. Bridlington's big mac days are over, at least in the centre of town. Don't despair; this is not like Bolivia or Japan, there's still a drive-in just outside the town centre.

25

This used to be known as Permanent House on account of housing the Leeds Permanent Building Society where people saved their money and took out sensible mortgages. Times and fashions change and nothing is permanent not even the Leeds Permanent. Now it's been painted black and houses a gambling den, sorry, make that a betting office sounds much nicer.

Inclusive

This is the new Hallgate primary, right next to yesterday's old school. They've been educating young 'uns here for 115 years. Its a very inclusive place; here they'll talk to anyone.

Exclusive

This is the old Hallgate junior school in Cottingham. It was built in the 1890s and was used up until a few years ago when it was merged with the infants school next door. It then stood empty for a while. Community groups wanted it to be made available for community uses such as a Scout Hall and so on. The Council, however, sold it to an arm of the Exclusive Brethren, a Christian group that encourages members to avoid contact with any outsiders wherever possible, even other Christians.

All that exists deserves to perish

Poor old Thomas Stainton; nothing to remember him by but his headstone and that ain't looking too good.

This is in Cottingham, St Mary's churchyard.

Waiting for the bus

This snazzy yellow bus was unfortunately not my bus; mine was due in a minute or two. Bus fares are due to rise again this week; since I moved to this area they've more than doubled in eight years!

April Flowers

Taken by Margot K Juby

Kathmandu

Looking slightly the worse for wear this Buddha stands outside Kathmandu, a shop unlike any other in Hull. It's an amazing place selling silver jewellery, incense, crystals, Tarot, candles, clothing, handicrafts and more. This dull list doesn't begin to convey the Aladin's cave of delights within. For those wanting body piercing (not me, I hasten to add) there's a studio upstairs. Definitely worth a visit even if you don't buy anything.

Oh yeah, it's on Ferensway opposite the station

Net Value

This is the length 'developers' will go to ensure that nothing stops them in their path to profit. The site is a school on Inglemire Lane and plans have been submitted for some new buildings. The netting, would you believe, is to stop birds nesting which would delay these crazed folks from uprooting the trees. Time is money ....
Anyway an open space amenity is now fenced off and ruined by heavy machinery. All this before permission has even been granted to go ahead with the 'development' and despite a protection order being in place. A Council spokeswoman said "The nets are up to protect the birds."  I suppose the fencing is to protect the people!

Skyline

Found myself in the Princes Quay shopping centre partly because it was raining (at long last!) and partly out of  morbid curiosity. The place is slowly dying, almost deserted, empty units and desperate attempts to hide it all behind acres of plasterboard. They've even taken down the plaque commemorating the official opening by some royal personage in 1991! The planned expansions of 2006 are but a distant memory.

Well look there's one, there ...

OK here's Vladimir and Estragon wandering down Posterngate.

It's a load of cobblers I know so I'll put it into the CDPB theme day thingy.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Maizecor Tower, Wincolmlee

Across the road from the defunct Scott Street bridge is this concrete wonder; the Maizecor tower. It's on Wincolmlee, an old riverside roadway where Hull gradually extended northwards outside of the city boundaries.

Maizecor take maize (not surprisingly) and turn it into all sorts of wonderful products. It's the only such mill in the UK. They have a website that will tell you all you want to know about what they do and how they do it, it's here. 

Can we have our bridge back please?

Here is the Scott Street bridge. Eighteen years ago it was found to be too weak to carry traffic. Instead of fixing the problem it was left in this ridiculous state. No use to anyone. I know there has been discussion about demolition but no decision has been made as far as I am aware. If it can't carry heavy vehicles it could at least carry pedestrians and cyclists. I'm waiting to hear from the council to find out what's going on.

Paragon Arcade

Hull has two shopping arcades, Hepworth Arcade which I showed you a while ago and this one. Paragon Arcade is just a few doors up from the bank I showed the other day ( I took this shot from the same spot). It was built in the 1890s and cuts between Paragon Street and Carr Lane. It has a mixture of shops selling flowers and jewellery and so on. Of the two I prefer Hepworth's it's much more interesting.

Window Dressing

Is it cheating to take a picture of pictures of Hull? This is that closed down store on Ferensway I showed some time back. Its windows are now filled with large photos of this fair city. The sponsors are Visit Hull and East Yorkshire and the Hull Business Improvement District. Whilst it's all very pretty and a great improvement on  depressing blank windows it's still an empty shop in a city with many other empty shops.

Drought in Hull and Hereabouts

On my way to Cottingham down Snuff Mill Lane and came across the land on fire! Months of low rainfall have parched this land which should be a damp marsh with pools of water. It's an area rich in wildlife. The Easter holidays have provided the idle hands for the devil to find work and we have this ugly sight. It's no raging inferno and the firebrigade will have put it out in no time but if the land is this dry in April what will it be like after Summer? As I write it has started to rain but we need lots and lots of the wet stuff. 

The Concrete Pourer's Art

It may not look pretty and bits of it may be falling on unsuspecting passers-by but this is, or claims to be, the first ferro-concrete building built using the Hennebique system (that's reinforced concrete to the layman). Despite the blue plaque Wikipedia reveals that the first such building was in actually built in  Swansea though that one was demolished. This building is protected and a request to demolish it was turned down. So here it stands empty and peeling at the edges but otherwise so well built it's well nigh indestructible.

Cobbles

This being April 1st some fool came up with the idea of 'cobbles' as the theme for the City Daily Photo Blog. Other fools voted for it and so there we are...
This is Bishop Lane Staithe in the old town it dates back to at least 1392 when it is first mentioned on some rental records, it's probably older than that. It's an narrow passage leading to the river where cargoes were unloaded. If you want to know more there's an excellent page here.
Due to an act of vandalism the usual CDPB site is not available. To view other offerings on the theme of cobbles try here.