Taxi rank

These are licensed cabs at Paragon Station or, should I say, Hull Interchange. You can hail one in the street for a ride that's if you can find one because they tend to queue up at this rank or the one across the road. Because they charge not only for distance travelled but also time taken these are much, much more expensive than hire cars which you can ring up for or go to a firm's offices which are dotted about town. If there's three or more of you I'd recommend getting a hire car it'll be cheaper than the bus.

Big Black Box

 

I showed you this hotel while it was being built and it was still covered in scaffolding (here). Well here it is all opened up and ready for business. As for appearances whatever fee they paid the architect was too much; it's location however, at the junction of four main roads, makes good business sense.

The Hour of the Flower

Hull's very own floral clock stands at the junction of four busy roads and must be seen and ignored by thousands as they make their way into and out of Hull. This year's display is looking a bit tatty in the centre and it's certainly not as complex as previous years. Possibly the result of,  dare I say, pruning of budgets.

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

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.

Store Closing D...

Actually the store closed last year. This is T J Hughes' store on Ferensway, the former C&A for those like me who are of an age. The company went into adminstration late last year and closed loads of shops around the country. All is not lost as the news on the grapevine is that this building will reopen as an oriental restaurant. The reflection is of the railway/bus station.

St Stephens Shopping Centre

Here's the backdoor to St Stephens. After four years all the shops are now let out and the place is attracting 10 million visitors a year ( if you believe Wikipedia). If you go to the very first posting in this fine blog you will see the other side of this shopping mall.

Closed for demolition

This row of shuttered shops on Ferensway is not a victim of the banksters greed, at least not directly. In a way they are a surprising success story that has had come to close. These buildings were put up as temporary shops just after the war to replace bomb damaged property. They had a life expectancy of ten years but have been here over sixty years. They were due to be demolished a few years ago but there's no money so here they stay. On a personal note I bought my first 'serious' camera , a Practika, I believe, from Hilton's (the third shop down) nearly thirty years ago.

"Half-formed theatre company seeks other half"

Next door to the blue cone music centre that I showed you yesterday is the new Hull Truck theatre. It replaces the old tin shed on Spring Street, shown below. This new place cost £15 million (the old one £2.50!) and has all the trimmings that you would expect for such expenditure.
Hull Truck started in 1971 following an ad (see title) in Time Out magazine placed by an out of work actor called actor Mike Bradwell. The company's success rested on producing plays relevant to the audiences of Hull. Pandering to the lowest common denominator is not necessarily a good thing; you can have too many gritty realistic plays (one would be too many, in my view).
 The move to the new premises was followed by the recession which has not helped finances and the theatre will struggle, make that is struggling. No doubt there will be appeals for more public money to be spent on this place and no doubt more will be spent. Hmmm.

As always there's a website, it's here.

(Photo taken by  Keith D. )

Conic Section

Yesterday's staircase pops out of the top of this sliced blue cone. This is the Albemarle Music Centre  constructed to replace a plain brick building of such little note that hardly anyone can remember what it looked like. It's all part of the general development of Ferensway that includes the St Stephens shopping centre, a hotel and a theatre which I'll show tomorrow.
This is where the talented youths of the East Riding go to practice and play their instruments. The centre has two large rehearsal spaces and teaching rooms for the 16 Hull music ensembles as well as rehearsal space for the Hull Philharmonic Orchestra and the Yorkshire Young Musicians. It cost £3 million and opened in 2007.
Chris Hall of Holder Mathias Architects said: “The Albemarle Music Centre is a jewel in the St Stephen’s scheme. We have worked alongside the City of Hull and our client, ING Real Estate Development to create a building that will serve schools in the area well, and be something of which the people of Hull will be proud.” But then I guess he would say something along those lines. 

It's all done by mirrors

This is Europa House on Ferensway and Anlaby Road. It's clearly been built with photographers in mind.

I posted some reflections from this building before here.

The Royal Hotel

Sometimes called the Station Hotel, the Royal sits in front of Paragon Station on Ferensway. It was built in 1851. In 1990 I watched as one of the biggest fires in Hull destroyed the inside of the building. No-one was killed or seriously injured and within two years the place had been rebuilt.

If you're interested there's a website here 

More reflections on Ferensway

 

1930s Ferensway reflected in the very new St Stephens Mall. 

Reflections on Ferensway