To Let on Paragon Street

I read a few weeks ago that there were supposed to be fewer vacant shops in Hull; well not as far as I can tell. More if anything. These are all in the space of less than fifty yards.

I had to smile when I saw the above was empty and to let. It's the old Jobcentre where Hull's unemployed had to sign on for their excessive benefits that ruined the country's economy if we are to believe the Chancellor of the Exchequer and why shouldn't we? (The Secretary of State for the Department of Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, was recently rash enough to claim that he could live on £53 a week. Over 400,000 signed an online petition in two days demanding that he do just that. IDS then claimed that was a "stunt"; you can imagine how that went down in Twitzerland and other places.)

And here's fourth for good measure. Clearly there is great potential in Hull with lots of opportunities for small businesses to acquire premises. 

I'm having a monochrome moment if you want colour go watch TV.

In the red

Ah well, I guess it couldn't last. Here's the pub formerly known as the Fishbowl, Hockney's and also Aussie Beach all boarded up and for sale once again. Seems it failed to attract the students despite having staff dress up as goldfish during the first few days of term last year. Can't imagine why a gimmick like that didn't work. Are students becoming more discerning?

Anyway if you've got a quarter of a million sterling going spare and you fancy trying your hand in the licensed trade well  you can see who to contact in this photo. Be warned history has a nasty habit of repeating itself usually as farce.

So that's who it is ... the Goddess of Beauty

A couple of years ago I took this shot of an odd-shaped woman holding an apple and dropping what I took to be a tennis racket or perhaps a frying pan. It's part of a series of figures topping a wall by the riverside (I showed one earlier here). What could it be I wondered? The other figures seemed to represent trades and professions of Hull. Quite what this lady's profession might be I had not a clue (I lead a sheltered life) and various lewd suggestions from web-friends were hardly helpful. And there things would have remained had I not spent an afternoon going through recent photos. I found myself looking at exactly the same figure in a mosaic from the 3^rd century AD! Unclad lady, an apple and what turns out to be a mirror who else could it be but Venus the Goddess of Beauty. OK beauty comes in all shapes and sizes ...

The mosaic is the Rudston Venus mosaic which came from a large Roman villa in the village of Rudston just west of Bridlington. It is now safely ensconced in the Hull & East Riding Museum.

Do you feel lucky?

I suppose that having spent millions on new bus/rail station and a new shopping centre there was simply no money left to design a safe connection between the two. So everyday thousands must wait for the green man before making it safely from one side to the other. Of course, people being what they are, some decide to cross on the red man and play a Hull version of Russian roulette with the buses with predictable consequences.

City Daily Photo's theme for today is 'Pedestrians crossing': see what others have made of this here.

Monochrome Mill

I took a stroll on Beverley Westwood the other day, I don't think I'd been so cold all Winter and it's supposed to be Spring. Absolutely no blossom on any of the trees and no sign of leaves about to burst into life. The only thing moving was the strong Easterly wind that came all the way from Omsk or Tomsk or some such place. I got as far as the old black mill before admitting defeat and going home.

In what seems like a bad joke British Summer Time starts today, I can't imagine what I'm going to do with all that daylight that's being saved.

There's more monochrome fun at the Weekend in Black and White here.

Gewgaws

In these times of flailing austerity Beverley clearly has not been overly affected (see this post from two day ago). Money (between £22,000 to £80,000 depending on who you believe) has been found to renovate the Market Cross and the four shields that hang from it have been given a fresh coat of paint. The top two are Queen Anne's and Beverley town's shields. Bottom left is that of Sir Charles Hotham and bottom right is Sir Michael Warton MPs for Beverley who part paid for the cross in 1714. They could afford it; Charles Hotham had inherited vast estates and Michael Warton was reputed to be the richest man in England at the time.

Old Post Office

I guess when they closed the post office on Westwood Road in Beverley they forgot to take the sign down (they may need planning permission, it's that sort of area). So there it stays gently fading along with the memory of when the Royal Mail used to run a half decent service. Westwood Road, by the by, was once declared to have the most expensive houses in East Yorkshire; this is the cheaper end.

Bah cobblers!

Recently some bright spark at East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) decided it would be a good idea to remove all the setts or cobbles from Beverley's Saturday Market. Having been there for nearly 200 years these setts were clearly a health and safety hazard and should be ripped up and replaced as part of the pedestrianisation of the area. So far so good you might think. Enter the 'Save our Setts' brigade with their demonstrations and support from the 'subsidise our past mob' aka English Heritage. Cue a quick climb down by Council. The setts will now not be removed, no sir, they'll be taken out, dusted, turned over and put back again or some such. Price tag for this nonsense £2.6 million pounds.

Now I could not care less about these cobbles or setts or whatever you want to call them. They were laid to help horses keep their footing and were no doubt useful then but now they're just a pain to walk on and have little visual appeal. No, what I'm furious about is the £2.6 million being wasted on all this. ERYC have had to find cuts to their budgets this year due to central government's failing austerity measures. The amount of the cut? £2.5 million!

Kapow!

Here's a sign that really makes an impact on Whitefriargate. The shop sells the kind of tacky gadgets and gizmos that modern life finds indispensible. The building was part of  a redevelopment in 1795 of Trinity House property and is Grade 2 listed. Older Hull residents may remember this as the Kardomah coffee house. The old sign was uncovered during recent redecoration (see here)

Flash Drive

Came across this customised Chrysler Cruiser outside Holy Trinity Church the other day. Now I'm not much of a car person as I've mentioned before but this stands out from the well nigh ubiquitous silver-grey that manufacturers seem to offer. 

The Yard

Tucked away on Vicar Lane at the back of King's Buildings I came across what appears to be a pub or a club called the Yard though I can find practically nothing about it on the web. I'm guessing it gets its name from the Grammar School Yard which is just behind the wall on the left or maybe it comes from being a back yard. Anyhow I just liked the imposing gateway which completely dominates the narrow lane.

Snell's Entry

When those who do these things decided to knock down parts of High Street to build a multistorey car park and other essentials of modern life it was decided to wall off the back of these buildings. The wall is punctuated with little arched gaps bearing the name of  whatever passage way or snicket stood there on High Street before time and the search for profit took its toll. So here we have Snell's Entry. A quick glance through an old trade directory reveals that a Thomas Snell was a baker and flour dealer on High Street back in 1823. I'm assuming this is named after him or his business. It can't have much of a place since I can't find it mentioned on old maps from the period. I did however find a reference that has a resonance to today's Hull. In 1875 Mary Dowd of Snell's Entry was fined 5 shillings (about a week's wages) for not sending her children to school. 

I suppose we must thank those who do the deciding because now we know there was a Nag's Head Entry, Barrick's Place, John's Place, King's Court, Breton's Place and not forgetting Grimsby Lane running off High Street; all sign posted now, probably better than when they thronged with life. I won't carp about the lack of apostrophes.

Once again there's more monochrome fun to be had at the Weekend in Black and White here.

The flowers that bloom in the Spring tra la ....

....are now all covered in snow

Hull along with most of the country woke up to snow; not a lot in our case and certainly not enough to cause any disruption I would have thought. Cold weather is forecast to last until April by which time if the Casandras are to be believed the country will have run out of gas. Brrrrrr!

Local shops for local people

Well calling them shops is a bit of an exaggeration. Here's two ladies' hairdressers and a gents' barber, a tattoo parlour and a pizza place. Does this reflect  local interest in looking good and stuffing your face with carbohydrate? As I live nearby I couldn't possibly comment. 

For those not from these parts wondering why a barbers is called Tigers Trim; it's a reference to the local football team, Hull City, whose orange and black strip earned them the nickname of Tigers, they have a mascot called Roary ( I kid you not).  Hence Tigers Trim, well it's better than Head Shed.

Surely not

Taken by Margot K Juby

Times is hard and people is selling off their newborns ....

Britannia For Sale

How long have I lived in Hull? Thirty plus years and still I find something I've never seen before. Way up on top of a building at the corner of Bowlalley Lane and Lowgate I found this eroding Britannia peering down at me. The building is your run-of-the-mill Victorian office block turned (inevitably) into a public house. It must have had some importance for a whopping stone statue to be stuck on top but times have changed and now I wonder what Britannia makes of the Barracuda Bar.

 Just noticed the For Sale sign so here's yet another investment opportunity in Hull.

PS & Update: It seems I've come here with half a story. After a little bit of research and a friendly Tweet I find that this building was once a courthouse and before that a public exchange. Now being a law court would explain the Britannia statue. It's Grade 2 listed and details of its architecture can be found here.

In case of emergency

I don't know what sort response you'd get if you tried to use this antique device on High Street. It's outside what used to be the head office of Humberside Police Authority now up for sale since the 'election' last year of  a new Police and Crime Commissioner for Humberside. He wants somewhere more modest in keeping, no doubt, with his modest mandate (90% didn't vote for him).  May I suggest a shed? The building was built in 1899 as a trading exchange for the corn, flour and seed crushing industries. It can be yours for a mere snip of £425,000.

Cod

After yesterday's mammoth posting here's something simpler. Here's another of those piscatorial pavement plaques, this one lies near to the Hull hole at the end of Whitefriargate. 

Pictures from a demonstration

A cold wet Saturday afternoon in March was perhaps not the best sort of day to launch a nationwide protest against the introduction of  the loathed Bedroom Tax. Around 250 turned up nevertheless at this rally in Queens Gardens. They were part of nearly 60 such meetings across the country involving about 13000 people. Not earth shattering numbers I agree but it's a start. If I'm honest I don't think rallies like this and bigger marches planned for later on will have much effect on this Government which seems to have beans in its ears. I hope it does but I'm not holding my breath.

A quick note on media response. The Sunday People had printed out hundreds of placards for these meetings. They, along with the Daily Mirror, strongly back this protest so there's a bias alert on anything they say. The reporting in the press and on TV varied from outright ignoral through  under reporting (shame on you Hull Daily Mail for saying there were "more than 60" attending this rally); the local TV stations had short and reasonably accurate reports. But then I've read newspaper reports of football matches I've attended and they even got the score wrong so any report is a  bonus I guess.

There were a couple of people wearing similar masks, I would have thought to point of the demonstration was to show your face and be counted but maybe I'm old fashioned.

Here's local Labour MP Karl Turner having his say before one of the local TV stations. He's a barrister; does it show?

And when the speakers begin to drag, as they do, you can always admire the hellebores as opposed to the other bores.

And where there's a crowd it obviously needs policing. I have to say this is as close as the police got. The sergeant in the car was probably the driest and warmest person in Hull city centre yesterday and that's why he's a sergeant.

Musical Arches

Taking some shelter from a snow shower the other day I stumbled across this passage off High Street leading to the river. The old warehouses are now home to Hull College's Performing Arts, Music and Media Department which would account for the music I heard while taking these shots.

You can find more monochrome images at the Weekend in Black & White .

Ye Olde Corn Exchange

Nothing about the name of this pub is quite what it seems. In the good old days of 1788 it was called the "Excise Coffee House". It only became "Ye Olde Corn Exchange" in the early 1800's; an early example of trading on a false past no doubt. (The real old corn exchange was on High Street; one day I'll get a picture of that.) It stands on the north side of Holy Trinity church at the junction with Market Place. The weird lighting is due to reflections from an ugly 1970's office building behind me which has bronzed mirrored windows that cast a fine glow as the sun catches them.

Colourful Doorway

Behind these doors on Chanterlands Avenue there's a small garden centre. I think it's a safe bet that the same guy also decorated their van which I showed last year.

Trouble brewing

On the right St Mary's, Lowgate part of the Church of England which increasingly becomes irrelevant and absurd. It likes to think it is important because the State likes to appear to have 'religion' but no-one takes them seriously and haven't for centuries. To the left the old central Post Office now apartments for those who like to live in converted offices. 

The decline of the C of E and the inevitable privatisation of the Royal Mail are insignificant to the events going on elsewhere. In the middle of the picture the Guildhall once the seat of local democracy is now a vehicle for this repressive Government's policies. Local government in this country has been a castrated beast for thirty years or more with powers being centralised to Whitehall. Now the beast is being asked to do the dirty work for this unmandated Government. Hull Council say they have to sack 600 workers due a cut in grants from central Government (you see how the beast was robbed of its power now, local Government cannot raise funds independently, no money no power). But there's more and worse,  much worse to come. From April benefit receivers who used to get full Council Tax relief will now have to pay a percentage of that tax. In Hull that's 8% but in East Riding  of Yorkshire, where I live, it's at least 25%! On top of that there's the introduction of the Bedroom Tax. Housing Benefit to social housing tenants will be cut if it is deemed that there are too many bedrooms. This means for many tenants that they can no longer afford to live in their homes, homes that they've occupied for years in many cases. People with disabilities are going to have to move out of properties that have been converted to accommodate their needs. And so and so on. You get the picture; it's a nightmare for these people and it's going to lead to unrest. The Government which no-one voted for and which has presided over the longest recession ever in this country's history is passing the bill for the crimes of the bankers onto the poorest in the land while giving tax cuts to the rich (Up to £100,000 for millionaires, we can't have them and their entrepreneurial talents leave the country now, can we? How would we manage without them?). Well we shall see who pays in the end. 

Candlemas Day was clear and bright ...

...So Winter is having another bite.

A snowy flurry on Bishop Lane Staithe which in better times looks like this.

Hardy Souls

This was taken last week when the fog rolled in from the Humber. Temperature then was a balmy 3 or 4C. Today it's 0C with a wind that makes it feel like -3 or -4C and there's a dusting of snow to cheer things up.

22 & 23

Here's a detail above a doorway on Silver Street. I don't know what the building was built as in 1886 but now it houses a hairdresser.

More monochrome images at the Weekend in Black & White.

Giving York a hug

This plaque is high up on what used to be Barclay's bank at the corner of Silver Street and Trinity House Lane. It probably goes unnoticed by the vast majority of folks. If they did notice it and were familiar with heraldic coats of arms they  might wonder why some misty eyed maid was hugging the shield of the city of York. The bank, as is the way of things these days, is now a public house named after a member of one of Hull's old banking families William Wilberforce.

England's smallest window

I know you've always wondered just where is the smallest window in England so I'll put you out of your misery. Here it is in the magical Land of Green Ginger. Click on the image to enlarge and the plaque explains it all. Now I wonder if it's double glazed ....

Right Bleeding Shambles

With losses of over£5 billion this 'financial institution' still managed to pay out 'bonuses' of over £600 million. The capo di tutti capi at the Bank of England has called for it to be cut into little pieces and thrown to the wolves saying in effect that four years of public mollycoddling have had no noticeable effect on this criminal enterprise. Today I note that their ATMs have failed again ...

The dog tied up outside this Silver Street branch had the loudest howl of any dog I've heard. I'd howl if I was a customer of this place.

Good old fashioned fog

Spurn Lightship from Castle Street

A strange sort of day yesterday; one minute I was taking pictures in clear blue sunny conditions then I walked a few yards towards Castle Street and into one of the thickest fogs I've seen for a long time. With visibility down to around twenty yards thankfully there was no air pollution to turn it into a pea souper. Undeterred by the lack of light or indeed subject I managed a handful of shots of the gloom.

Marina

Victoria pier from the Horse Wash