Molly

Whenever we pass the pet and garden shop on Beverley Road we have to stop and say hello to Molly. Molly is a Moluccan cockatoo and usually sits in her cage but is allowed out now and then to meet and greet customers with her seductive "Helloooow".

Pictures taken by Margot K Juby.

Hull: City of Culture!

It's over two years since I posted about the Albemarle Music Centre on Ferensway. Pretty soon after that post the place was threatened with closure due to a funding crisis. Fortunately funding for three years was secured last year so it can continue to be one of the country's music hubs providing an opportunity for children to learn to sing or play a musical instrument. Money well spent I think you'll agree and I was happy to read recently that this July three orchestras involving about a hundred young musicians from the centre will play at the Music for Youth festival in Birmingham. So good luck to them.

While I'm striking a cultural note I suppose I must mention Hull's bid to be the UK City of Culture in 2017.  I kid you not. The Council's bid may have attracted some jibes from various quarters but I can see no harm in at least trying to bolster the cultural amenities of the city which are often overlooked in these desperate times. Even if they don't win, making the city a more pleasant place to live and work is surely a worthwhile investment (It's something they should be doing anyway and not waiting for patronising crumbs off the Government's table). And imagine the fun if Hull won!

After this piece appeared over the weekend bookmakers cut the odds on Hull winning to 6-1! Betting, like plagiarism, is basic to all culture. 

Keep Out

Taken by Margot K Juby

Although crime rates have fallen to their lowest for many years it still pays to take precautions against unwanted visitors though maybe not quite such drastic ones as these on Stepney Lane.

Scott's Square

All that remains of Scott's Square is this sign and a dark alley way leading off Humber Street and ending in nothing, just a cleared site. Mind you from what I can gather looking at old maps there wasn't much of a square to begin with more of thin rectangle really. Maybe the name was a Victorian joke.

Promotion

This is the KC Stadium, home of Hull City football club who managed to gain promotion back to the Premier League yesterday. So congratulations to them. I'm not a big sports fan and can't say that I'm excited by all this. According to those whose business it is to publicise Hull if you want make an impression abroad you must have a 'top flight' sports club. Seems like a load of old rhubarb to this grey beard loon but if it keeps them happy who am I to say nay.

It's quite possible the KC stadium no longer looks like this because I took this picture seven years ago. Finally I get to put it to some use.

Alfred Gelder Street

So here's the Guildhall, on the right, stretching all the way down Alfred Gelder Street. It's a large piece of Edwardian civic preening, seemingly big was beautiful in those days. At the far end there used to be a magistrates' court where petty crooks and poor unfortunates got tried for breaking the law (just being poor was, of course, a crime, still is it seems) whilst at this end the big time crooks were running the council for their own benefit. Of course those days are long gone, the small time crooks and the poor now have their own specially built high tech court buildings (there's money to be made out of the crime business) and the councillors have no powers other than to sack council workers and rip off folk with extortionate fees and stupid regulations. And the big time boys? Well, they seem to be running the country ...

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

A backyard off High Street

You could see St Mary's on Lowgate if it wasn't for the houses in between.

Fresh Fruits

What to do with an old run down fruit and veg wholesalers' district after the market has moved on to pastures new? Knock it down and build pokey little apartments that no-body wants or leave it be and let the arts and music business take it over? Well for once the easy option of letting it be and seeing how it goes and grows seems to be working in Humber Street. So now we have a vibrant mix of art galleries, entertainment venues, recording studios and so on all seemingly thriving in these old fruit and veg warehouses. Now if something could be done about the A63/Castle Street nightmare that cuts this area off from the city it would positively boom.

This is the place responsible for the giant glitter ball idea I mentioned earlier. I have to admit to not having a clue  what 'Club Culture' could be, but if it keeps them happy who's complaining?

There's even a brewery!

Creating space

At long last the 'temporary' shops on Ferensway, put up just after the last war, have been demolished. They are making way for no-one knows just quite what  yet, flats, hotel, more shops, who knows and who cares, 'cos I don't and I'm pretty confident you don't either.

Over at City Daily Photo they're having their monthly theme on 'The Creative Artisan', whatever that is supposed to mean. To me the the guy in the JCB is a worker in a skilled trade, he creates by destroying. Anyhow the link to all this nonsense is here.

Well Spotted

Those of a certain age will understand if I say this is the very biggest spotty dog you ever did see.... OK it's a pub on Inglemire Lane.

A little local difficulty

Just across the road from 5^th Avenue is the Endyke pub. Another 1920/30's mock Tudor building. Just another neighbourhood pub, you might think, with its usual comings and goings and the odd not very serious disturbance. Well that is until one night in February last year when a man who had been asked to leave because he wouldn't put out his cigarette returned with a chainsaw and ran amok in the pub! Some very brave customers managed to chase him out by throwing chairs at him and he was eventually caught but not before one person was seriously injured. 

Here's a not very clear video of the events.

Green fountain

OK, this is my Spring has sprung posting. This impressive willow brightens up the junction of Endike Lane and Greenwood Avenue.

Jackson's as was but now isn't

Here on Paragon Street, golden land of opportunity, yet another shop has closed and been put up for sale. Jackson's was a Hull institution with shops on just about every main road in the city that is until the shops were sold to Sainsbury's a few (10 or more!) years back. They may have changed the name but as far as most people were concerned they were still called Jackson's. Now the city centre shop has been closed leaving only one supermarket in the city centre. Thus we see how capitalism and competition have left us with as much choice as the citizens of old Soviet Russia.

There's more monchrome fun over at the Weekend in Black and White here

5th Avenue, NHE

That's North Hull Estate as opposed to New York City. The estate was built between the wars to house those moving out of the slums of  the inner city. It was a council estate of small but well built houses almost all with a garden of some sort. There was little variety in the housing with long roads of identical buildings, I've read there are only six types of houses on the whole estate. Still if it wasn't exactly heaven it was better than the alternative and these properties were much sought after. Over the years, however,  the estate became run down and had a reputation, probably undeserved, for anti-social behaviour. So a while back the council spent loads of money doing up the whole estate, every house was modernised and new walls with railings went round each property, red tiles replaced grey slates. This work and the efforts of owner-occupiers have made the place look a whole lot better than it did.

One odd feature of the estate is that may of the streets have numbers rather than names maybe the planners just got lazy.

Great giant glitter balls

Maybe it's something they put in the water or the lateness of Spring or whatever but plans have been put forward to construct a massive mirror ball, you know the kind they used to have (and probably still do for all I know) in discos of the 70's around this site on Humber Street. The plans come from a group calling itself the Museum of Club Culture; a spokesperson is reported as saying " “The gently revolving mirrorball will glow in the evenings as it transforms into a giant 360 degree cinema screen. Audio/visual artists’ work will be projected by ten video projectors onto the inside of the sphere and will provide a free open air cinema for the public.”. The price? A cheeky £40 million. I checked the date of the report and it wasn't April 1^st.

Dutch Courage

So here's a colourful sign I found in a snicket off High Street.  This is the consulate of our Dutch friends, well we haven't been at war for several centuries. Intrigued by the motto I find these words were supposedly uttered by William the Silent, Prince of Orange and Nassau, (perhaps that's all he ever said) in the seemingly never ending struggles of Holland to free itself from foreign occupation. I'll pass over the fact that the motto is in French as our royals also have a French motto. The French sensibly got rid of their royals. 

Stands the church clock at ten to three?

The English the English the English are best

I wouldn't give tuppence for all of the rest

Here's the flag of St George, Macedonian slayer of dragons and patron, so it seems, to half the countries of Europe and elsewhere (many Muslims around Bethlehem also celebrate his feast day). I can't admit to feeling any stirrings of patriotic fervour at the sight of this rag so you'll not be surprised that I'm not inspired by suggestions that today, St George's Day, be made an English National Day. There is, of course, no need for such a day celebrating all things English, as it is well known, for the true Englishman (not me, I'm a cad and probably a bounder as well), every day is a celebration of his God given superiority.

It's not that they're wicked or naturally bad

It's just that they're foreign that makes them so mad

The English are all that a nation should be

And the pride of the English are Chipper and me

(Flanders & Swan)

Today is also the birthday and deathday (is there such a word?) of that well known English playwright William Shakespeare whose famous last words were almost certainly not "It's my birthday and I'll die if I want to".

The good folk at City Daily Photo are having a St George's Day theme, perhaps they took it more seriously than me, I do hope not. Any way you can find what others made of this here.

Underneath the arches

Here's the underside of Myton bridge; with its numerous columns it could be some latter day  temple dedicated, no doubt, to Hermes. I like this place but not enough to make it my home. Carefully placed between the heaps of pigeon guano someone has set up a bed.

History of a museum

This imposing building on High Street now houses the Hull and East Riding Museum. It was originally the Customs House then in 1856 it became the Corn Exchange (not to be confused with Ye Olde Corn Exchange) before becoming a Museum of Commerce and Transport in 1923. Following WW2 when it was damaged by bombing it reopened as a Museum of Transport and Archaeology in 1957. It was renamed the Hull and East Riding Museum in 1983. 

Due to the narrowness of the street I couldn't get a full shot of the facade but if you click here you'll get an early drawing of the building.

The doorway still has the signs of the corn merchants and traders who worked from this building.

Old and newish and still to come

Here's another view from the site of the proposed 18 storey hotel (see yesterday) featuring Holy Trinity's tower and a 60/70s multi-storey car park It's not much of a view to boast about I agree but I think it's better than an oversized "fag packet" .

You can find more monochrome fun at the Weekend in Black and White here.

Permission denied

Well I've got say I'm surprised. That 18 storey hotel that was planned for High Street has just been refused planning permission by Hull City Council. One councillor even went so far as to forget the rules about stating the obvious and described the proposed building as looking like a "fag packet". The developer is needless to say less than happy having had an even bigger and uglier building granted permission earlier. I reckon my prediction for something much, much smaller is looking good.

Here's the site complete with rubble heap and crow.

Some kind soul handily removed a fence panel for me to take these photos.

Any day now ....

I've heard rumours, nothing more than whispers, that the new swing bridge will almost certainly definitely maybe perhaps open this very month or even sooner. You heard it here first.

" ... into the dustbin of history"

It's been a strange old week since the death of Thatcher. Whole forests have been chopped down to provide  for the yards and yards of utter tosh spewing from the presses along with a seemingly never ending televisual spew wave to wash your senses sideways. Opinions are divided, nay, positively polarised with demands to show respect set against street parties and wild behaviour (mostly by people who weren't even born when "that woman" was PM). We had no less than a whole day of Parliament extolling her virtues; some of it extremely embarrassing, one noble lord commenting that she had "beautiful hands and lovely ankles and she knew how to use them.'"! There were a few exceptions but even they lacked any sincerity. In the real world it is fair to say that most of Wales, Scotland and the North of England shed not a tear at her passing. I know many had celebratory drinks. Tempting then to say that it was a bit like old times when she was in office with her divisive ways. Only then policemen on horseback were beating seven shades out of striking miners; today we have a mass download of the Ding Dong song from the Wizard of Oz. So, maybe, the old man from Trier was right when he said "History repeats ... first as tragedy, then as farce".  

Speaking of farces, today we have a £10 million tax payer funded military funeral to finally dispose of this destroyer of hope and wrecker of lives. Money well spent. 

For the journey

Here's the branch of Lloyd's bank an the end of my street. Lloyd's have a rather irritating advertising campaign with the slogan 'For the journey'. I have no idea what that is supposed to mean except that I suspect that, as the UK Government is the largest shareholder in this business, we are all being taken for a ride.

Property game

I haven't played Monopoly for many years; the last time I did it caused rifts and rows (I can't help it if I'm lucky). Anyhow this student accommodation outfit seem to like the game so much they've decorated their front yard with little green houses, red hotels and other themed items. 

Still here

Taken by Margot K Juby

The lengthy cold spell has meant the snowdrops have lasted much longer than they usually do; these are are still going strong.

Taken by Margot K Juby

More monochrome images over at the Weekend in Black and White here.

Sold

This former Victoria Wines off licence has finally been sold after standing empty for over three years. I wonder if they paid cash.

Debout! les forçats de la faim

Here in Hull, in one of the richest countries on the planet, people are going hungry for want of money to buy food. While politicians vie, in the vilest manner, to condemn the so-called generosity of the welfare system, and rich men pay themselves bonuses for their failures and we plough on through the never ending depression, it is difficult, I think, not to want the Earth to rise on new foundations.

Woollen Warehouse

At one time English wool was keeping half of Europe warm. The export of fleeces through Hull was started by monks who farmed sheep on the Wolds, chalk hills to the north of the city, and became a major source of income during the middles ages and later. This building on South Church Side was once a wool exchange during the late 19^th century; above the door there's a sheep being weighed. Nowadays the wool trade has gone and the building houses a printing business.

Barrel Vaults

The train station was built in the 1840s and later extended in 1904 to have five of these barrel vaults. One of them now forms the bus station that I showed yesterday, three are in use as train platforms and this one seems to be little more than a covered car park.

Bus-Passenger Interface Experience

This is Hull's bus station, it's a replacement bus station for the one they knocked down to build a shopping mall a few years ago. You can see for yourself that it's a miracle of modern design. See how, if your bus goes from say door 27 and it's rush hour and the place is full, well, just how easy it will be to push your way through 20 or so different queues while carrying your shopping. Oh yes sir, a lot of thought went into the lay out of this place. 

Vacant

Across the street from yesterday's building, which you can see reflected in the window, sits the old Radio Humberside offices and studios. They were situated above the now closed Post Office. If I was to say the building was empty and 'to let' you would not be at all surprised. Radio Humberside now broadcasts from the BBC buildings near Queens Gardens. 

I just realised that I've posted another shot from Chapel Street in March last year and that, too, was of an empty building, a bank. It's still empty.

Chapel Street

There is no sign of the 1,500 seat Provident Chapel that gave this street its name. No sign either of the brewery that stood at the end of it. Little Queen Street no longer curves round and joins it half way down. The chapel was built in 1797. One description has it as being "almost hidden from view at the end of Hope Street". The last service was held in 1903, it later became a warehouse destroyed, as was much of this area, in the blitz.  History has not been kind to Chapel Street which is now just a short almost stubby little street connecting Paragon Street and Jameson Street, building the latter took away the northern end and most of Little Queen Street. Nowadays it seems to be almost entirely shut and available for let. This arch is part of Queen's House built out of the post war rubble and stands just about on the site of the old chapel.

Water trough

This old water trough stands in a hollow created by hundreds of hooves over the years as the commoners' cattle seek to slake their thirst in the heat of Summer. It's next to the old black mill that I showed last week when the heat of Summer was the last thing I was thinking about; avoiding hypothermia was my main concern.The cattle aren't allowed on the common until May; hopefully it will be a bit warmer by then.

More monochrome stuff at the Weekend in Black & White here.

Going downhill on Ferensway

In what used to be the C&A store that closed because the parent company withdrew from the UK and later became TJ Hughes' store that went bust in the 'great recession' here's Poundland. A shop where every item costs £1. Do you see any progress here? A mid-range clothing firm becomes a down market retailer becomes the bottom feeder of price-point retailing. Poundland is successful with nearly 3 million customers a week and stores across the UK but then if you get some of your staff free from the Government under the workfare scheme that is bound to help with the bottom line [ 1 ].