The Old Post Office Building

Standing opposite the Guildhall is this imposing building. It was built in 1904 with later additions in the '30s and '50s. The monumental renaissance style apparently compares well to the Opera House in Paris; but this was the central post office and Royal Mail sorting office until quite recently. The grand facade hid a hive of activity with dozens of delivery vans coming and going, the mail sorted and prepared for local delivery or for forwarding to the rail station. Now mail is sorted in a large shed on Malmo Road industrial estate, out of sight and more importantly out of reach of human beings who might need to pick up their undelivered parcels.

It has now been converted into town dwellings for city folks, ie. flats.

Queen's Gardens, Hull

A nice bit of greenery in the centre of town. The gardens are much used by students and workers to take their lunch breaks and so on. 

The Guildhall, Hull

 

When Hull became a city in 1897 obviously it would have a new town hall, so the old one was pulled down and this cathedral to municipal might was erected in 1913 or thereabouts. It's a massive edifice stretching all the way down Alfred Gelder street (see below). The law courts used to be at the far end with Council business being carried out at the front. Now there's two new courts and the Council has little to do except collect the bins and do what central government tells it to do. Local democratic control simply doesn't exist in this country anymore.

You can tell what a busy place it is by the milling crowds thronging its doors. 

 

Gulls just wanna have fun ....

The pigeons in the park

 

They call it impiety,

And lack of propriety,

And quite a variety

Of unpleasant names.

But it's not against any religion

To want to dispose of a pigeon.

From Poisoning Pigeons In The Park

Tom Lehrer 

Hull hole ... a history of sorts.

So what's all this then? A dirty big hole in the middle of town, surely it must mean something. Well, the something is explained by the plaque below; this is where the English Civil War got uptight and personal. The King, having done a runner from London, was on the look out for some munitions to help his cause. Kingston-upon-Hull had an armoury; so he turned up at the gates thinking to take the guns and what have you. He was told to go away and the gates of the town were slammed in his face. So poor old Charley had to turn round and trot all the way back to Beverley for his supper. After that, I'm afraid he rather lost his head. (Here endeth the lesson).

The hole contains the excavated foundations of the old entrance to Hull and part of the city walls, that's the brickwork you can see at the bottom of the hole. As is usual in Hull, what should be an attraction, indeed a national monument, has become a litter filled midden and an utter disgrace; it's gradually falling apart. In my capacity as an outraged citizen I wrote to the Council inquiring what they were going to do about it; I have had no reply as yet and I'm not holding my breath.

Hull College & Wilberforce Monument