The Old Picture Palace

Here's the art deco-ish front of what was originally the Kinemacolour Picture Palace opened back in 1910, that title was clearly too much for Hullensians so it became the Regent and stayed open as a cinema until 1978. After a spell as a roller disco(?) it became a pub. It is now part of a chain of pubs named after a confectioner from Chester-le-Street. This place is the sort of place that has to serve beer in plastic containers to avoid the risk of serious damage in those customer-on-customer disagreements that inevitably arise in the fiery heat of teleological disputation ...

River Hull

From North Bridge the reflections look almost pleasant but they are, of course, virtual and inverted images of a not quite so attractive reality.

Weekend Reflections are here.

Two Characters in Search of an Exit

It's been a while since I posted these figures from outside the University's Business School. I see they are still attempting to understand their internal and external worlds. Eh bien, continuons... 

The Weekend in Black and White is here.

Chippy

Fish, preferably haddock, covered in beer and flour batter and deep fried in beef dripping with a large portion of thick cut chips fried likewise, lashings of salt and maybe just a small drizzle of vinegar. Now what could be tastier or healthier than that? Fewer calories than a burger, less fat than a pizza, the chips are even a viable source of vitamin C!

This chippy on Lairgate is a bit posh in having a restaurant attached and the prices seem to be typically Beverley inflated but as there 11,000 chippies in the UK finding an alternative shouldn't be too difficult.

Now the English language often gives mirth with its ability to have multiple meanings for words. So if you wish to substitute 'carpenter' or even 'female prostitute' for 'chippy' in the above paragraph feel free.

Indulgence

I suppose the price of indulgence rises just like any other commodity but this cake shop (Patisserie! hah!) on Beverley's Butcher Row does seem to be just a tad on the expensive side. Still you only live once ...

Here is Brindley Street and you can keep it.

There is a little stretch of East Hull that is dedicated to the memory of scientists and engineers of by-gone eras. Near East Park we find Newcomen, Savery, Telford, Kelvin, Faraday, Watt, Lodge Streets and so on and last but not least here is Brindley Street.

Brindley? who he? I hear you ask, (well I asked). James Brindley was an 18^th century  digger  of canals (really more a planner, others did the digging). OK the Bridgewater Canal since you ask, the start of all this hectic movement of goods and commerce, Industrial Revolution, the modern age and all that jazz. All his fault ... put the blame on James.
Fourteen or so years ago we almost bought a house on this street, a five bed-roomed monster of a terraced house. Dirt cheap (then) but no garden and quite a depressing outlook. Ended up buying a house on Portobello Street further along Holderness Road (a big mistake!). I noticed the Brindley Street house  is back on the market (you can just about make out the For Sale sign ). Am I tempted? Hah!

The Monks Walk

I sometimes wonder what happen to all those monks after the dissolution of the monasteries, did they find alternative employment elsewhere? I mean what skills did an ex-monk have to bring to the medieval employment market? Was there much call for praying for souls, Gregorian chanting and all that silent contemplation malarky? As it turns out they were simply pensioned off and with the inflation of the day that was probably not a lot to live on. (The monastery servants, however, were simply given the sack and cast out!)  So no doubt the old Brothers union would like as not drown their sorrows in the nearby hostelry, swapping their good habits for bad, dissolute monks, eh, who wants 'em!.

Enough, enough. This is the Monks Walk on Highgate, Beverley just a few steps from the Minster. It used to be the George and Dragon or just plain George. It was definitely a pub back in the mid 17^th century and probably before that. Anyhow a few years back when it was being refitted it was found to date back to at least 1420. What you see here is a Georgian facade on some medieval buildings. The blank white sign on the right used to say "Whitbread" but clearly the link with this brewer has been dissolved since Whitbread ceased to brew beer about fourteen years ago (the first pint of beer I ever bought was a Whitbread, terrible frothy stuff, but I digress). The building is listed Grade2, there's more by a much better informed author on this page.