Where there's brass there's muck ...

...or so it seems. I doubt any amount of elbow grease will polish up the image of this place.

The White Hart

This is not to be confused with Ye Olde White Harte, I suppose by rights it should be called the Not So Old White Hart. It's on Alfred Gelder Street and not too far from the ancient pub. Give it full marks for trying to at least look old.

Since we're on this street I suppose I should mention Alfred Gelder, an architect who seems to have designed most of Hull, from Queens Gardens to numerous methodist chapels even a local chain of shops and several pubs. On just about every main road you'll find something this guy has had a hand in. I don't think he built this one though.

Playing with boats

HMS Explorer, often to be found moored in the marina, is a patrol and training vessel of the British Royal Navy at least that's what Wikipedia tells me. It's really a fancy recruiting toy to get university students interested in taking the Queen's shilling or whatever the going rate is these days. Used to be they pressed ganged 'em now its flash motorboats...

Protecting the East

 

 So to east Hull and a remnant of 16th & 17th century defense spending. This is nearly all that remains of a massive citadel that protected the approaches to Hull from attack by whoever the English government had annoyed at the time (probably most of Europe). There is a blue plaque to tell the passing stranger all about it; unfortunately it's so high up that it's almost unreadable. I had to take a photo just to find out what it said. This stump sits in the middle of a large modern housing estate.

Some of the citadel's demolition material was used to create the charmingly named Khyber Pass feature ( from a futile intrusion by Victorian Britain into Afghanistan, all part of the never ending great game )  in East Park. It's just a glorified rockery really. Sic transit, as they often say in these parts.

Hull Art

It was in June 2010 that I posted about this work by Jimmy Boyle called Mankind Under Threat. At the time I ranted a bit about how the bars had been removed presumably by Hull City Council. I emailed the Council and complained but that did no good; so I emailed the company that sponsored the project but I got no reply. Well I don't know if was my moaning that did the trick but the bars are back. Let's hope the metal thieves don't find out about them.

I'd like to thank a local group called Hull Art, in particular Tim Everett, for alerting me to this pleasant turn of events.

A sad tale

For the past 6 weeks or so a young man has been missing. He was last seen on this bridge and despite massive searches and a huge number of posters he was not found. On Saturday a body was found in the Humber about 8 miles upstream, the searching is over. These balloons and flowers are just a portion, the whole bridge is covered in these tributes.

Taken by Margot K Juby

In a posting last year I mentioned that this was an area noted for people falling into the river and that fencing had been suggested. In the manner of closing the stable door after the horse is running down the street guess what? Yup, a fence is being put up.

We fix Mac's

I do like a good grocer's apostrophe; this one is on Anlaby Road. I found a Flickr group devoted to this grammatical feature here.

 

Waiting for the little green man

The wait to cross this road is considerably shorter than the wait for improvements to traffic flow on Hull's busiest road. The improvements do not even figure on the list of major road projects approved by the Department for Transport. 2015 is the earliest date we can expect work to begin on Castle Street but I'm thinking it might never happen.  So until then we'll just have to push the button and wait for the signal.

Means of escape

The near train will take you to Bridlington; the far train goes to London, the others to all points in between.

Contre-jour

Here's the Myton bridge on a sunny day last week. The bridge can be lifted to allow shipping to pass underneath but that hardly ever happens these days.

We see her sore oppressed

It's difficult to imagine now but Hull was once a centre of Methodism with well over a hundred chapels. This imposing building, the impressively named George Lamb Memorial Chapel on Lambert Street, was put up in 1894 for the Primitive Methodist Connexion [ ? ]. Fashions change and faiths dwindle and so it was that the last service here was on Good Friday 1994. So for eighteen years the congregation has consisted mainly of the feathered brethren. You will no doubt not be surprised to learn that there were plans to convert to flats nor that these plans have come to naught. The planning permission was extended in 2010 but I would advise against holding your breath in anticipation.

The Minerva

In the thirty or so years I've lived in Hull the Minerva has been written off at least half a dozens times. The last time was 3 or 4 years ago when a mock funeral was held to 'celebrate' its 'final' closure. But you can't keep a good pub shut for long and it reopened to all fine ale enthusiasts delight. At one time the pub brewed its own beer but that has now stopped, the sign saying Minerva Brewery is all that remains. The pub is right next to the Marina on the riverside. It has the smallest snug in the land, fits two people!

Opening soon ...

...well May is fairly soon isn't it? This is promised to be a new concept (new to Hull anyway) of  "theatre-style cooking" with chefs cooking meals before a captivated (or captive) audience of diners. With so many eating places struggling I suppose a new gimmick might pull in the punters. This is a refurbishment of an existing restaurant in the Hessle Gate Building on Humber dock. The building was constructed in 1884 hence the name. The obligatory website is here.

So now you know as much as I do

I've passed this thing many times and not been bothered to find out exactly what it was until I took a couple of photos and decided to put an end to my ignorance. I'd guessed it was an engine of some kind, turns out it's a horizontal steam engine and was used to haul ships out of the Victoria Dock for repairs and so on. Somehow it managed to find its way (no doubt under its own steam) to the side of the Humber dock where it's grown a protective glass cover. Clever things these steam engines.

The link (here) tells you as much as you could possibly want to know.

Still building that old bridge

A big step forward in the making of this bridge happened in the last week or so when the 120 ton swinging arm was lifted into place. You can't see much in this foreshortened image so I crossed over the Myton bridge and took a shot from the other side of the river. To me it looks like a giant fish, can't quite see what that fin attachment is supposed to do but no doubt all will be revealed. The local paper confidently states the bridge will open in May so we'll just have to be patient a little longer ....

Renewables 2

Just downstream from the Deep and 60 yards offshore stands this dinky tidal power generator supplying 30-40% of the electricity used by the submarium. This is the Neptune Proteus Tidal Generator and represents a significant step forward in utilising the power of the Humber. Obviously it's a prototype but I expect that we'll see many more and bigger versions as tidal power is clean and, unlike the wind, predictable. Depending on who you believe the tides could be supplying 10-20% of UK power and the Humber, because of its sheer size and large tidal range, will play a major part in that. I'll stop now this is beginning to sound like a sales pitch.

Deep Reflection

Couldn't resist this reflection of the Deep in the murky brown waters and mud of the river Hull.

New Homes for Old

Former students of Hull University probably won't recognise this as their old hall of residence, Cleminson Hall on Thwaite Street, Cottingham. After standing empty for eight years, and after a complex planning inquiry costing thousands, the site has been partly demolished and new homes are being built. The original old house is still standing and presumably has some conservation order on it, however inside it's a mess (see here). I suspect some 'accident' will befall it requiring its demolition and then more homes can be built, but then I'm just an old cynic as you must know by now.

Here's a picture of the old house I took from the top of a bus.

Renewables

I've shown the Arc building on Blanket Row before (here) but as this month's theme for City Daily Photo is electricity I thought this was a suitable shot. Here they're attempting to harness the sun and the wind to generate the sparky stuff. I've a feeling this array is more for decoration than serious generation.

You can see what others made of  this electric theme by clicking here .

Big fat juicy ones, Eensie weensy squeensy ones, See how they wiggle and squirm!

If you want to catch the big fish you need to dig up the big worms. This young man seems to have excavated half Bridlington beach in his search for lugworms.

Beach Steps

Maybe not quite in the league of the Odessa steps but nevertheless a fine descent to the sandy delights of Bridlington's north beach.

Low Tide

At low tide the small boats rest on the mud of Bridlington's harbour. The tidemark on the harbour wall shows how high the water rises.

Seen better days

Sadly the economy can no longer afford even a cheap and cheerful store like Nixie Plonks which gave up the ghost last year. Here it was in "better" days.

Sand , Sea and Sky

This was Bridlington on Thursday morning. It was really low tide; at high tide where I was standing is under water.

'Tis new to thee

 

Meet the new Hull; same as the old Hull.

The Street of the Keeping of Hens

Hengate in Beverley is a busy little ratrun across town. A sign nearby informs the passing tourist that Hengate gets its name from the keeping of hens in olden days, well I think we might have guessed that. On Hengate  is a pub known to all and sundry as Nellie's; I know it's got a sign saying White Horse Inn, it's just called Nellie's, ok, just don't ask awkward questions.

More Lifeboats

Another view of the oilrig training facilty on Albert Dock.  

One Man and His Dog

Photo by Margot K Juby

A Removal From Terry Street

So the good news first; this is or rather was a Macdonald's drive-thru burger/lardcake establishment. It's on Terry Street and as you can see it's closed down. It seems it was unable to cope either with the clientele (the usual mix of heroin addicts, alcoholics, homeless people with little or no money, muggers, imps, pimps and banjo players) or the lack thereof. Whatever the reason it shut up shop pretty soon after opening and has been like this for a few years. So no more beef disguised as cardboard in an ersatz bread cake.

The bad news; KFC have just taken it over.

Zebra stripes

Again this is from last week; it's probably all daffodils and primroses now the mild weather has set in. This horse was a plain old horse until someone painted stripes on him some time back, he's been a zebra ever since. Oh and those gulls are just waiting for Mr Hitchcock to say "Action...."

Sunrise

This was Tuesday at some ungodly hour when sensible people were still in bed.

Four in a row

I think these are Common Gulls, they were certainly very common in the park last week before the snow melted.

To Let

Last depressing picture for this week; just a few doors down from Past Times (see yesterday) Jonathan James shut last December. This was a shoe shop, if you can't sell shoes then times must be tough. 

Out of time

I took this on Monday; by the time you see this Past Times may well have closed its doors for the last time. As you can see there was 70% off everything, even the tables were for sale. The shop, part of a national chain, sold old fashioned jewellery, tableware, sepia tinted pictures and so on; personally I'd call it expensive tat. It's gone into administration citing difficult trading conditions, I think 99% of us are suffering from that.

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.

Up on the roof

Taken by Margot K Juby

Here's a household that clearly likes to be connected. I count four TV aerials, a wireless broadband and now a satellite dish. Makes you wonder what people did before all this wonderful connectivity came along.

Red and Black

Here the business end of a dockside crane neatly frames the tower of Holy Trinity church.

Fixing the drains

In June 2007 during a torrential rainstorm this area of Westwood was flooded and a great deal of damage was done to nearby houses. Since then the residents have campaigned for improved drainage and sewers until finally the local water company have agreed to put in better facilities. This explains the activity going on here and the newly laid and hopefully temporary tarmac road that has been laid across the common.