New Brick Wall on Bankside

I took me a walk down Bankside the other day. Bankside is the real badlands of Hull, a once industrial riverside area that is now a rat run for taxis and lorries. There's plenty of dereliction but still some industry  and small businesses hanging on. I passed some bricklayers who were building this nice new wall I thought their work should be recorded. They probably thought I was mad ... more from the badlands over the next few days.

Selective Austerity

Behold the replacement for Queen's Gardens police station. In a farce that could have come from the pages of Sjöwall and Wahlöö  the new divisional headquarters and custody suite is rising from the once poisonous soils of Clough Road. You've got to admit they've treated themselves well on the public purse, the top brass will be able to settle in nicely here and with 50 cells there's more than twice the capacity to lock up the naughty scalliwags. There'll be artwork costing £25,000; that's only fitting for a building that cost £32 million upfront but after interest and other charges comes in at an eyewatering £60 million! Austerity clearly is very selective .... 

Queen's Gardens Police Station

Opened in 1957 Queen's Gardens nick is now deemed to be unfit for purpose and will close in a year or so. In this "age of austerity" frontline policing will be cut by 21% and £30 million taken off the budget by 2015/6 so it remains to be seen whether the force left after all this will itself be 'fit for purpose'. More on Humberside Police follies tomorrow ....

The Haworth Arms

One the best pubs in Hull,  erm probably. This is the Haworth at the junction of Beverley Road and Cottingham Road. Being close to the University it's the haunt of students as well as many  locals. It's a large place and holds many events along with the usual goings on to be found in pubs. A recent refurbishment was completed in February to restore the old wooden pannelling and bar fittings. 

Now again a word of warning, it looks old but it ain't. It's yet another glorious mock-Tudor construction of the late 1920's and 30's (seems they built nothing but this style in those years!). Indeed it didn't use to be such a big building at all, just a dowdy little pub on the corner as this old photo shows. My how it's grown!

It has a website these days and you'll find that here.

Today's Post

River Hull

Ah the bucolic charms of the river Hull as it winds its way past storage tanks and the Mauri factory. Man and nature in harmony ...

Clough Road Gasometer

Taken by Margot K Juby

Just to the west of the Stoneferry Bridge, on Clough Road, stands this gasometer. It's one of a pair that remain on the site of the old gasworks. The land surrounding these old works was until recently contaminated with all sorts of nasties. A novel biological approach was used to clean up the place. The soil was dug up and placed in a large shed and treated with bacteria, so called bioremediation. The whole process took about two years and now a new police station is being built on the site.
A clough is a sluice used in returning water to a channel after depositing its sediment on the flooded land, in case you were wondering.