Supermarket Forces

There was a livestock market in Beverley from the mid 19th century until 2001. At one time it was the biggest pig market in the country (East Yorkshire is big on pigs). Despite this it became unprofitable and Beverley Corporation sold it off. It continued to decline and eventually was closed; the site was cleared and sold to another sort of market, a supermarket.  This plaque commemorates the market and is by the entrance to Tesco's emporium on New Walkergate.

Foreseeable Consequence

A few years ago the government, not the present austerity mongers but the previous boomsters, wanted to introduce looser controls on the sale of alcohol. Pubs could open twenty-four hours a day if they wanted and there was an easing on conditions of granting licenses. The result was an massive increase in the number of pubs and bars. There were those who warned that this would lead to increased drunkenness but these wise counsels went unheeded, people were supposed to drink responsibly and a 'continental drinks culture' would suddenly burst forth. It didn't work, the city centre became a hell on earth every Friday and Saturday night soaking up massive police and ambulance resources. Something had to be done. This sign is part of the attempt to reduce drunken behaviour; there's also recently been introduced banning orders on drunks, if they're in the city centre they get arrested. Reports in the local paper say these measures seem to be working but it's all a bit repressive and draconian to my way of thinking. And those responsible for this mess drink themselves blind on subsidised booze in the House of Commons' bars. Make mine a double ...

Hammonds of Hull

I've seen this building described as "the best surviving postwar department store" I wonder what that says about the rest. This is House of Fraser or Binns or Hammonds depending on your age. The original Hammonds store was a grand palatial affair destroyed along with several employees in May 1941 by German bombs. What you see here was opened in the early fifties [see photo , health and safety people should not click on this link] and has little appeal to me. I've read that fans of the building fear it may be lost in the redevelopment of the city; shame then that the redevelopment is on hold.

Venn Diagram

It is a little known fact that I used to be employed by Hull University (not for long, I hasten to add). In my day this was the Admin Building and the Biochemistry Department, where I was supposed to be working, was housed in what seemed to be the attic. Since then a fashion for naming buildings after famous people has overtaken the place and so this late 1920s building is named after Dr John Venn Sc.D, FRS, FSA and senior President of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. Yes, he of the Venn diagram so beloved of modern logic. He was born in Hull in 1834 but spent precious little time here and died four years before Hull University was opened (lucky man).

Western Cemetery

The Western Cemetery is essentially an extension of the Spring Bank cemetery [1, 2] opened in 1889 and still in use. It is across the railway line from the site of Hull Fair which you can see in the background. Most of the early memorials are showing signs of aging except for this one to Zebedee Scaping. Who he? My searches show he was born in Eton then went to the Royal Hospital School which has connections with the Navy. Later he becomes the headmaster of Trinity House school in Hull, a position he held for fifty-five years and, as this monument says, is  known in "every port and on every sea". I've managed to find a photo of him here , he's the one with the beard. The memorial was restored and regilded a few years ago and looks as it must have done when new.

Zeb married Georgiana Harriette Fury in Dublin in 1859, his occupation as that time is described as "Esquire", those were the days, eh!. From census records I found they had a son, also called Zebedee, well it would have been a shame to lose such a fine name.

If you like wandering round cemeteries why not wander over to Taphophile Tragics and see what others have posted.

Something a bit different

On my way to Hull Fair last week I passed this van which for some reason caught my eye, can't think why ...

Deep Muddy One

The river Hull when it enters the Humber is a completely different beast to the crystal clear chalk stream that rises out of the Wolds. I guess those old Scandinavians and Celts were both right.

Here's the tidal surge barrier's reflection in that deep muddy river Hull.

Before and after

This old dry dock is right at the mouth of the river Hull, opposite the Deep. It used to be home to a Manx steamboat that was used as a nightclub but that sailed off into the sunset ten or more years ago. Unfortunately when it left they couldn't close the dock gates, so for a decade the mud and silt of the Humber has washed in and filled it up completely. The owners of the site are planning to make some kind of tourist attraction out of it so they have cleaned it up with a hosepipe and a pump with the result you now see. The dock gates have now been sealed so they won't have to do it all over again.

Fly in the ointment

Just outside Driffield the river Hull passes round an eyot and at this time of year everything's turning nicely Autmnal. The river is very clear and you can see some really big fish in it. All in all very nice, almost bucolic. 

Shame then that right behind you is Bradshaw's grain mill with its constant noise of turbines driven by the river and deliveries from big lorries.

Hull Fair

It's that time of year again, when Europe's largest travelling fair parks itself in west Hull for a week. It's as popular as ever and as ever there's dozens of food stalls in case the fairgoers should get peckish, choose from burgers, candy floss, chips, donuts and kingsize hotdogs and much else. The big handsome doggy is called Lou and seems to be a regular at the fair.

Hype?

Near the mouth of the river Hull the Council have erected several large adverts to hide a derelict site. The Council's aim seems to be to convince the passerby that Hull is going to be a centre for "green" industry. And it is true that Siemens have chosen Hull as the site of their wind turbine factory. But and it's a big but, the Government appears to be turning distinctly blue on all matters green, so much so that Siemens and other eco-firms have warned of withdrawing from the UK. I hope I'm wrong but this green future for Hull may end in tears.

Tap

Another empty shop, this one providing a space for a bit of 'art'.

The Khyber Pass

I mentioned before that Hull had a large garrison protecting the entrance to the river Hull and when it was demolished parts of it went to make a feature called the Khyber Pass in East Park. Until the other day I hadn't been over the bridge that crosses this odd folly nor had I realised quite how large it is.

Tall tyre man

Taken last week on Holderness Road and it really was that dark and overcast, well, OK I may have tweaked the saturation a tad here ...

Man's best friend

I don't have a dog but if I did I think it would be a greyhound, they're such elegant looking beasts (unlike me). I've read that greyhounds despite being extremely fast actually require very little exercise, just 30-40 minutes the park a day keeps them happy. This one had clearly had had enough and was leading his owner homewards.

See more of the Weekend in Black and White here.

Adorned with a handsome fountain

The Boulevard was planned as a grand thoroughfare running up from the Humber to Anlaby Road and possibly beyond. It is a fine, wide, tree lined road with many fine villa residences built for the well-to-do of the time. In the 1870s someone writing of the Boulevard noted that "about half-way down, the street widens into a spacious circle, the centre being adorned with a handsome fountain”. Fifty or so years later a car crashed into the fountain and completely wrecked it. And so for eighty years the Boulevard was sans fontaine. After a seven year campaign of fundraising this delightful restoration was installed in 2008. 

If you're thinking this looks familiar it is a copy of the mermaid fountains that adorn the Avenues area, only this one works.

Horse and Cart

The big moan in Hull at the moment concerns the state of the roads. They're full and traffic is moving sometimes at three or four miles an hour. It's a headache caused by repairs to a bridge and another set of roadworks (including digging up my street) all coinciding. With all the disruption it's probably quicker to walk or go by horse and cart.

Distressed colours

It being 60 years since the unelected head of state took over the onerous tasks of leading this glorious nation, Cottingham Parish Council took it upon itself to buy some bunting in red, white and blue, very patriotic except it was probably made in China. Hundreds of yards of the stuff have been fluttering around noisily (it's plastic bunting!) since May I seem to recall. The sad thing is that the red was never a particularly dark shade, more of a light pink really, and  that quickly faded to, well, white. If there's an analogy to be drawn from the state of these tattered rags and the state of the nation after 60 'glorious' years I leave that up to you.

Poster ponderings

You can tell the students are back by the lengthy queues for the bus and promos like this for a drinking establishment in town. Today the fresh faced first years all seemed to be carrying rolled up posters to stick on their walls with blu-tak, maybe another batch of tennis players with an itchy bum or perhaps Che Guevara least that's how it was in my day.

Domestic terrorist

In seeking a suitable silhouette for this month's theme I came across Vicky (the comrade formerly known as Queen) with her assault rifle in one hand and an old fashioned bomb in the other.

See what other City Daily Photo Bloggers have made of this theme here or at the Facebook group here.

Wooden figures

I feel that if a piece of art requires a lengthy explanation of what the artist is trying to convey then somehow it's a large bit of a failure. And so I turn to this, a grouping  called Odyssey which is part of the University's Polish season. They're colourful and at 2.5m they're tall and monumental, they're crudely carved and there's 40 of them; but what's it all about? Hmm? Can you tell just by looking?

Well there's a large sign accompanying this 'work' which tells all and which I did photograph but which I'm not posting  because I'm wondering if anyone looking at this could possibly guess what the artist is doing here.

If you give up the artist's website has information on what his intentions were ..... Of course it was a visual arts prizewinner at the Brighton Festival in 2006.

Park bridge

After yesterday's colourful display here's the East Park bridge which I've shown several times before but never in black and white.

See the Weekend in Black & White here.

Star Gardens

East Park's floral displays in the Star Gardens are at their peak right now with hosts of dahlias and gladioli making a spectacular show.

Not forgetting the ornamental grasses.

This Sporting Life

If you believe the local media Hull is a sports mad city with passions running high between supporters of the various football and rugby clubs. The montage above showing sporting 'heroes' of the past is on the wall of the New Clarence which boasts that it is "Hull’s premier bar when it comes to live sports entertainment". Apparently you can catch all the action "with your choice of 8 foot digital screen, plasma and LCD TVs". It's on the corner of John Street and Charles Street if you want to go or if you wish to avoid.

This photograph courtesy of John Wyles shows the original Clarence which stood on the corner opposite the present pub and which was demolished in the 1980s. It was a quiet old fashioned place where the biggest excitement was a game of dominoes and there was no telly ...

Building schools for the future

Hull's Trinity House school is moving out of these old buildings on Princes Dock Street into  new buildings on the former University of Lincoln site. The school is also doubling in size to 600 pupils. This is all part of a concerted effort by local and central government to improve the school buildings in Hull. Hundreds of millions are being spent on the largest regeneration project in Hull and nineteen "new, world-class schools" should open by the end of 2014. All this is very laudable but if a similar investment isn't made on the teaching side Hull's unenviable record of poor educational performance will continue.

Old news and a pink bicycle

Taken by Margot K Juby

Another woeful story of lack of safety in the workplace. This involves a worker inside a pressing machine that was turned on with disastrous consequences. The picture was taken in April and though the matter has gone to Court and the company admits breaches of Health and Safety it does not accept the full extent of its culpability. It has now been passed to a higher Court and will not be heard until next year. Meanwhile the Government wants to reduce the number of health and safety inspections to boost growth (for undertakers, I'm thinking) ...

Meat, Veg and Elvis

This is the indoor market and as you can see it's not exactly crowded. The Trinity Market, to give it its formal name, was opened in 1904 and sells a range of stuff from meat and vegetables to clothing, books to tropical fish and records to musical instruments. Competition from the large shopping malls has dramatically reduced the trade in the market so much so that half of it has been converted into a wine bar. Nevertheless it's still worth visiting for value for money.
I think the flags are something to do with this country having had sixty years of the same unelected head of state or maybe it's an outbreak of contagious patriotism. Who knows what goes on in the minds of flag wavers?

Elvis apparently has not left the building.

Ever so nearly not quite finished

Six months after I last posted about the new bridge across the river and, well, it's sort of nearly ready. Here they're busy putting the finishing touches to the approach route. Rumour has it that it will be opened next month but there's no hurry as there's nothing on the other side of the river worth crossing over for.

If you haven't got a clue what I'm talking about catch up here, here and here.

Purple

If you're looking for Hull's premier restaurant here it is. Ranked #1 of 156 or 188 restaurants (depending on which review you read) Port-Side is on Princes Dock and has a website here. I don't know what the food is like I just liked the purple.

Now with less

This picture, taken from the bus on my way home, shows a little piece of 20th century history. The building on the right is the remains of the National Picture Theatre on Beverley Road. It was destroyed in an air raid on the night of the 17^th March 1941 during a showing of The Great Dictator. One hundred and fifty people sheltering in the foyer escaped with their lives. Since that day the ruins have just been left and now it is the last blitz damaged civilian building in the country.

So what to do with the site? Well there were plans to turn it into restaurants and flats but the great bankster driven recession has put paid to that. There's now a plan to turn it into a ‘tribute to the home front’ whatever that means. As far as I know they are still seeking funding for this so it may be another seventy years before anything happens.

Now I've only ever passed the front of this ruin and was unaware of what lies behind until I came across this little web page while researching this post. All I can say is what a mess!

As for the building on the left that was a pub called the Swan. I only ever went in there once many, many years ago. I recall it was full of big tall Kerry men drinking a strange black liquid and singing Country & Western songs. I did not stay long.

Canned Laughter

Here's an odd little shop in the Hepworth Arcade. Dinsdale's has been selling laughter for seventy years or so, they stock everything from itching powder and whoopee cushions to fancy dress costumes and harmonicas.

Warhol at the Ferens

There's been an Andy Warhol exhibition at the Ferens art gallery most of this Summer. I went earlier in the year and was underwhelmed. I suppose it was worth seeing just because of the hype that surrounds him but it was a totally unmemorable experience. I wouldn't call him a great artist more a great self-publicising conman. Just as well that it was free to enter.

Lost at sea

The Flourish,  a  16-metre potter, was on its way back to Bridlington Harbour when it was in collision with the 88-metre vessel Nautica 28 miles off Flamborough Head. Three crew members including the skipper's son were rescued but the skipper John Collinson was never found. [Read more]

This is one of several memorial plaques on the south pier at Bridlington, reminders of the dangers of going to sea to earn a living.

Taphophile Tragics