Promis'd joy!

The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men

Gang aft agley,

An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,

For promis'd joy!

News came a few weeks back that the Council had bought this building and the empty Edwin Davis building behind it. There's a grand plan to demolish both and erect shops, some housing and that thing most vital for a civic entity, an ice rink (every town should have one), the tout ensemble to be known as Albion Square. As I understand it the demolition will go ahead speedily, leaving the mural and a demolition site, no doubt artfully boarded off. Then, well then, as I understand it, the Council go out with a begging bowl and seek a commercial partner to pay for the scheme. Of course if no such partner is forthcoming then there is, again as far as I know, no plan B and the people of Hull face having a scaffolded façade fronting a very pleasant demolition site for the foreseeable future. 

The boarding around the BHS building shows artist's impressions of the scheme, involving encasing the mosaic in a glass atrium. You may draw whatever inference you wish by my inclusion of the waste bin in this picture.