Barber's Shop Trio

Something I noticed the other day is just how many barbers there are on Spring Bank, must be about half a dozen. Now I've not set foot in a barber shop for over twenty five, nearer thirty, years so I can give no appraisal of their services. Anyhow in no particular order and for no particular reason here are a bunch of three. 

And tell me what street compares with Hutt Street in July?

Running off Spring Bank, Hutt Street is one of those mid 19th century rows of terraced houses built to accommodate the booming population of Hull. The street is named after Sir William Hutt  MP for the city. Looking into Mr Hutt online I find that, yes, it is agreed he was MP from 1832 to 1837 when according to the internet he was defeated by William Wilberforce. Now you've all heard of William Wilberforce haven't you? Abolished slave trade and all that, died in 1833, whoops hold on a minute, died in 1833? How did the dead William defeat the very much alive William four years after dying? I don't know but the said Wilberforce was unseated by petition (not exorcism?) in 1838, maybe they couldn't stand the smell. Surviving this encounter with the spectral Wilberforce Mr Hutt went on to become MP for Gateshead and served under both Palmerston and Russell. Hull has Hutt Street but New Zealand has Hutt City (upper and lower) along with the Hutt river,  not to be outdone South Australia has a Hutt river as well.

At this point I'd like to thank Wikipedia and those who clearly cut and paste from this excellent source for inspiring such trust in the collective effort to make history more interesting.

Lurkin' Toad

If you're taking a short cut through the cemetery and get that feeling of something not quite right it might just be that giant toad that you glimpsed out of the corner of your eye ...

The Weekend in Black and White is here.

The Simpsons

Not Springfield, I'm afraid, but Spring Bank. 

Silos

Taken by Margot K Juby

These are the flour silos for Jackson's bakery near Spring Bank. If you like the smell of baking bread then you should hang around this spot as there's often a yummy yeasty  aroma to the air. Mind you that is the best part of Jackson's bread which is, like most factory made stuff, tasteless industrial rubber fit only to be thrown to the ducks.

Lambert

I'm wondering, in that way that means I really don't care either way, whether this is the Lambert that Lambert Street is named after. I'm also mildly puzzled how such a heavy tombstone could get shifted. Either we have very strong vandals or Mr Lambert has been trying to get out ... 

The Eagle Has Flown

Thirty or more years ago I once spent two evenings in this pub. The second visit was to confirm the sheer dismal horror of the first. Even after this length of time I shudder at the thought of the back room of the Eagle, as it then was, a place akin to a waiting room to Hell. Maybe my memory exaggerates the Dickensian squalor and the pallor and hopeless despairing looks of the two or three other silent drinkers but I think not. The years passed and the Eagle became the Tap and Spile (I still don't know what a spile is and don't know anyone who does) and then, by sheer laziness, the Tap. I never went back. Passing the place the other day I saw that instead of selling beer someone was trying to flog furniture, I hurried on by ....

Capital P

At the corner of Princes Avenue and Spring Bank the newly painted and recently relaunched Pearsons pub is all that it appears to be. A late 1990's attempt at the 1870's Victorian look that fails miserably; so that what was an attempt to blend in becomes quite an eyesore. Better to have built something modern than this throwback. The pub originally opened as the Old Zoological which was also a bit cheeky considering the original Zoological built in about 1840/50 (and a right old dive if ever there was one) was demolished several years before this newcomer.

The Weekend in Black and White begins here.

A green path

This is one of the paths through Spring Bank cemetery, the eastern end that's no longer used. The trees are doing their yearly trick of looking new. 

The past is a foreign country

The junction of Spring Bank and Princes Avenue is a fairly busy place at the best of time.The traffic flow is now improved by a new lights but even so tailbacks are a regular feature. Imagine how much worse they would be if the railway that used to run across this junction was still operating and all traffic had to stop to let a train go by. Well that's how it was until 1964 when the trains to Hornsea and Withernsea used to trundle through here stopping at the Botanic Station which was close to the pub on the left. Below an old photo of how it used to be taken from more or less the same place; note the solitary policeman to control affairs. 

There's more information on the old station here which is also the site I borrowed the above picture from.

Stand out from the rest

Hull's expansion at the end of the 19^th century led to the development of Spring Bank West. It was formerly known as Derringham Bank and already had the General & Western cemeteries along its northern side. SBW eventually spread out to the far western edges of the city and is now a major commuting route with thousands of vehicles passing along it every day. The houses at the Eastern end are basically  long terraces of late Victorian/Edwardian houses all pretty much the same. About half way down this section of the road this little end terrace house stands out from the crowd with its circular turret surmounted by a fine weather vane. No matter how fine the windows, however, the view from them is the same, the cemetery .... and traffic.

The Polar Bear

There is a legend on this ship
That taking down the head he keeps
Displayed above the fruit machine,
At times of need the Polar Bear
Will pass among us with a hat,
And taking the only course open, set sail
For the land of the takeout, that serves after time.
(From Those in Peril, Sean O'Brien The Indoor Park, Bloodaxe 1983)

Nostalgia ain't what it used to be or so the saying goes. The Polar Bear on Spring Bank used to be my watering hole. Five minutes walk from my rather dreadful bedsit I'd spend many hours in here supping the delicious Hull Brewery bitter, encountering, amid the smoke filled fug, some seriously daft people from Hull poets (Margot Virago, red hot from Chicago!) to delivery drivers, separatist feminists and a very strange man who departed for a commune in Angelsey... and not forgetting, as if I could, A.L the stereotypical Glaswegian drunk who would bore on loudly in the snug about Rabbie Burns and the meaning of 'Comin' Thro' the Rye' ("It's aall aboot feckin!") ...and when Martin Bormann (aka the landlord) called 'Time' there was often a bottle of cider to take out to keep the party going.

And then, well, then they had to go and 'do it up'. Take out all the old wooden panelling, remove the snug, rearrange the doors and, peccatum mortale, change the beer. They even sold off the polar bear head that used to be in the back room. They banned Staggering Ken, a man who would drink pints of Barley Wine and sway from side to side but never quite fall over while swearing and muttering abuse. No, it was never the same again. Now I've moved on and  I don't go into pubs any more I just take pictures of them.

You can, if you're interested, read the history of this pub which dates back to about 1850 here (scroll down a bit). Inside they've kept the ceramic semi-circular bar and the domed ceiling under which I played many a game of nine spot dominoes. Thanks to a campaign by CAMRA  the building is now Grade 2 listed.

A little splash of colour

A shop wall off Spring Bank has been given a graffiti makeover.

Angelic

Spring Bank Cemetery has a few angel tombstones, sadly many of them have been damaged by the elements or plain old vandalism. This one seems intact. It is the grave of one Wilfred Jessop (d 1930), his wife Isabella Maud (d 1924) and his mother-in-law, Jane Hooper (d 1914). I can find nothing about these people but I'm assuming they had money, monuments like this were not and are not cheap.

There similar posts over at Taphophile Tragics.

Opulent Autumn Cemetery

You don't have to be a lover of graveyards to appreciate the glories of Spring Bank Cemetery. At this time of year it's looks spectacular.

The cemetery is on the Larkin Trail. Philip Larkin described it as the most beautiful place in Hull and for once I could almost agree. In defending the cemetery against "improvement" in the late 70s he said it was a "natural cathedral, an inimitable blended growth of nature and humanity of over a century; something that no other town could create whatever its resources". I  think he might just be guilty of exaggeration. 

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.

Big Black Box

 

I showed you this hotel while it was being built and it was still covered in scaffolding (here). Well here it is all opened up and ready for business. As for appearances whatever fee they paid the architect was too much; it's location however, at the junction of four main roads, makes good business sense.

The Hour of the Flower

Hull's very own floral clock stands at the junction of four busy roads and must be seen and ignored by thousands as they make their way into and out of Hull. This year's display is looking a bit tatty in the centre and it's certainly not as complex as previous years. Possibly the result of,  dare I say, pruning of budgets.

Climbing Bear

OK this is one of a pair of bears at the entrance to Albany Street just off Springbank. It's part of a series of animal 'street art' that runs the length of Springbank. And the reason for all this? Well, many years ago, before they built all the houses there was a zoological garden which was lost with the development of Hull. The memory of it lingers in the pub names on Springbank: the Eagle, the Polar Bear and the Botanic not forgetting the gloriously ramshackle Zoological now long gone to make way for the Hull Daily Mail offices, and finally the recently opened (10 or so years ago) New Zoological. 

It would be unbearable to show just one bear so here's the other.

Fire Horse

This fine head stands above the doorway to an old fire station on Hall Street off Springbank. A blue plaque informs us that this was a volunteer fire brigade formed to assist the regulars. Since it started in 1887 and disbanded in 1891 I get the feeling there weren't too many volunteers. The chap below is thought to be a captain of the brigade.

Here's one of the doorways.