Grandstand View

At the northern edge of Beverley Westwood is the racecourse. It's a mile and three furlong course for flat races. As the Westwood is common land you can wander across the racecourse as you wish; just watch out for galloping nags. You do have to pay to get into the stands.The first races this year are in April. There's a website here.

"Half-formed theatre company seeks other half"

Next door to the blue cone music centre that I showed you yesterday is the new Hull Truck theatre. It replaces the old tin shed on Spring Street, shown below. This new place cost £15 million (the old one £2.50!) and has all the trimmings that you would expect for such expenditure.
Hull Truck started in 1971 following an ad (see title) in Time Out magazine placed by an out of work actor called actor Mike Bradwell. The company's success rested on producing plays relevant to the audiences of Hull. Pandering to the lowest common denominator is not necessarily a good thing; you can have too many gritty realistic plays (one would be too many, in my view).
 The move to the new premises was followed by the recession which has not helped finances and the theatre will struggle, make that is struggling. No doubt there will be appeals for more public money to be spent on this place and no doubt more will be spent. Hmmm.

As always there's a website, it's here.

(Photo taken by  Keith D. )

Conic Section

Yesterday's staircase pops out of the top of this sliced blue cone. This is the Albemarle Music Centre  constructed to replace a plain brick building of such little note that hardly anyone can remember what it looked like. It's all part of the general development of Ferensway that includes the St Stephens shopping centre, a hotel and a theatre which I'll show tomorrow.
This is where the talented youths of the East Riding go to practice and play their instruments. The centre has two large rehearsal spaces and teaching rooms for the 16 Hull music ensembles as well as rehearsal space for the Hull Philharmonic Orchestra and the Yorkshire Young Musicians. It cost £3 million and opened in 2007.
Chris Hall of Holder Mathias Architects said: “The Albemarle Music Centre is a jewel in the St Stephen’s scheme. We have worked alongside the City of Hull and our client, ING Real Estate Development to create a building that will serve schools in the area well, and be something of which the people of Hull will be proud.” But then I guess he would say something along those lines. 

Spiral Staircase

After a few old and derelict buildings here's a new building, well at least the fire escape from a new building. I'll show you the building itself tomorrow.

Big apple

Around the corner from the Albert Hall stands yet another piece of dereliction and decay. I show you all the best bits of Hull. This is the New York. It was a thriving dive of a place until, as I recall, the early 1990s. It is now as you see it broken and unloved.
I mentioned when I posted about the Albert Hall that there were rumours of redevelopment. My researches have found that, indeed, planning permission for a brand new hotel to be called the Park was granted in 2008.  This would involve demolishing this whole block; I can't honestly say that I'll miss this particular building.

Picture Houses

This view has two of Hull's old cinemas. The Tower which I showed you a few days ago and the Regent which was built in 1910 and was open until 1978. The Regent is now a pub called Horners.
The archway is a side entrance to Paragon station. After taking this picture I noticed lots of signs threatening prosecution for trespassing on railway property so I left. 

Princes Quay Fountain

I had totally forgotten the date so when I discovered it was a new month I had to hunt down a fountain picture for today's theme picture. I took this in May last year; it has a nice rainbow in it.


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