Opening soon ...

...well May is fairly soon isn't it? This is promised to be a new concept (new to Hull anyway) of  "theatre-style cooking" with chefs cooking meals before a captivated (or captive) audience of diners. With so many eating places struggling I suppose a new gimmick might pull in the punters. This is a refurbishment of an existing restaurant in the Hessle Gate Building on Humber dock. The building was constructed in 1884 hence the name. The obligatory website is here.

So now you know as much as I do

I've passed this thing many times and not been bothered to find out exactly what it was until I took a couple of photos and decided to put an end to my ignorance. I'd guessed it was an engine of some kind, turns out it's a horizontal steam engine and was used to haul ships out of the Victoria Dock for repairs and so on. Somehow it managed to find its way (no doubt under its own steam) to the side of the Humber dock where it's grown a protective glass cover. Clever things these steam engines.

The link (here) tells you as much as you could possibly want to know.

Still building that old bridge

A big step forward in the making of this bridge happened in the last week or so when the 120 ton swinging arm was lifted into place. You can't see much in this foreshortened image so I crossed over the Myton bridge and took a shot from the other side of the river. To me it looks like a giant fish, can't quite see what that fin attachment is supposed to do but no doubt all will be revealed. The local paper confidently states the bridge will open in May so we'll just have to be patient a little longer ....

Renewables 2

Just downstream from the Deep and 60 yards offshore stands this dinky tidal power generator supplying 30-40% of the electricity used by the submarium. This is the Neptune Proteus Tidal Generator and represents a significant step forward in utilising the power of the Humber. Obviously it's a prototype but I expect that we'll see many more and bigger versions as tidal power is clean and, unlike the wind, predictable. Depending on who you believe the tides could be supplying 10-20% of UK power and the Humber, because of its sheer size and large tidal range, will play a major part in that. I'll stop now this is beginning to sound like a sales pitch.

Deep Reflection

Couldn't resist this reflection of the Deep in the murky brown waters and mud of the river Hull.

New Homes for Old

Former students of Hull University probably won't recognise this as their old hall of residence, Cleminson Hall on Thwaite Street, Cottingham. After standing empty for eight years, and after a complex planning inquiry costing thousands, the site has been partly demolished and new homes are being built. The original old house is still standing and presumably has some conservation order on it, however inside it's a mess (see here). I suspect some 'accident' will befall it requiring its demolition and then more homes can be built, but then I'm just an old cynic as you must know by now.

Here's a picture of the old house I took from the top of a bus.

Renewables

I've shown the Arc building on Blanket Row before (here) but as this month's theme for City Daily Photo is electricity I thought this was a suitable shot. Here they're attempting to harness the sun and the wind to generate the sparky stuff. I've a feeling this array is more for decoration than serious generation.

You can see what others made of  this electric theme by clicking here .