One law for them and another law for us

How long do you think this building has been allowed to be like this? 6 months? A year? Two? Nope for over fourteen years this atrocious eyesore and blight to the amenity of the area has stood empty, vandalised and damaged by fire. Strange then that the Council have done nothing to make the owners tidy it up, clear out the weeds and properly board it up. Stranger still that the same Council have pressured a disabled woman whose property is nearby with threats of legal action because she is unable to clear her garden.

This was once Blundell Street Board School opened in 1878. Blundell Street is long gone but the building remains. Twenty-five  or more years ago this building it was a School of Architecture; then it became the University of Humberside Student Union with the fancy name of the Strand (there's a Strand Close nearby). Then that closed in the late nineties and the the fun and games started. The vandals (educated no doubt in Hull's schools) got in and ripped the place apart, there were numerous fires, the back of the building has no roof. Now it's just a festering sore and the people who live nearby have just got put up with it because the Council say "No!" to plans to demolish and build accommodation. One can only hope that one day Hull City Council get what is coming to it.

Silver Street

Here with its seasonal decoration dimly glittering in the late afternoon light is Silver Street. It continues eastwards from Whitefriargate to Lowgate in the distance. It has a mixture of businesses mainly connected with the legal and financial side of life. At each end there are former clearing banks, splendid buildings, that now are taken over with coffee bars and similar. Running off the street is Hepworth's Arcade on the right and a mediaeval passage way to Ye Olde White Hart pub on the left.

All fur coat and no knickers

Taken by Margot K Juby

A few  years ago, (was it really in 1999?) well any way, before the present bankers induced financial mess, Hull City Council decided to sell off half its stake in the local telephone company, Kingston Communications. The sale gave the council a windfall which was spent on various things including sprucing up the city. Everything got a new coat of paint and where possible some gold paint as well which is why even this rubbish bin has gold trimming. 

I was going to make some clever remark about there being eyes peering out of the bin but you're all too grown up to be taken in by that.

Goodfellowship and a little gripe

The Goodfellowship pub is just along the road from my house so would probably classify as my local were I ever to partake of beverages of an alcoholic nature. As pubs go this is big, verging on enormous with an extension off to the left that's out of shot. It's really not my scene.

It seems to be the norm now to ride your bicycle on the pavement. It's illegal, of course, but nothing is ever done about it. When I was young only little kiddies rode on the pavement and we couldn't wait to grow up and ride on the road like proper grown ups. Needless to say there is a proper marked out cycle lane but, hey, it's not cool to use that.

Who's Next?

Joseph Hepworth set up shop as a tailor with his brother-in-law in Leeds in 1864, twenty-five years later they employed 2000 people who sold their stock through over 100 shops. The firm went on to be the largest UK clothing manufacturer and is now known as Next. This old sign in Hepworth's Arcade possibly dates back to  the 1890's. It's a bit of a puzzle, what is that empty shield in the middle? And was obesity a problem back then that there was a demand for XL tailors?

Old School

At the north-east corner of Kingston Square stands this impressive building. It was once a school belonging to Christ Church which stood where the car park is on the left.  Nikolaus Pevsner in his architectural survey described the building and stated that "it should be saved" and so it was; though now it houses flats and not school children eager to learn.

Below a picture of Christ Church that I 'borrowed' from Hull Council's site. As you can see it was no small affair and came complete with full Gothic revival nonsense. The building, like much of Hull, was a victim of bombing during the war and put out of its misery in the early 60's. The space has since become dedicated to the new god: Car. 

Never mind the quality feel the width

Diagonally opposite the New Theatre on Kingston Square this hotel was built in the early 1800s restored in the 1980s and claims to be Hull's leading independent hotel. It's abuts the New Clarence that I posted about a few months back. In my search to find something (ok, anything) interesting to say about in this post I found that this was once the workshop of a Madam Clapham, described in the hotel's rather badly written website  as "Dressmaker and courtier to Royalty and nobility" (sic). I think they meant couturier but who can tell? Emily Clapham made glad rags for the rich and royal from the late 1800's 'til  she died in 1952. She's described as "Hull's Celebrated Dressmaker" though as dressmaking in Hull is something with which I'm  not overly familiar I feel unqualified to comment and will shut up right now ...