Fresh Fruits

What to do with an old run down fruit and veg wholesalers' district after the market has moved on to pastures new? Knock it down and build pokey little apartments that no-body wants or leave it be and let the arts and music business take it over? Well for once the easy option of letting it be and seeing how it goes and grows seems to be working in Humber Street. So now we have a vibrant mix of art galleries, entertainment venues, recording studios and so on all seemingly thriving in these old fruit and veg warehouses. Now if something could be done about the A63/Castle Street nightmare that cuts this area off from the city it would positively boom.

This is the place responsible for the giant glitter ball idea I mentioned earlier. I have to admit to not having a clue  what 'Club Culture' could be, but if it keeps them happy who's complaining?

There's even a brewery!

Creating space

At long last the 'temporary' shops on Ferensway, put up just after the last war, have been demolished. They are making way for no-one knows just quite what  yet, flats, hotel, more shops, who knows and who cares, 'cos I don't and I'm pretty confident you don't either.

Over at City Daily Photo they're having their monthly theme on 'The Creative Artisan', whatever that is supposed to mean. To me the the guy in the JCB is a worker in a skilled trade, he creates by destroying. Anyhow the link to all this nonsense is here.

Well Spotted

Those of a certain age will understand if I say this is the very biggest spotty dog you ever did see.... OK it's a pub on Inglemire Lane.

A little local difficulty

Just across the road from 5^th Avenue is the Endyke pub. Another 1920/30's mock Tudor building. Just another neighbourhood pub, you might think, with its usual comings and goings and the odd not very serious disturbance. Well that is until one night in February last year when a man who had been asked to leave because he wouldn't put out his cigarette returned with a chainsaw and ran amok in the pub! Some very brave customers managed to chase him out by throwing chairs at him and he was eventually caught but not before one person was seriously injured. 

Here's a not very clear video of the events.

Green fountain

OK, this is my Spring has sprung posting. This impressive willow brightens up the junction of Endike Lane and Greenwood Avenue.

Jackson's as was but now isn't

Here on Paragon Street, golden land of opportunity, yet another shop has closed and been put up for sale. Jackson's was a Hull institution with shops on just about every main road in the city that is until the shops were sold to Sainsbury's a few (10 or more!) years back. They may have changed the name but as far as most people were concerned they were still called Jackson's. Now the city centre shop has been closed leaving only one supermarket in the city centre. Thus we see how capitalism and competition have left us with as much choice as the citizens of old Soviet Russia.

There's more monchrome fun over at the Weekend in Black and White here

5th Avenue, NHE

That's North Hull Estate as opposed to New York City. The estate was built between the wars to house those moving out of the slums of  the inner city. It was a council estate of small but well built houses almost all with a garden of some sort. There was little variety in the housing with long roads of identical buildings, I've read there are only six types of houses on the whole estate. Still if it wasn't exactly heaven it was better than the alternative and these properties were much sought after. Over the years, however,  the estate became run down and had a reputation, probably undeserved, for anti-social behaviour. So a while back the council spent loads of money doing up the whole estate, every house was modernised and new walls with railings went round each property, red tiles replaced grey slates. This work and the efforts of owner-occupiers have made the place look a whole lot better than it did.

One odd feature of the estate is that may of the streets have numbers rather than names maybe the planners just got lazy.