Mundane pictures of the North

[neonwilderness]

 

[neonwilderness]

 

[neonwilderness]

 

[neonwilderness]

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I think there's one up towards Ardwick as well. I'd love to go down there.

That's not too far from me, so might have a wander to see if I can find it.

 

[Roadkill]

Former warehouse at the south end of High Street. Stood derelict for years, but now being fitted out as yet another pub to add to the Old Town real-ale crawl.



From the same spot looking south, where the pretty old part of High Street gives way to 1980s offices.

 

[Roadkill]

Princes Avenue is probably the most photographed street on this thread, but still:



Hipsterville Hull: Pave, Wagon's Coffee Bar and Aunt Bibby's Smokehouse.



Yet another bar opening. This one promises beers from 80 countries, so should be right up my street. It's near enough to my street to be within easy staggering distance of home, at any rate.





From the window of my favourite haunt, Pave, which opened in 2002 and started off the process that's seen Princes Ave go from being a slightly tatty shopping street to the trendiest part of the city. Pave is in a couple of old shops knocked together, and I remember when one of the bars a bit further up the street was a second-hand car showroom. Indian and Continental Stores - one of my favourite shops - is a little bit of the 'old' Princes Ave, though, having been there since the 70s. Valentino Bay, which has also been there for years, would be a good takeaway, were it not for the fact it's run by probably the most miserable bastard in the city: I'm convinced the only reason he stays in business is that most of his customers are too pissed to notice or remember how rude he is to them.

 

[Roadkill]

Actually, I've just found these on the local paper's website:

Pretty much exactly the same view as my last pic, taken in 1975.

H.K. Motors' garage was still there when I moved to Hull in 2000, although IIRC it had changed its name by then. Nowadays it's a cafe-bar. The coin-op laundrette next to it is now an Italian restaurant, the building beyond that is another cafe-bar, and there's a Moroccan restaurant at the end of the terrace. How times change...

Looking north from the corner of Clumber Street, 1990.

The row of shops opposite what's now Pave, in 1993.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Some from last weekend around the back of Piccadilly Station.

Skanky one-legged pigeon:

 

[farmerbarleymow]

View from a bridge from the rusty car park looking the other way. Old mill, tram lines, Parcelforce vehicle park, Network Rail building and the edge of the train viaduct:

 

[farmerbarleymow]

An odd line of sight that lets you see quite a distance across town to City Tower:

Zoomed in on the communications array on top of City Tower. An important hub I understand, given the height of the building and line of sight communication:

 

[Roadkill]

Still knocking about on the 'flashback' section of the local paper. Two more then-and-now comparisons:

1980

2015

1975

2015

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Undercroft pictures. They did a good job repainting all the Victorian ironwork the other year all around the undercroft parts of the station.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Random office block by the station. The empty land (currently a car park) behind the white coach is the site earnmarked for the Piccadilly Tower that would be the highest outside of London if it is ever built. They cleared the site (a former railway site) several years ago in preparation, but then the crash happened so it fell into abeyance.

Proposed new tower:

Other side of the existing block:

Strange shiny foil building:

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Found these that I took a few months back. A tatty site that looks like the flattened plot of a former building. Nice emergency sleeping and toilet facilities.

 

[kwaimaisabai]

It's good to see Hull on the up. Long overdue.

 

[Roadkill]

It's good to see Hull on the up. Long overdue.

Tbf large parts of the city are still struggling and the rise of Princes Ave as a destination (along with Newland Ave, and for the lager-and-fighting fraternity Witham and the Holderness Road) hasn't done the centre's evening economy much good. That said, with Siemens and related projects starting to get under way, major investment in infrastructure imminent and City of Culture in the offing it is fair to say there's a sense of momentum around in Hull that there wasn't even a couple of years ago. I think the ol' place will look very different a decade from now.

I reckon property prices are likely to start heading north quite quickly in the near future, initially in the fashionable areas but then spreading out to well-connected but run-down parts of the city, such as Beverley Road. One reason I bought a house when I did is that I love living around Princes Ave and didn't want to be priced out of the area.

 

[Throbbing Angel]

Kendal - Vintage/Antique fair this morning

 

[Throbbing Angel]

Car Park - Lancaster

 

[Throbbing Angel]

Writing group that never happened - Morecambe

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Writing group that never happened - Morecambe

I trust you nicked the cake and biscuits. Waste not want not.

 

[Throbbing Angel]

Car Park Carnforth

 

[Throbbing Angel]

Writing group - another one that didn't happen - same place - different cake(s)

 

[Throbbing Angel]

Tea and that

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Walkabout bar on Quay Street - this is where the police coralled the EDL idiots the other weekend when they were in town.

felt an urge to research what this building used to be. Found a picture of the former Manchester & Salford Hospital for Skin Diseases, which they claim it was, and is clearly a different building (on the site to the right occupied by the modern building)

Appears to have been GPO engineering premises - more here

 

[Throbbing Angel]

Morning after the night before. Taken on mother's Day in Lancaster centre prior togoing to the cinema.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

felt an urge to research what this building used to be. Found a picture of the former Manchester & Salford Hospital for Skin Diseases, which they claim it was, and is clearly a different building (on the site to the right occupied by the modern building)

Appears to have been GPO engineering premises - more here

It is a rather nice old building - I think I've been in once on some works do or other, many years back though. Shame it wasn't the old skin hospital, or it could be nicknamed the Scabby Building.

 

[Roadkill]

Two I took walking to work this morning.



One thing Hull City Council always do well is the flowerbeds at the top of Queen's Gardens.



Mundane car park, riverside warehouses and, on the right, the homeless hostel on Great Union Street.

 

[Roadkill]

Anlaby Road, which turns into Carr Lane beyond the junction that Land Rover has just driven past.



Empty shops by the junction with Ferensway.



Either Bengal Lounge and the takeaway next door on Princes Ave have only just started projecting their sign onto the pavement, or I've never noticed it before.

 

[Roadkill]

Corporation Pier - where the Humber ferries used to go from - and The Deep at night, with the lights of Hull docks in the background.