Plans to turn former Debenhams into 178 apartments... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles...IDOa0hZkNaFYZsksXt_aem_-Z-gV7mpDpX7kwHeNISD7w
I see people in the comments moaning... the top comment is right though, and it ties back to other issues regarding moans about the City Centre. As it stands, Hull doesn't have enough of a retail offering to lure people from out of town, but top retail companies won't want to come to a city with a large portion of closed shops, so as it stands we're in a catch 22. The city centre footprint is too big, and we have absolutely no need for 3 shopping centres, so I see no issue with turning parts into housing. A smaller, more vibrant city centre with more customers actually living in it, rather than bussing out at 5pm every day
Saw an example of city center living yesterday in my bank. I was sitting and waiting my turn to see a real person to sort some banking stuff, the few staff the had were busy sorting the druggies and drunks who couldn't get any more money out of the hole in the wall. That will be because your account is empty, then someone must have stolen it, I haven't withdrawn anything. Then there were the new arrivals from the Royal Station Hotel trying to open an account but only had a very limited grasp of English. Meanwhile all the old folk with real money and pensions and stuff had to wait.
If we fill the old shop buildings with apartments and they are ‘workers’ maybe they will help hospitality to survive and prosper every night not just the weekend .
The same reasons I no longer Bank in Hull city centre, and therefore have little reason ( bar football) to visit. I moved my account to another Bank. Final straw was being stood in a queue for over half an hour with only two cashier desks open. Virtually all the available staff were dealing with foreigners, druggies and chancers.
The story of ‘Dead Bod’ is one of those rare Hull moments where something simple, accidental, and never meant to matter somehow becomes a symbol of an entire city. Walk through the Fruit Market today and you’ll see it proudly displayed: a rough outline of a bird on its back with the words “DEAD BOD” underneath. It looks basic and scruffy, but behind that faded paint is a story rooted deep in Hull’s fishing past. Dead Bod was first painted on Alexandra Dock in the 1960s, back when the docks were a world of trawlermen, welders, sparks, and working-class humour that could brighten even the toughest days. Two of the lads on those docks were Len “Pongo” Rood and Gordon Mason. One slow Saturday afternoon, with nothing much happening, Pongo grabbed a brush and a pot of white paint and added a bit of amusement to an old rusted shed. A bird lying belly-up, feet in the air, and the two words that would one day become iconic: DEAD BOD. The idea came from an incident at sea aboard a trawler called The Englishman. While anchored near Falmouth, an injured bird with a broken wing landed on deck. The captain, William Valentine “Tulip” Hopper, was an avid bird watcher and took it into his cabin. For three weeks, he nursed it back to health, feeding it and looking after it among the chaos of life at sea. When the time finally came to release it, he proudly carried the bird outside in a cardboard box. But just as it was about to take off, a crewmember, shocked and not realising the situation, reacted suddenly and killed it in one unfortunate moment. Tulip stood there in disbelief, three weeks of effort gone in a second. According to those present, he shook his head and said the line that would go down in dockside humour: “Three weeks of s* and feathers in my cabin and it ends like this.”** Pongo, with perfect Hull understatement, simply replied, “It’s a dead bod.” And that was that. A throwaway comment and a bit of paint ended up becoming part of Hull’s heritage. For decades afterwards, Dead Bod was a familiar sight to anyone sailing in or out of Hull. It became a landmark for fishermen — a sign you were nearly home. It belonged to the docks, to the workers, and to the stories they shared. When Alexandra Dock was set to be demolished in 2015, the people of Hull weren’t prepared to lose it. After enough support and pressure, Dead Bod was carefully removed and reconstructed plank by plank. Today it stands proudly in the Humber Street Gallery, treated as a cultural artefact, but still carrying that rough, honest spirit it was born from. Dead Bod wasn’t created for attention. It wasn’t planned, polished, or made for an exhibition. It was just a moment of humour on a working dock, painted by men who grafted hard and lived harder. And maybe that’s why Hull loves it so much. #Hull #HullHistory #DeadBod #HullDocks #HullFishingHeritage #HumberStreetGallery #AlexandraDock #HullCulture #HullStories #FruitMarketHull #HeartoftheHumber
I know things have to progress but it was sad to see the old run down piers and buildings demolished for the Siemens development . I used to walk from town past there regularly.
I agree, the woman who made Bend it like Beckham has done a Bollywood version of A Christmas Carol, in cinemas very soon if not already.
