OT - The history of Hammonds

i know pretty much none of the street names in the city centre

 

Re-opened then by an Aussie- Dick Bentley,a stage and radio personality of that era who made his name starring with Jimmy Edwards in a radio comedy " Take it from Here". Who remembers 'Ron and Eth'? (Eth was June Whitfield).

 

the glums.

 

Try this link Mrs BMB - it works for me...lots of "Take it from here" episodes. Good site for other stuff too (Goon Show, Hancock's 1/2 hour, Beyond our Ken, Round the Horne etc etc).
Might appear a bit corny these days, but Frank Muir & Dennis Norden were brilliant comedy writers.

[video]http://www.myoldradio.com/old-radio-episodes/take-it-from-here-10th-anniversary-edition-ep-281/1[/video]

 

May have to think again on the above. I have looked at the beginning of a Yorkshire Film Archive- No 3212- which covers the Queen's Hull 1957 visit. The side of Hammonds near the trolley bus has a couple of huge vertical decorations featuring the ER symbol. These are not present on the photo depicted.

 

great pics !!

re the Old HDM building , other building destroyed by other hands . . . Queens Hall i think on Albion St ... the Hotel that is now Paragon Hotel ? The original is still there in the ariel piccys great swathes of Castle street/Mytongate ... and the corner building opp BHS that is now Nat West

 

Willis's store (with clock) - later = Willis Ludlow and then Allders.

Punch Hotel in left foreground.

No City Hall to the right!

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What about when the Beatles came to perform at the ABC cinema?

 

"Come friendly bombs and rain on" Clarkson as well?

 

Makes you wonder what our City Centre would look like today if we hadn't suffered bomb damage in WW2.

Would the grand old buildings have been maintained and still be standing proud or would they have been replaced anyway by town planning officials ?

 

Another class store - Carmichael's in George Street (that was!)

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You will need to seek other guidance on that. My husband left Hull in late 1959 and was living in London at the time of the Beatles concerts.

 

This building - with the spire tower - was bombed in WWII. I don't know how true it is, but there is reputedly a cellar which was used as an air-raid shelter and became a mass grave as a result of the bombing. The block was rebuilt further from the City Hall, and was Hepworth's tailors (and, later, Next). The cellar is, I believe, underneath the flower beds between the present store and the City Hall.

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There's a plaque on the pavement where the building used to be that commemorates the tragedy.

 

In the past, Kingston upon Hull was wealthy, and cleared its old buildings and replaced them with modern, grand buildings. Possibly at the time people bemoaned the loss. In contrast, York couldn't afford to do the same, and had to keep its poor areas, such as the Shambles. Such is town planning.