pawnbrokers | >Re-PHOTO

London Walk January 2006: I now have no idea why I spent around two and a half hours wandering around London on the afternoon of 20th January 2006, but the pictures tell the story of my route. These images are a selection from a rather larger number I actually made. [The pictures are larger than they appear in this post and you may download them, but like all pictures on this blog are copyright; they must be attributed if posted on social media and a licence is required for any commercial use.]

I suspect I was going to some evening event and simply took advantage of some fine weather to go up earlier and take some pictures. The first one shows some of the sculptural detail above the outpatients entrance of the former Royal Waterloo Hospital for Children and Women on Waterloo Road the roundabout close to the station, where I will have arrived by train.

I then walked on to Waterloo Bridge, pausing to take a picture of the National Theatre, with the roof of the film museum in the foreground.

There was an exhibition ‘after the wave’ on square pillars in front of the National Theatre which rather seemed to echo the shape of the building.

On Waterloo Bridge I took several pictures looking downstream across the River Thames, this one concentrating on the north bank and St Paul’s Cathedral.

A wider view shows boats moored in the river and the skyline of London, now rather more crowded.

Another with St Paul’s at the left .

On Strand I photographed this lion and two Chinese men relaxing above Twinings, providers of tea to the Queen.

And these fine fish on Lloyds Bank Law Court Branch at 222 Strand, then still open as a bank – it closed in 2017. It had been called the most beautiful bank in the country. The fish are presumably because this Grade II listed building was built in 1882 by Goymour Cuthbert and W Wimble for the Palsgave Restaurant for the Royal Courts of Justice opposite and was only taken over by Lloyds in 1894.

Some fine ironwork and a beehive above the doorway to the bank.

Above the doorway at 193 Fleet Street is this figure of statue of Kaled, the page of Byron’s Count Lara by Giuseppe Grandi, dating from 1872. More about it on Ornamental Passions.

The building was built for pawnbrokers George Attenborough and Son in 1883 and has some fine sculptural detail including these winged lions, on either side of the wrought iron support from which originally the pawnbrokers three balls were hung. The Latin motto underneath is ‘Sub Hoc floresco‘, Under This I flourish.

On each side of the clock of St Dunstan’s in the West on Fleet Street are the two mythical giants, Gog and Magog (Corineus and Gogmagog) described in the biblical book of Revelation as the allies of Satan against God when we come to the end of days, but also the guardians of London – and the City is surely on Satan’s side as the money laundering capital of the world. They strike the chimes for the clock here, said to be the oldest public clock in London.

My walk continued – and I’ll post some more from it at some later date. You can already see some of the pictures on My London Diary.

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Salisbury Street & Spring Bank – more pictures from my walks in Hull in August 1989.

*House, Salisbury St, Park Avenue, Hull, 1989 89-8n-54*

During my visits to Hull until around 2000 we stayed at my parent’s-in-law’s home in Loveridge Avenue, which runs from Bricknell Road and Chanterlands Avenue and I often walked through the Avenues, and occasionally stopped to take a photograph on my way elsewhere. All the houses on this section of Salisbury Street along with thw two corner houses on Westbourne Avenue and Park Avenue are Grade II listed.

These houses, at the centre of Westbourne Park Estate, now known as The Avenues, were built shortly after the estate was begun in 1877-79, though by the time I first saw them in the 1960s most were in very poor condition and have since been restored. The listing say these Queen Anne style buildings were by George Gilbert Scott Junior for John Spyvee Cooper.

In 1974 the Architectural Review published Keep it up: George Gilbert Scott junior’s houses
by Colin Amery and Dan Cruickshank (republished in 2023) calling for Hull Council to restore these buildings which had been Grade II listed the previous year. In it the write: “several are mutilated; the houses on the corners of Westbourne Avenue and Park Street have lost their turrets and some are in deplorable condition” and they comment that they “are in one of Hull”s reluctantly created conservation areas. Hull Council still believe in the modern vision of a new city and object to paying money towards ‘gentrification’. “

*Terrace, Myrtle Villas, Spring Bank, Hull, 1989 89-8d-16*

Emerging from the Princes Avenue at Botanic I walked up Spring Bank towards the town centre, pausing to make this picture of one of the short terraces leading off the main road which are a feature of many streets in Hull. Myrtle Terrace is even shorter than most and over the brick wall are the back yards of the houses in Percy Cottages, Victoria Avenue, Alexandra Avenues and Beta Villas, short terraces from Mayfield Street in a remarkably dense block of late Victorian development.

Georges Bargain Centre, 178, Spring Bank, Hull, 1989 89-8e-62 — *George’s Bargain Centre, 178, Spring Bank, Hull, 1989 89-8e-62*

There is now a George’s Bargains and George’s Removals on Spring Bank, but one shop to the west at 180. Rosemount Villa at 178 was, at least in May 2022, the latest image on Google Street View, occupied by Adam Food Store. Their display of fruit and veg has replaced the household appliances on the pavement but their shop and that of Adam Hall Butcher are still the same crude front extension on two of the five late Victorian Villas in this block ending at the corner of Albany Street. Rosemount, Melrose and Leicester Villas all retain their original doorways – that of Rosemount Villa is in my photograph.

In March 2023 Historic England gave Hull City Council £11,900 to develop a regeneration plan for the Spring Bank area of the city. This is currenly out for public consultation until April 7th 2024 and you can see the extremely thorough Character Appraisal on-line.

Practical Motorist's (Hull), 167, Spring Bank, Hull, 1989 89-8e-63 — *Practical Motorist’s (Hull), 167, Spring Bank, Hull, 1989 89-8e-63*

Practical Motorist’s was on the corner of West Parade and is long gone. The conservation appraisal considers this building to be one of many “Neutral buildings. Many of these buildings could contribute positively to the Conservation Area through investment, restoration and essential repair“, but I think that the upper storeys of this and the neighbouring pawnbrokers at 165 and the side of the building along West Parade deserve a rather more positive appraisal.

The shopfront when I made this photograph was also I think much more sympathetic to the building than most, though it has since been modified. There seem to have been a number of Practical Motorist’s shops around Hull. This one is now a Russian-style sauna.

*Spring Bank Jewellers, 165, Spring Bank, Hull, 1989 89-8e-64*

The three balls are the traditional sign of the pawnbrokers whose notice lists some of the gold, silver or even platinum items they “urgently require” and offers a free testing service with “TOP PRICES PAID Cash!” and “All Enquiries & Dealings COURTEOUS & CONFIDENTIAL“.

The two young women peering intently into the window are casually dressed but still in in high heels. Behind them is one of Hull’s cream painted telephone boxes. The Hull Municipal Corporation set up its telephone service in 1904 and by 1913 it was the only remaining council owned telephone service, all others have been taken over the the Government. K6 boxes like this were first installed in Hull in 1936 and lack the crown on the red versions installed elsewhere across Britain. In 1987 the Hull Telephone Department became Kingston Communications (HULL) PLC. The City finally sold its shareholding in the company in 2007 and the company changed its name to KCOM Group PLC.

*Three boys, Spring Bank, Hull, 1989 89-8e-65*

These lads saw my camera and insisted I take their picture, which they were sure would be published in the Hull Daily Mail, though I told them it would certainly not be. Perhaps they will now see themsleves in this post 35 years later. And should the Hull Daily Mail now wish to publish any of my pictures I’d be happy to supply them at my normal NUJ recommended rates.

More from Hull in a later post. You can see more of my black and white and colour pictures from Hull on Flickr.

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Tag: pawnbrokers

London Walk January 2006

Salisbury Street & Spring Bank – 1989