Old technology, from the old days … (Marygate, Jan 2004)

After a longer than usual break in adding anything to these pages – over 18 months – I thought I should get around to some kind of update, and it made sense to get around to doing that today, as it was twenty years ago today, 8 January 2004, that I went out for a short walk towards the city centre, in the last light of that day, with my first digital camera. That was the start of what became York Walks, then York Stories. I wrote a piece about this ten years ago today, on the tenth anniversary.

York Walks/York Stories was a project I found fascinating, and rewarding on many levels. Including in that it got me out walking a lot, which is of course good for health, including our mental health. Putting the website pages together, text and photographs, was time-consuming, but I felt inspired to carry on, and particularly so when I got so many emails from people who were enjoying reading the pages.

For a few years, particularly from late 2011 until late 2014, this site was a busy place I was able to put a lot of time and enthusiasm into, and always appreciated comments and contributions adding to this record of York and its changes.

Eventually, of course, the postings became less frequent, as it can be difficult to retain enthusiasm for such a long-running project, and to find time for it and retain interest in it as changes happen in life and there are other things more important to focus on. Like losing parents, as I have in recent years, which brings a different perspective.

There have been gaps before, and some of them have been quite lengthy, and they became more frequent. Most recently, additions to these pages stopped for more than 18 months. This followed the death of my Mum in June 2022. Mum was 90 and had been having health problems for quite some time.

Since then I’ve been focused on other things, and haven’t been able to write, haven’t wanted to, about York or anything much else. I’ve been coming to terms with many changes of recent years on a personal level, rather than changes in York. I look at the local news websites every day, but beyond that haven’t felt any engagement.

Now, however, I find I start this new year feeling that I perhaps should return to my old stomping ground, make time again for local walks in and around the city, again take note of the changes. Mainly because of this rather significant anniversary – 20 years. Also because I realise that there are areas of York I haven’t been to for a few years. Probably most areas of York, in fact. I’m familiar with the changes in my area, but haven’t been able to keep up with the rest.

I may revisit the places I took photos of back in 2004, or some of them. Whether I’ll want to post photos online and write about them I don’t know. I’ve spent a lot of time over many years in front of computer screens, and the kind of blogging activity I spent a lot of time on doesn’t have the appeal now that it did. I don’t want to be too online too much of the time, and I don’t want to spend time on social media.

But, I recognise that I have a large archive of images spanning 20 years, and in early 2022 I started to compile an ebook based on them. I might continue with that, and might add a few items from it here. Or perhaps walk along the bar walls from Bootham Bar to Monk Bar, as I did back in 2004, and see where that leads.

Today, I had thought about revisiting Marygate, but having done that on the tenth anniversary, and in recognition that there haven’t been any hugely significant changes down there, as far as I know, it didn’t seem like a good idea after all. Added to that, it’s not a sunny day, it’s cold and overcast and miserable. I usually avoided photography-based York walks on days like that even when I was all those years younger, so thought I’d avoid it today too.

There may be some additions in due course, if it’s a sunny day and I feel like a local wander. In the meantime, just want to say how much I’ve appreciated hearing from so many people via the comments, and email, over the years. And I also appreciate, and will never forget, that in a particularly difficult time – the year of that tenth anniversary – financial contributions helped it all stay afloat, when it looked like it wouldn’t.

More later perhaps. For now, all the best, dear readers, and a happy new year.

The post It was Twenty Years Ago Today … appeared first on York Stories.

Turnstiles, Grosvenor Road end, 24 April 2022

At the end of the previous page, after looking at the clearance work on the Duncombe Barracks site, I said we were on our way to the library next. But on the way, turning from Burton Stone Lane onto Grosvenor Road, we pass Bootham Crescent, and it’s not really possible to ignore the fact — though in many ways I’d like to — that clearance work has started here too in the last couple of weeks.

In late afternoon sunshine there’s still a certain charm to the familiar red-painted turnstiles. Some of them, and the nearby gates, have been boarded over quite a few times, attempts to keep out young intruders who kept finding ways in.

Since the sale of the ground was completed, and in preparation for the demolition, security guards have been on site. Presumably in connection with that, lights above the turnstile gates were on again in the evenings. Odd to see that again, reminding me of evening games, queues here, supporters passing and laughing, police vans parked.

I think – I hope – that we all understand the cultural significance of old traditional football grounds like this one. And also that for fans of this particular club, the end of this one has been poignant and painful.

An excellent piece by Tony Cole in the Guardian describes the importance of Bootham Crescent from a fan’s perspective.

Dear old place. It looks so humble, small, unassuming, this part of the Grosvenor Road end. Hard to imagine the tall townhouses that will in due course be built here.

Inside the ground, in recent days, machinery has been lifting the once carefully-tended turf, scooping it up. Turf and earth piled on what used to be the pitch. Green grass and yellow dandelions now in mounds of brown.

Outside, some distance above the ground, on the grey-brown wall of the Grosvenor Road end, a plant, a corydalis, green leaves and yellow flowers. Still surviving up there since arriving as a wind-blown seed some years ago. Below it, several clumps of its offspring.

For now, while the heavy plant machinery does its work inside, the little plant outside blooms on.

It may have time to set seed again before this wall comes down. So maybe some day, when this wall is gone, a crack in a pavement or a townhouse forecourt might give a new home to its cheery yellow and green.

But for now, by York City’s old home, I’m remembering the red and blue.

Goodbye Bootham Crescent, dear old neighbour.

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View across the Duncombe Barracks site, 22 March 2022

Previously, a wander on the equinox brought us to the Duncombe Barracks site on Burton Stone Lane. The light was fading then, so I revisited a couple of days later.

I’ve written about this site before, in 2018, when the city council was thinking about buying the land, which it later did. A planning application was later submitted, and approved in March last year.

In recent weeks, in preparation for the housing development here, the site has been cleared of the vegetation that had grown up in recent years, as well as some of the longer-established trees and hedges on the boundaries. It’s now easier, with the clearer view from the street, to appreciate the size of the site and see how it sits in context with neighbouring buildings.

This is I think one of the most interesting development sites in York. A few reasons for this:

• It’s going to be housing – including affordable housing, and we need more of that
• It’s not just ‘bog-standard’ housing, but part of what is ‘arguably the UK’s most ambitious council-led housing programme in a generation’, according to an article in the Guardian
• It’s right next to another interesting development site, the Bootham Crescent football ground
• It’s in a popular and well-connected location, close to local amenities
• On a personal level – I live close to this site, and have done for 25 years, so feel I know it well, and care about its future. Also it’s not far to walk to have a look at any developments taking place …

A few photos then, all taken from the front of the site, on Burton Stone Lane.

Across the front part of the site, from Burton Stone Lane

There are a few of the old barracks buildings on the site, on two of its boundaries, including a small block of houses that never looked occupied. These will all be demolished in due course.

Duncombe Barracks site: view across from one corner to another, 22 March 2022

There’s still a Duncombe Barracks, on a smaller site, to the side of this part of the site that was sold.

The church of St Luke’s is next door, on the other side.

St Luke’s church, and one corner of the barracks site

The planned development is designed to be set back on this corner.

‘the removal of the existing building allows the creation of a community garden in front of the west end of St. Luke’s Church, which directly engages the site with Burton Stone Lane and the wider community, and gives the church greater status in the street.’
(Committee report, 30 March 2021)

The adjacent Bootham Crescent football ground is now disused and demolition and development work will presumably start there soon. The top of the David Longhurst stand, at the Shipton Street end of the ground, can be seen in the distance, behind the remaining barracks buildings.

Looking across the site to the boundary with the football ground

The red painted corrugated iron is the back of the Popular Stand.

Looking across the site, 22 March 2022

The site clearance removed a few mature trees, with some of the stumps visible on the far boundary.

When I first moved into the area 25 years ago there was a line of handsome mature trees along there. Two were felled in years past, a few were left when the council bought this part of the site. After the recent clearance work one now remains of the original line. Always sad to see trees removed, but in this particular case probably justifiable to facilitate this particular development.

This is just one site in what is seen as an ambitious building programme by City of York council. (This article gives more context and detail.) The plans for the site have received a fair amount of media coverage, including most recently Senior councillor defends building £500k homes on York council land.

Some of the housing on this site is to be sold on the open market. The Press article quotes the council’s director of economy, regeneration and housing, Tracey Carter:

“We are unapologetic in the fact that the open market sales are subsidising the quality and the volume of affordable housing that we’re able to deliver.”

This area is apparently a ‘highly sought after location’, according to estate agents, who often also mention proximity to two of the region’s leading independent schools (St Peter’s and Bootham). It’s close to many shops, and a local primary school.

It’s also not far from the city centre. And from here, the Minster is visible on the horizon.

You can see the Minster from here …

(Whether the Minster towers will still be visible when the football ground is built on, I’m not sure.)

Apparently there were no objections to the planning application (ref 20/01902/FULM) when it was open for comment on the planning portal. Which seems highly unusual. So presumably everyone is feeling generally positive about the housing soon to be built here? Comments welcome below, dear readers. Ko-fi coffees also welcome, to power perusal of various other plans and changes, as we work our way towards the city centre. (Library lawn next …)

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Some months on from my earlier visit, I noticed in passing recently that there have been some visible changes to the former Rowntree factory building — aka the Cocoa Works development. I know many readers have fond memories of this place, and that many are interested in its redevelopment. I went up that way on Sunday to take some photos.

Cocoa Works from Haxby Road, 12 Dec 2021

As always, its brickwork catches the late afternoon light rather handsomely from this side, above the shade in the winter streets below.

Back in autumn 2004, on one of my York Walks, (heading for the old Fever Hospital, though a page about it didn’t appear until much later), I passed that corner and took a photo of the factory glowing in the sunlight of that year.

Corner of the factory building, from Haxby Rd bridge, 4 Nov 2004

Clearly, judging by the steam coming from it, the building was still in use at that point, but I’m not sure what this part of it was used for. (If you do, please add a comment below.)

That’s many years back. This old factory has been empty for years, awaiting redevelopment. When I wrote about it earlier this year, though there was a new section of road alongside it, there wasn’t much to see in terms of work on the building itself, but now there is.

Cocoa Works, 12 Dec 2021

A major recent change visible from the street is the work to remove the factory windows. And so many windows there are …

Window removal underway, 12 Dec 2021

Further along the long frontage I stopped to take a photo from a familiar reference point I’ve used before to record the changes here (mainly nature taking over, and also razor wire at one point).

Main entrance, 12 Dec 2021

Another photo taken all those years back, 2004, to compare with the above:

Entrance to the factory, 4 Nov 2004

But back into the present, as our walk along the long factory frontage takes us to the end of this massive building.

End of the old place …

The winter sun shines through it, while the adverts on the hoardings below show how it will look in the future.

I then headed round to the side the sun was on, Cocoa West, via the cycle track (former railway line), with the factory brickwork still sunlit above. More on Cocoa West soon.

. . . . .

Thanks to everyone who continues to support these pages with virtual coffees via ko-fi.

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New hotel, Piccadilly, May 2021

I’ve been thinking about York as it is now, and how it might be in the future. I’ve been thinking about property, all the parcels of land that make up this place. The way people born and brought up here often feel a sense of ownership, and whether we should. About York as a place for investing in, and profiting from. As a place for living in, freehold or leasehold. Whether it’s mainly for people passing through, or for people who want to stay here and put down roots – and whether they can, and if it matters.

Visitors …

Having recently visited a hotel that opened in 1971, as a purpose-built place, and earlier a hotel that opened in 2021, in a former office block, I’ve been thinking about how many hotels have opened in York recently, and how many more are planned.

Just one element of a fast-changing place. A place that has increasingly tilted towards the needs/wants of visitors.  It has felt at times like things are increasingly out of balance, perhaps best captured in a memorable photo of the new hotel on Terry Avenue showing it looming over the neighbouring terraced streets. Something I was reminded of recently by a photo of one of the cruise ships visiting Venice.

There’s clearly a lot of demand, and a lot of profit to be made, despite the recent pandemic situation. More hotels are planned. Plenty of money available for investment in these, for those in York for a holiday or on business.

Also plenty of money available for investment in purpose-built student accommodation. The pandemic situation doesn’t seem to have affected that. With York’s increasing student population there’s clearly been a lot of money to be made from providing accommodation for students, for the duration of their courses, before they move on. So many blocks of purpose-built student accommodation have appeared in recent years, and there are plans for more.

Student accommodation on the site of the former coal yard, Mansfield St

Owners … ?

Perhaps some students, after finishing their studies, will want to stay in York, lovely place as it is. If they’ve lived in the student accommodation on Hallfield Road, or the Coal Yard, they might want to stay in the Layerthorpe area, and if so, might be interested in a residential apartment block that has been built recently on the corner of Redeness Street. Not far away, a massive new residential development is underway on the remainder of the huge gasworks site. Many, many apartments being built, here and on other ‘brownfield’ sites. The Rowntree factory building will contain hundreds more.

I’ve wondered if there’s really that much demand for apartments. The smaller and less expensive ones perhaps serve mainly as ‘a foot on the housing ladder’, a way in to property ownership in an increasingly gentrified and expensive city.

… Or, increasingly, as properties to rent out to the many people who haven’t been able to get to the first step on that climb.

On the gasworks site, for example, the Press reported

Four hundred of the homes will be ‘built to rent’ properties – new developments designed specifically for renting.

Often, when walking through the streets in my area of town, I look at the kind of housing we used to build, and what’s generally being built now, and it doesn’t seem like progress. Council houses that were built between the wars look substantial and solid, with surprisingly spacious garden areas front and back. All that land that was available then. Now we’re having to reclaim old brownfield sites like the gasworks, and pile large blocks of flats on them, with most having communal garden areas rather than your own private space.

I assume that many people still want to live in a traditional house, with a bit of backyard or garden? But of course, here in York, that’s increasingly out of reach, with ludicrous property prices and not enough good wages to enable wider access to that kind of property.

I’ve sometimes wondered, in recent years, if I’m the only person who generally hasn’t felt delighted and proud when York has featured in one of those ‘best places to live’ features, like one in the Times, earlier this year.

When a family gets tired of London and starts yearning for the North don’t be surprised if they set their sights on York.

I couldn’t help thinking that it would probably mean loads of people on better money than the people already here, relocating perhaps from a more expensive place, rushing to buy property in this increasingly desirable and ‘vibrant’ place. Which appears to drive house prices up even higher for those already here who can’t afford it. And that seems to be what’s happened.

In past decades it seems it was generally possible for most people who wanted to buy a home in the city they’d grown up in to buy one, if they put the hours in at work and saved a bit, particularly if a couple worked towards that goal. I think it’s generally recognised now that this is no longer the case in York, unless you’re on good money, working in certain well-paid sectors.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this, how important it is, how it fundamentally affects a place, the feel of a place, if more and more people occupying it don’t have a real foothold in it. If their ownership isn’t freehold, but leasehold. Or if they’re only able to rent. And if an increasing number of people occupying a place are just ‘passing through’ – whether for a holiday, or for a few years as a student.

How will it affect how the city fits together, how it looks and how it feels, if most of the people in it have no real foothold here?

It’s some years now since I first heard the term ‘gentrification‘, and then saw it appear in a headline in relation to the Stonebow House redevelopment. ‘Gentrification’ maybe sounds like a nice thing, like everything’s going to be made nice and pretty, maybe with the local vicar cycling along and raising his hat to friends and neighbours, or some kind of 21st century version of that. But actually, of course, it means people being pushed out, to make way for the new things, the new money, to come in. And that might not be obvious, might not matter, until something that’s gone is something you’ve personally valued.

So, for many people, they might be missing seeing live music at the Duchess, or at Fibbers, since the Stonebow redevelopment brought an end to music there, and a planning application for the Toft Green building meant an end to Fibbers in that location. I wonder when gentrified York will get around to some kind of replacement venue. I guess it depends how much money there would be in such a venture.

Occupiers

Mention of the former Fibbers building on Toft Green brings me to one of the interesting happenings of recent months – the group of squatters who recently occupied the building. Before that, earlier in the summer, they first came to public attention by occupying the empty site near the Barbican Centre.

Even if I’m not writing about York on these pages, I still check the local news every day, to keep up with happenings regarding York and its buildings – the usual planning applications for hotels, student accommodation, coffee shops and bars opening – and this was refreshingly different. So much so that I ended up going over there for a look at the Barbican Centre site. They’d been evicted by then, but had drawn attention to the issue of ‘land banking’, and that this Persimmon-owned site had been unused for quite some time.

Sign on the occupied site, Barbican Road, June 2021

I’ve been reminded of the Rainbow Peace Hotel, set up by squatters in 2003 in the long-empty White Swan in Piccadilly. The group also occupied Burton Croft for a time. Both featured in my ‘York Walks': ‘Watch this Space‘, back in 2004.

What was particularly interesting about the recent Barbican Community Centre occupation, in its original site, was that it was on open land, not within a building. They appeared to be doing no harm, and trying to do some kind of good, but were, inevitably, evicted, by the landowner.

And in the end, it all comes down to this, to land ownership, property ownership.

Something I didn’t think much about when I started thinking about York and its changes, but in recent years recognise as the most important aspect of how the city develops, and who benefits from these developments. Who owns what is at the root of how the city fits together and how its land and buildings are used, and by whom.

Future … ?

Several articles in recent months have highlighted the purchase of properties on Coney Street by the Helmsley Group. North Star also seem to be acquiring property in the city centre. Both companies say that they’re locally based and that they care about the future of the city. If this really is the case, then that’s probably better than most of the city centre premises and building plots being owned by massive investment companies with no local connection. Perhaps the Helmsley Group will be able to remodel the riverside area where Coney Street properties back on to it, something that seems to have been an aspiration for some time. Perhaps North Star will be able to provide a music venue.

Since coronavirus came along and shook everything up, I guess we’re still waiting to see how the pieces fall back into place. It wasn’t like anything was certain before, and it isn’t now. But buying property of any kind in York seems a good investment, for those that can afford it in 2021, and residential property increasingly so.

Shame more people can’t afford just the one fairly humble home, while those with millions to invest can own so much.

Clearly this successful city has no problem in attracting investment. It’s going to make good money for quite a lot of people. But when I think about York’s present, and future, I think that things might look clearer, and brighter, if more of the people already here, who understand the place, and care about it, could afford to make a decent home on a bit of its land.

. . . . .

This carefully compiled cornucopia of content continues .. (with gaps). Been a long time. Ko-fi coffees contribute, and sustain it, thank you.

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Hudson House from city walls, April 2016

Regular readers of these pages may be thinking ‘Why does she keep going on about Hudson Quarter?’ Maybe people are thinking that I’m one of those influencers and that my influence is so enormous that the developers have offered me a flat in the building in return for my recent coverage of their development.

I’ve just found it all very interesting, from various angles/points of view. From thinking more about Hudson House and large office blocks like it, to following the lengthy process of its demolition and thinking about the history of the site it was on, then looking at what has replaced it.

We are moving on to other things, but before we do, I just wanted to include a few ‘then and now’ comparisons, which I’ve been looking at while compiling the previous page. It’s easy to forget what used to occupy a piece of land, once its replacement is built.

So here’s a reminder of the old Hudson House, from the city walls, looking towards town, five years back.

Hudson House and West Offices, 24 April 2016

And here’s its replacement, from a similar perspective (not exactly the same place, a little further along the city walls).

Hudson Quarter and West Offices, May 2021

From a bit further back, before this point, it appears that more of West Offices is blocked from view than was the case previously, as the Hudson Quarter buildings seem a bit closer to the edge of the access road than Hudson House was. (See the sixth photo on the earlier page.)

As I mentioned on the previous page, there has been some work on the repaving of the access road. The photos from some years back, looking down on it from the walls, have reminded me how it looked before.

Hudson House access road, April 2016

It had a pointless pavement punctuated by planters. By 2016 they appear to have contained no plants, but for some reason sat there. Many of them those concretey-looking ones, as if there wasn’t enough concrete already in the shape of the office block itself. Opposite the planters was a strange little area of grass, with more concrete bits punctuating it, and a wiggly path alongside.

The replacement paving (see previous page) seems like a definite improvement. Sad to see though that the Hudson House quarter appears to have removed a few trees. I hadn’t noticed that before.

Time to move on along the city walls walk, towards town, and other things. But as we leave this area, a glance back at the buildings old and new.

The old:

Hudson House, from the walls, April 2016

The new:

Hudson Quarter, from the walls, May 2021

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