Parliament Street paving, Dec 2019

Sorry, it’s paving again. It was going to be more about Coney Street, but after some research earlier today for today’s December Daily that subject is too complicated to consider and condense at this point.

So I’m going for pondering upon the state of the paving in Parliament Street – pictured above, a few days ago.

I have mentioned it before, and though it might seem like I’ve got a strange interest in paving, I really haven’t (though all pages tagged paving are on this link, if you’re interested). I’ve been forced to focus on it again after reading about the extremely expensive plans to repave/’reconstruct’ Stonegate, which I wrote about earlier this month.

Here is Stonegate, with its signs already in place saying that the work is going to start in January.

Stonegate, with signs about imminent repaving, 25 Dec 2019

And here’s Parliament Street:

Parliament Street paving, 25 Dec 2019

— with no sign that any work is ever going to happen to do anything with its paved surfaces which in large areas are completely rubbish, and have been for years.

What’s hard to convey on flat photos on flat screens is how the ground level undulates, how uneven it is.

Probably a lot to do with the pollarded plane trees, and their roots. It would appear that the trees and the paving slabs don’t fit well together. But how do other cities with large trees manage this?

This bit is the pavement to the left of the central area pictured above, looking towards M&S:

Parliament St pavement, Dec 2019

In the middle bit we’ve got large stone slabs, cracked slabs, small setts, etc, and on this bit we’ve got concrete slabs, small setts, and tarmac (blacktop).

Why has the rubbishy state of Parliament Street been ignored for so long, while so much money is being invested in repaving Stonegate?

If there was any kind of consultation on the spending on Stonegate then I missed it. As with the repaving of King’s Square, I don’t think there’s a magic money tree, so presumably council tax payers are funding the repaving of Stonegate. How many of us walk along Stonegate regularly? How many of us walk along Parliament Street?

Increasingly perhaps many of us aren’t bothering with the city centre much at all … ?

. . .

I noticed recently that I appeared to be approaching a total of a thousand published pages/posts here on York Stories. (There were around a hundred more, before that, back in 2004, but they’re out adrift on their own, in an archive of ancient work unfriendly to smartphones and tablets etc.)

I think this page, when published, is where I hit the 1,000 mark. Bit of a shame really that it’s about something as boring as paving …

But anyway, nice to be still recording York, its grubby corners and its glories and its wonky paving. Thanks for your virtual coffees in support of it all.

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New Sports Direct store (formerly BHS), Coney Street

Recently, the new Sports Direct and USC stores have opened in what used to be BHS, on Coney Street. This was reported in the York Press as ‘a major boost for York’s premier shopping street’.

A brief wander into town on Christmas Day took in Coney Street, as I wanted photos of a particular shop further along the street, and thought I’d have a look at the new occupant of the former BHS, pictured above.

On a normal day when the shops are open it’s difficult to stand about in Coney Street staring at things and pondering, and taking lots of photos, without looking a bit weird and drawing attention to yourself. I called in on Coney Street this year on Christmas Day to stand and stare and to try to see it as it is now, in an objective kind of way.

Did the street look rejuvenated and reinvigorated now the former BHS was occupied again?

Well … not in a way that appealed to me.

Sports Direct, Coney Street, new store , Dec 2019

I looked at the new shopfront for the USC/Sports Direct store and thought it looked jarringly garish, out of place. A cloudy December day, a quiet street, a street with an ancient history (and not just as ‘York’s main shopping street’).

Large screens in its windows offered fast-moving images to the virtually empty street.

I stood directly in front of it and looked back towards the St Helen’s Square end of Coney Street, taking in the line of shops continuing on from the new store.

Coney Street, 25 Dec 2019

It all looked a bit rubbish, a bit wrong, a bit dated … well, a bit late-20th century. Like the new storefront had landed there in a street that was fading away from what the new store represents.

Looking above the shop level on Coney Street we have handsome buildings, or at least an interesting mix of them. Blending in harmoniously, in brick, wood, iron, lead, small and often wonky windows, the occasional weed (probably buddleia) growing out of a drainpipe …

Down here at street level, plastic signage on the shops that are open and rather desperate-looking shops that aren’t open. And the new shiny plastic of the Sports Direct logo looking too bright and garish on this faded shopping street.

What I thought did look completely ‘at home’ on Coney Street was this shop, Fabrication:

Fabrication, Coney Street, 25 Dec 2019

I mentioned it before – it was here in December 2018 and I’m pleased to see that it still is part of Coney Street. It’s in one of the older handsome buildings near the corner with New Street. It sells handmade things, made locally.

Fabrication, Coney Street, interior (apologies for poor quality, photo taken through the window when it was closed)

For some years now I’ve been thinking about the phrase ‘spending power’.

And how the ‘power’ bit of it should be the most focused on, rather than the spending, but that it probably isn’t.

Or maybe that’s changing, at last.

Anyway, on Coney Street there’s a big new store where you can buy things to help support Mike Ashley’s retail empire. Personally I don’t find that very exciting.

I’m finding Coney Street more fascinating than I did before, but mainly because I’m waiting for it to find its 21st century reinvigorated self.

. . . . .

This is one of the December Daily pages, supported by your virtual coffees. Thanks for your interest in, and support of, these pages.

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Stonegate, 1940s/50s (Photo: Explore York Libraries and Archives)

Stonegate is to be repaved, with work starting in the New Year, as announced in a council press release this week: Paving the way for a new Stonegate. It’s going to cost ‘around £500,000′ (but as is standard, this is phrased as ‘investing’ around £500,000).

When that kind of money was spent on controversial repaving work in King’s Square there was at least a consultation — has there been one on this, I wonder, beyond the businesses on the street? I’ve not been able to invest as much time on York things recently, so may have missed something.

Anyway, as is standard, it’s all presented in a very positive light, in the press release, for local media to use and quote.

For the first time in a generation, City of York Council is completely repaving Stonegate.

The scheme will enhance the street’s appearance and character, creating a more pedestrian-friendly environment, attracting more people into the area and improving access for pedestrians.
— CYC press release

Whether paving is seen as an interesting thing is perhaps to do with age, agility, or perhaps to do with being a council tax payer.

I was interested in the detail of the proposals. Looking at the available information, and the further detail provided, including an FAQ section (below main press release), I’m seeing some information which appears to contradict the media-targeted statements.

This statement in particular stood out:

‘For the first time in a generation, we are completely reconstructing Stonegate’

Reconstructing? Completely? All the shops and everything?
But seriously, that’s quite a striking statement, and it doesn’t appear to fit with the detail in the supporting information/FAQs, which states

The works only include the highway, not the footway.

and also that

all of the cobbled sections of the highway, running adjacent to the footways and the middle of the highway, will be retained on Stonegate.

So is it a ‘complete reconstruction’, or not?

Over on Twitter I’ve seen quite a lot of discussion, and interesting points made, on the proposed repaving and particularly on whether there should be kerbs (or curbs, alternative spelling), or not, because of accessibility issues.

The council does have a series of documents, prepared some years back, to guide how changes/improvements to the streetscape should be designed and implemented, a streetscape strategy. All available on this link I think.

They include reports on accessibility, from a range of different perspectives — see the Access and Mobility documents in the list on this page. I assume these streetscape strategy documents have been used to inform the plans for the changes on Stonegate. (Well, I hope so, otherwise time and money wasted getting the reports compiled and published.)

I hope we don’t get into the whole ‘historically authentic’ thing again, regarding the paving. Regular readers might remember that a few years back I wrote a piece about the paving in Stonegate, after there had been quite a lot of local concern at paving slabs being removed and the paving being patched up with inferior materials. Looking through archive photos showed that the street’s surface had changed a few times, and that the paving seen as historic wasn’t as historic as it appeared to be, in that particular setting.

For more on paving (I’ve written about it a lot, including the groovy old paving in the back alleys in the Victorian terraced streets of the suburbs) see all pages tagged ‘paving’.

. . .

This page is tagged ‘December Daily‘, and is number 19 of those. I hope you’ve found it of interest. Virtual coffees keep it going and sustain many hundreds of other pages on here (not all about paving).

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Coney Street, 25 Dec 2018

Before the brief detour down Bootham to look at a phone box, we were in the city centre, in the Coney Street area, looking at a plan of its shops some decades ago. I found the plan a while back, after taking some photos of Coney Street when it was quieter than usual, on Christmas day, and realising I really should get around to writing something about this interesting street. I realise that I’ve taken it for granted a bit, Coney Street, and perhaps I’m not alone in that.

It’s one of York’s ancient streets, a thoroughfare for many centuries, but perhaps we don’t think of it in that way. It has tended to be thought of as the city’s main shopping street, the home of many of the larger stores for the well-known brands, in the later 20th century and into the early 21st century.

Now, it has many gaps in its ‘retail offer’. Quite a few empty premises. Including the former BHS store, with a particularly wide frontage to Coney Street. Everyone recognises that Coney Street isn’t what it used to be, and that the changes here are mirrored in other shopping streets and other towns and cities across the country.

Here it is, busy and bustling, in the first half of the twentieth century.

Coney Street, 1930s (source: thecardindex.com)

At some point it seems to have lost its connection with its layers of history. Maybe around the time I was growing up here in York. I had a look at some old guidebooks I have from the late 1970s/early 80s, to see how it was described. The ‘York Official Guide’ sums up Coney Street rather briefly:

‘One of York’s main shopping streets, with few old buildings left.’

I guess it’s defining ‘old’ in the context of York’s wealth of historic buildings, but it’s a description that looks rather strange now. Thankfully our appreciation of ‘old’ buildings, of place, of heritage, seems to have deepened and widened in the decades since — and of course we can add another few decades to the age of Coney Street’s buildings since that description was written.

A quick look at the Historic England website confirms that Coney Street has many listed buildings, so clearly ‘old’ enough and interesting enough to have that kind of recognition and protection. Some are older in part than they look at the front, as they’ve been extended and raised and refronted as well as having those rather plasticky looking modern shop frontages put into them at ground level.

Coney Street, 25 Dec 2018

Look up, and the vertical emphasis is clear. Tall and in some cases very narrow buildings. At street level, more of a horizontal emphasis, for the chainstores and their wide window displays, because that’s what the old style high street expanded into, in streets in town centres like this.

It isn’t just about shops, and what it looks like now. Under our feet, under the setts of the late 20th century repaving and the tarmac patching, under the cardboard and sleeping bags in the doorways of the closed shops, there’s an ancient way, an ancient thoroughfare, and the homes and workplaces of centuries upon centuries of people, in the grand buildings fronting the street, the smaller buildings fronting the street, and the many plots behind, stretching back to the river or to backs of the plots of the neighbouring streets. Do we think much about that when we walk down Coney Street looking in the shop windows?

Coney Street, 25 Dec 2018

If you walk along Coney Street when it’s empty and quiet and look up, there are many stories in the various storeys above ground-floor level. Windows re-set, widened, facades added on, some rather bland frontages from postwar rebuilding after bomb damage in the area around St Martin’s church.

Merely being old doesn’t make something interesting though, does it. We have to feel connected to it. And in some way that’s deeper than just going in to a shop to buy a pair of trousers or a fruit bowl. Perhaps we haven’t felt like that on Coney Street. Maybe the meaningful memories and connections were to stores that aren’t there anymore, such as Woolworths, where many teenagers once congregated on Saturday afternoons.

We appear to be reaching the end of that period in our history where going into town to shop was a regular part of daily life, or a looked-forward-to weekend activity, and the empty shops on Coney Street reflect that.

What will happen in the longer term? Perhaps the larger retail units will be divided into smaller units, with shops shrinking back from the massive size some of them had in the later 20th century. This seems to have happened already with the old BHS store.

Shops perhaps reverting to residential? Many of those buildings would look rather grand and handsome if their 20th century shopfronts were replaced with a traditional front door and window. But then it is still a busy and noisy thoroughfare, and perhaps too rowdy for residential.

Though it was nice and quiet on Christmas Day when I took the photos used to illustrate this page. It appears to have taken me six months to write the page to go with them, and in that time the concerns over Coney Street continue, with the local Press reporting regularly on shops that may be closing, or have been saved from closure, and recently suggesting that the street is experiencing a ‘mini-revival’, as a phone shop has opened near Waterstones.

Coney Street, 25 Dec 2018

Perhaps more interesting than that, at least I thought so, was the ‘pop-up shop’ called Fabrication, which was temporarily based in one of the empty retail units, and I hope it’s still there.

Fabrication, Coney Street, 25 Dec 2018

It was selling many beautiful carefully-crafted things, and spending money here would mean money going to the makers of the beautiful things in a direct and pleasing fashion. Perhaps Coney Street needs to have more of that kind of thing, and perhaps in time it will.

. . . . . .

Thank you for your virtual coffees in support of this long-running record of York and its changes.

The post Coney Street concerns: notes and queries appeared first on York Stories.

Bootham’s red phone box, as night falls, 25 June 2019

I wondered many times over the years, when passing this phone box on Bootham on my walk to and from town, if it might be under threat of removal at some point.

I realised recently that there’s a notice in it saying it’s to be removed.

BT sign inside Bootham’s red phone box

The notice has a date suggesting that it’s been in there for quite some time, so perhaps it’s too late to do anything to retain this handsome and iconic structure, but I hope not.

The phone inside it may be seen as virtually redundant, though it’s not totally redundant. I remember one night not so long ago that it was used by a very distressed woman I met while walking into town, who needed to ring a family member and needed some help in that situation.

The kiosk is still illuminated from within at night, and it’s particularly handsome and cheering, and somehow comforting that it is still lit up. It’s something I only properly appreciated recently, so dashed up there again after dark to take the photo at the top of this page.

Here’s how it looked one dull December day, just after getting a new door.

Bootham’s phone box in December 2013, with a replacement door

These old kiosks are proper handsome things in our streets, where they survive.

Other phone boxes like this have been reused, or ‘adopted’, providing other services and facilities, and perhaps this one should be too?

The sign inside it doesn’t say when it’s likely to be removed or if there have already been any offers to ‘adopt’ it for other uses.

A mental health support kiosk … ?

I was thinking about things I’d read about other phone boxes and their reuse, and how this might be connected to a specific need in that particular place.

So in view of its location, at the edge of Bootham Park Hospital, just outside the railings of that place that was for so long providing mental health care, and no longer does, perhaps if it could be retained it could have a connection with that. Perhaps a small library of books and leaflets to offer help and comfort in times of mental distress, perhaps messages of support written by passers-by attached to its walls and windows. Perhaps a little comforting haven for people to pop in to when feeling like everything’s got too much. Perhaps just something for some of the city’s residents who might have been looked after in the big grand building just inside those railings, once upon a time, before its rather brutal closure.

If there are plans to adopt it, reuse it, and you know about them, please add a comment.

. . . . .

York Stories is a resident’s record of York and its changes. Thanks for your virtual coffees in support.

The post The end for Bootham’s red phone box? appeared first on York Stories.

Queen Street bridge, with the railway station behind, from the city walls, 26 Nov 2018

From Hudson House, built on part of the old railway station site, just inside the city walls, to Queen Street bridge, close to the current railway station, just outside the city walls.

Hudson House has been demolished, and it looks likely that Queen Street bridge will also be demolished, as part of the plans for the station front and the area around it.

This was on the agenda at the recent council executive meeting on 29 November. The report prepared for it (PDF on this link) ‘sets out progress to date on the above scheme and seeks approval to submit a planning application and proceed to work with partners on the detailed scheme in the Spring’. As approval was granted, a planning application for changes in this area will follow in due course.

There are many aspects to the proposals. A consultation over the summer provided information on the various aspects of the redesign, which looks interesting and has been generally welcomed (though there are some specific concerns, raised at the meeting this week, more on that later perhaps).

Here on York Stories I’ve often liked to focus on lesser-known aspects of the local environment, and Queen Street bridge probably comes in to that category.

The bridge on Queen Street was built to cross the railway lines that once went through the city walls to the old station (see the previous page). The site of the old station has changed a lot over the years, and no longer has railway lines. Queen Street Bridge has therefore been redundant as a bridge for many decades.

Here’s a photo from the archives taken from Queen Street bridge, showing the railway lines going under it and through the city walls.

How it used to be around here: taken from Queen St bridge, showing the railway lines still in use through the arches in the city walls (source & more info)

I’ve taken many photos on and around Queen Street bridge, and was pleased to find that I have one that’s taken from more or less the same place, as it looked this summer, 2018:

Taken from Queen St bridge, showing the arch in the city walls in Aug 2018. Hudson House development site beyond

The Hudson House site is visible through the archway, and in the background so is the end of West Offices.

Queen Street bridge isn’t generally recognised as a bridge, these days, and that’s not surprising, as many of us will have never seen anything travelling underneath it. I remember as a teenager catching buses from Acomb into town, and how the buses would follow this bit of road close to the city walls, rounding the corner here, with the station building mainly below, and I never gave it a thought. It was just a bit of road. An elevated bit of road.

It takes a while to fully appreciate the histories/levels/layers of a place.

Queen Street bridge, looking towards the Railway Institute, 1 July 2018

The bridge was built in 1877-8, close to the corner of the city walls, surprisingly close.

Anyone looking down on the bridge from the city walls might notice that between the old stone of the walls and the rather more recent bridge are these steps, at one time accessed from a gate on the bridge. Another apparently more recent gate has also been added at the top of the steps.

Steps, and litter, between Queen Street bridge and the city walls, 3 Oct 2018

I wonder how long it is since anyone went up or down these steps. This stepped area appears to be serving no purpose apart from being an informal litter bin, a dead debris-collecting space.

The demolition of the bridge would open up views of this part of the city walls, the arches here, where the trains used to come in.

On Queen Street bridge, looking down on the archways cut through the city walls (1 July 2018)

On Queen Street bridge, looking down on archways cut through the city walls (1 July 2018)

The bridge has clearly changed a bit since it was built, and from above just looks quite modern and concretey.

Queen Street bridge, looking from the city walls, 26 Nov 2018

Further information from York Civic Trust explains some of the history of the bridge and why it now looks more modern and concretey:

The bridge, built in 1877-8 to replace a level crossing which had existed since 1839, served to admit railway tracks across this street into a railway terminal depot within the city wall. Although new station facilities were provided outwith the City Walls with the opening of the current station in 1877, the North Eastern Railway (NER) wished to retain railway access across Queen Street, although their use of the tracks would be considerably reduced. Railway use of the level crossing fell considerably with the opening of the 1877 station, road use however rose greatly, so the bridge was built at the behest of York Corporation during 1877-8. The Bridge was modified in 1909, with the two northernmost arches being replaced by a single steel-girder span. In conjunction with the corporation having acquired horse-drawn street tramways, and a move to electrify them, the bridge was widened by moving the pedestrian footways out onto extensions flanking either side of the bridge. These were constructed at the city’s expense using reinforced-concrete stanchions; a good relation had existed for some years between the NER and the ‘Hennebique ferro-concrete’ consultant L.G. Mouchel. The bridge ceased to span railway tracks in the mid-1960s with the building of Hudson House. By the 1970s, the concrete structure was beginning to pull away from the original bridge, possibly as a result of vehicles mounting the pavement, so work was carried out to bond these back in and address damage to the bridge parapets.

(source (PDF))

There is impressive 19th century brickwork underneath it, in parts of the tunnels visible from the level of the station car park alongside. But from all other angles it looks rather awkward now, a concretey thing rising up out of car park and blocked off with steel fencing.

Queen St bridge from the car park area by the station, city walls and RI buildings behind, 16 Feb 2016

All it does is to restrict all the traffic here to using it, while there’s a lot of land just below it and around it that could be remodelled to fit better with the needs of the 21st century city.

Queen St bridge from the access road through the Railway Institute buildings, 16 Feb 2016

Walking round the walls from Micklegate Bar to the front of the station and looking outwards from the walls it’s clear what space could be opened up if it wasn’t here. It’s not just the bit in the corner, noticeably raised up for the tunnels below for the trains, but the whole slope into it. On the city walls walkway, not far from Micklegate Bar, Queen Street starts to rise up in level to meet the bridge that once crossed railway lines:

From the walls, not far from Micklegate Bar, the road rises towards Queen St bridge (26 Nov 2018)

Then we approach the corner, with the Railway Institute buildings (several, of various dates) in their proud position, close to the ‘new’ (current) railway station.

Railway Institute buildings and Queen Street bridge, looking from the city walls, 26 Nov 2018

Then we’re at the corner of the city’s historic walls, with the end of the railway station platforms on the right, and the Railway Institute buildings straight ahead.

Railway Institute buildings and Queen Street bridge, looking from the city walls, 26 Nov 2018

Back in early 2016, when a public consultation on plans for the whole York Central/station area asked for our views, there were concerns about the future of the Railway Institute buildings. Back then I wrote about those buildings and Queen Street bridge, and felt quite strongly that none of these structures should be demolished, as they’re so important in illustrating the railway heritage here, and the line of the old lines in to the old station.

But since then, as we have had more detailed plans of how changes here might make better use of the space, and benefit everyone who uses the current station, and travels to it and past it (whether in vehicles, on foot, or by bike), I can see that the demolition of Queen Street’s bridge does make sense.

More importantly, in the wider plans, the Railway Institute buildings are to stay in place, though one small building, the band room, looks likely to be demolished, as a planned road won’t fit round it.

Much more could be said about the wider plans for the area, and many interesting comments were raised in the discussion at the executive meeting this week. More later perhaps on other aspects.

For now though, I want to zoom in on the previous image …

Queen Street bridge, cycle lane ‘END’, 26 Nov 2018

In the middle of Queen Street’s bridge, somewhat randomly, a marked cycle lane on the road reaches its ‘END’.

Quite what people cycling here are supposed to do at this point isn’t clear. It’s the old-style ‘we’ve done our best on this cycle lane thing, but, oops sorry, that’s it for now. There might be a bit more further down, not sure.’

If the bridge is demolished then it makes more space for everyone. This space should I hope work better for all road users, and pedestrians.

On the 2016 page focused on this area I wanted to see the bridge kept because its arches underneath seemed like they’d provide a good traffic-free route for cyclists, if opened up rather than fenced off and blocked. I imagined us being able to cycle through them and the arches in the city walls here, along the remaining access road to the side of the Hudson House site, to the NER war memorial and West Offices.

Some of the information provided in the consultation this summer included a diagram suggesting this link past Hudson House might be part of the redesign of the wider area. Other plans didn’t include this link. So I’m not sure whether it’s part of the plans or not.

The planning application documents I’ve since looked at relating to the Hudson House development indicate that the site, as bought by Palace Capital, includes the part of the access road alongside it. In other words, as I understand it, it’s private land.

For the sake of the city’s heritage, and our understanding of it, I hope that this line of travel will be part of the wider scheme. If the removal of Queen Street bridge is supposed to help us better appreciate the heritage/cultural value of those 19th century arches cut through the walls — which is one of the reasons given for the bridge’s demolition — then cycle/pedestrian lines of travel through them, and to the old station they served, are a crucial part of it. We can look at them already, from the bridge, as I’ve pictured above. Travelling through them, like the trains used to, that’s the bit I’m interested in.

No doubt it will become clearer in due course …

… But for now, I’m really keen to move on to another bridge, and exciting developments there, at last. Enhancement, replacement, and long awaited … (update: ooh, here’s that page.)

. . . . .

York Stories is a resident’s record of York and its changes. I write about what I know, and raise questions about what I don’t know. I recognise, as many people do, the value of local knowledge, and do my best here to share the perspectives and thoughts of this particular resident, born in the city in the late 1960s, observing the changes. I’ve always aimed to represent things as clearly as possible to as wide a readership as possible, as accurately as possible. It takes a while to do that, and to reach the standard I always aim for. If you’ve found it of value then virtual coffees are always appreciated. Thanks to everyone who supports these York Stories in this way.

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