Rawcliffe Meadows and Clifton ings, Jan 2019

I thought I’d do the traditional review of the year. In December I like to see photos from sunnier days earlier in the year, and I thought you might like to too, dear reader.

It also gives me the opportunity to mention a couple of things I didn’t get around to mentioning during a year when (until the December Daily postings) I haven’t added much to these pages.

There are a couple of months in the autumn where I don’t have any photos of York. I do seem to have a lot of photos of my vegetable harvest, which I thought about including, but decided against it, in favour of instead including an extra photo for a couple of months when an extra photo seemed appropriate.

So, on we go, across the ridge and furrow, in the sunlight of January 2019.

Ridge and furrow, Clifton Park, Jan 2019

There’s some very prominent ridge and furrow in Clifton Park (grounds of former Clifton Hospital) and its undulations are particularly prominent in winter.

In February, on a pleasant sunny afternoon, I sat on a bench in the Museum Gardens for a while and watched a squirrel among the crocuses. (I think it was eating them.)

Squirrel and crocuses, Feb 2019

In March, and not far away, I admired, not for the first time, the choice of plants in a raised bed at the back of the art gallery.

Behind the art gallery, March 2019

At the start of the year, the York Press reported that the long-established Ernest Roy Electricals (known as Ernie Roy’s) was for sale. (It has since closed.) When I dashed past one day in April I had to backtrack after noticing the notes around the letterbox, which I felt I had to have a photo of.

Door signs, Ernie Roy’s, April 2019

There had clearly been a problem here with people putting batteries through the letterbox. There’s a handwritten note above it politely asking people not to do that, then underneath it a rather more exasperated note – NO BATTERIES – which has an added drawing of a battery to emphasise the point further.

Was it, I wonder, just one person annoyingly posting batteries through the letterbox? Or lots of people? If so, why? (And are they still doing it, even though it’s now a bookshop?)

I wrote about Ernie Roy’s a few years back. More here. With best wishes to Ken Devey in his retirement.

On to lovely May, and a big expanse of green, out on the stray.

Cow parsley and new green leaves, Bootham Stray, May 2019

Quite often, in June, in the yearly review in years past, I’ve included a photo of something lovely, summery, flowery or bright.

This year, I’m afraid it’s Ryedale House.

Ryedale House, across the Foss, June 2019

Across the Foss, with a substantial buddleia forest in the foreground, and the new-look Ryedale House being unveiled, in all its glory, on the other side of the river.

In July I went to an exhibition of plans for the proposed ‘Roman Quarter’, on Rougier Street, and later went for a wander in the area to take some photos.

As is so often the case, I particularly appreciated the spire of All Saints, North Street, rising up above the buildings old and new in the streets below, and catching, holding, the evening light.

Tanner Row, and All Saints spire, July 2019

On my way home, along the riverside, I particularly liked the way the Guildhall and the Minster behind looked in that particular light, on that particular evening, over the top of the (rather more recent) brickwork of the flood defence wall.

Guildhall and Minster, July 2019

In contrast to the above, in August, the gloomy canyon of Rougier Street.

Rougier Street, August 2019

Several of the buildings here would be demolished to make way for the proposed Roman Quarter.

Back to the sunny outskirts of the city, in September, and a new section of cycle track skirting part of the outer ring road:

New cycle track by ringroad, near Knapton, Sept 2019

So pleased about this, so happy to discover it over the summer when expecting to have to get off the bike and walk across the ring road when gaps in the traffic allowed it.

By September I’d used it a few times. It includes an underpass under the ring road.

New cycle track underpass, from the Knapton side, Sept 2019

There’s a bit of a gap in available images at this point, in October and November, with no photos of York to offer. My apologies.

I could share with you photos of my vegetable harvest, and you could all sing ‘Oh, what a beauty, I’ve never seen one as big as that before! Oh what a beauty …’ – etc (as I generally can’t help doing when admiring an impressive piece of home-grown produce.)

… But let’s just move on to December, just yesterday, and a brief walk in the December sun, looking at lichen, among other things.

Lichen on tree bark, Bootham Stray, 30 Dec 2019

At this time of the year, lichen brightens, stands out in the otherwise rather muted landscape.

On the way back home, after looking at lichen, I remembered that the mahonia might be in bloom in a snicket near Crichton Avenue bridge. As indeed it was.

Mahonia avenue, snicket by Crichton Ave bridge, Dec 2019

Quite a stunning display, just now.

Not many things flower at this time of the year, and what does flower you don’t expect to find in such glorious profusion in a place that perhaps isn’t much frequented by many people.

But some time back, for some reason, someone planted a large number of mahonia here, on either side of the railings on a section of a snicket near Burton Stone Lane, leading up to the bridge at Crichton Avenue.

As it’s flowering at this time of the year, and as it looks so impressive, and has a scent too, I think it might be a particular variety called  ‘Charity‘.

I have one, but the sparrows pecked the buds off mine, and it looks a rather sad. That was a bit annoying, but I have to be charitable, and think that the resident sparrows must have needed some nutrition it perhaps provides, to keep them cheeping and chirping.

As we go into 2020, I hope you’re all cheeping and chirping.

And if not I hope you find charity, and kindness.

As I did, five years back, and many times before, and since. And as many other people do, every year, from so many good people, so many good actions, so many small things.

Best wishes for 2020 — and though it probably makes me sound like a dated old hippy — I do want to wish you all — love, charity, light, and peace.

The post Review of the year, 2019 appeared first on York Stories.

Bonding Warehouse, Feb 2004

In recent years I’ve assembled a ‘review of the year’ in some form. Usually focused on photos.

It’s 15 years this year since I bought the domain name for this site and started an online project here at yorkstories.co.uk.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the changes York has gone through in the 15 years from 2004-2019, and thought I’d record a few thoughts on that. In two parts. Starting with recognition of some of the things lost.

Closure of pubs, clubs, venues

So many pubs and clubs have closed in the years I’ve been doing this. Some have been mentioned on these pages, over the years — including The Junction, the Locomotive, Groves WMC, the Bay Horse on Gillygate, and the Corner House.

Demolitions

We’ve lost many interesting buildings in these 15 years. Some of these losses were controversial, some of them perhaps not so much. They included: Sessions print works, the Reynards Garage/Airspeed building, the Victorian building that was Burnholme Club, the foundry buildings off Leeman Road …

Closed shops

Back in 2004 I don’t think many of us could have foreseen the way the retail environment would change. I think we took shops for granted, assumed they’d always be there. Maybe assumed that if an owner retired then someone else would take on the business.

The changes to our shopping streets in recent years are of course not just a York thing, they’re happening everywhere, but a few particularly notable shop closures that seemed significant to York were written about on these pages, including Army and Navy Stores and the Barbican Bookshop (both on Fossgate), Scott’s on Petergate, and Whiting’s (Bootham).

Barnitts is reducing the size of its city centre store, in response to these changes in the way we shop.

There is of course a long list of closures of high street chains, with many of those closures happening in the last few years. It’s particularly noticeable on Coney Street. A place I didn’t pay much attention to for many years, but which I’ve written about a few times now, in 2019.

Perhaps we’re learning now not to take our shops for granted, and perhaps we’re recognising that there’s power in where we spend our pounds, and that it has more power and significance if it goes to a smaller-scale business, locally owned.

Easy enough to praise the places that have stayed, weathered the storms, but praise isn’t enough, is it. They need our spending power.

. . . . .

The post Review of 15 years … part 1 appeared first on York Stories.

Guildhall and Ouse Bridge, York. Image: York Museums Trust. Public Domain. (More info)

From present day things, back in time to the 1840s, and some observations of the city from a visitor back then.

When writing about Coney Street recently I remembered a description of it by T J Maslen. His book, Suggestions for the Improvement of our Towns and Houses, was published in 1843.

He wrote about many different towns and cities, and how he thought they could be improved. He wasn’t impressed by York, very disappointed in fact, calling it ‘a small filthily-dirty, confined town’, ‘full of little, narrow, ugly crooked streets’.

He’d heard that the streets were deserted and silent, and that ‘the grass grew in them’. He ventures down some of the alleys and lanes and finds ‘horrible filth scattered about in every direction’. (Some things don’t change, you might be thinking.)

His description of Coney Street, back then:

T J Maslen’s impressions of Coney Street (1840s)

These were of course the days of the coaching inns. They’ve gone, but we still have the races, and Coney Street‘s still a busy thoroughfare, where sometimes on Saturdays you can still see ladies in ‘splendid costume’, though these days on hen party outings.

Clearly Mr Maslen is quite impressed by Parliament Street — quite new then — perhaps he wouldn’t be if he saw it now.

He mentions it again, and then goes on to suggest improvements for the river (where there are too many ‘dung-barges and coal-boats’) and the riverside areas:

T J Maslen’s plans for the river and riverside in York (1843)

He’s clearly a moderniser, and thinks that big wide streets are preferable to the little, narrow, crooked ones.

Obviously his plans to create wide streets on either side of the river in the city centre would have entailed the demolition of the historic Guildhall, and they might look quite odd and comical now. But in his sense that more could or should be made of the river and its banks, in the city centre, he could be seen as ahead of his time. Most areas of the riverside are now accessible, though quite a bit of the riverside to the back of the Coney Street shops still isn’t. That may change, as Coney Street itself changes.

Further information

I’ve written about T J Maslen’s book before, back in 2011. You can read those older pages here and here — or read the book on Google Books, or the Internet Archive (various formats, including a plain text version).

. . . . .

This is part of December Daily, which, despite the lack of available light, has been sustained by many kind comments and virtual coffees, thank you.

The post York, 1840s: a visitor’s impressions, and suggested improvements appeared first on York Stories.

December 2019: Revised plans for Bootham Crescent housing (ref: 19/00246/FULM) (Persimmon Homes)

Earlier this year I wrote about the planning application to build housing on the Bootham Crescent football ground. On 18 December I mentioned a critical report on Persimmon (whose houses it will be filled with), and the fact that the planning application seemed to have stalled, with no documents added for some time.

Since then, a few new documents have appeared for our perusal, on the planning portal, dated 20 December. See this link, or search for 19/00246/FULM via planningaccess.york.gov.uk/

I thought I’d mention a few of the more interesting points I’ve noticed.

There’s no new written information as yet, just a couple of huge and rather detailed visual representations of the site layout, and some more information on house types.

I suspect most readers won’t be much interested in house types, but the changes to the layout are interesting.

Memorial garden, terracing, wall, and a flagpole

The layout includes a memorial garden that is more central to the housing, rather than on the western edge.

Also indicated on the plan is a ‘section of retained terracing’, where the Popular Stand is currently. Behind it, a section of retained wall from the back of the Pop Stand, which may include signs, or artwork.

A flagpole is also included, to the south-eastern side, where a path leads in to the memorial garden area.

Detail of memorial garden area (ref: 19/00246/FULM) (Persimmon Homes)

A report written some months back (18 April) by Jonathan Kenyon at the city council recommended these elements in a revised design of the site. It’s available on this link (PDF) or via the list of documents for the planning application (ref 19/00246/FULM).

Elements that have been identified in work by Historic England and which should form part of the sites character include historic retaining walls (this includes a narrow section of the wall on the south side with reveals by the site entrance), retention of part of the tunnel beneath the west stand and re-use of the historic terraces (taken from the west or south sides) and timber fencing.

I’d like to read the original report by Historic England that this report refers to, but it isn’t available on the planning portal documents.

An appendix at the end of the report goes into more detail on what should be preserved/reused. It includes:

… As a lasting legacy, create a focal point for memory and orientation. The western boundary wall supports the back of the Popular Stand and forms part of a unique tunnel beneath the stand. The tunnel permitted rival fans to switch ends at half time but has been disused for some time.

…Memorial garden bordered by a wooden picket fence reclaimed from in front of the Popular Stand. (There will be no memorial garden at the new stadium). The one at Bootham Crescent will therefore provide a home for any existing memorials, ashes and interment caskets (subject to family wishes) but also future interments.

… Another seemingly unique historic feature of Bootham Crescent was the lowering of the club flag to signal that there were 5 minutes to go before the end of each match. The flag flew from a flagpole originally located between the south-east corner of the pitch and the main entrance. It is proposed that a new flagpole is erected as close as possible to this original location, and that it flies a replica of the club flag as a permanent and symbolic reminder of fans’ allegiance to Bootham Crescent.

Looking at the revised plans now available it seems that most of the suggested elements have been incorporated. Looks like this doesn’t include the retention of the historic walls near the football ground entrance, however.

Road looking more likely to link ….

The angle of the road at the north-western end of the site is different from the original proposal, having dropped slightly, to join the western boundary where it appears it could link up with a road that may one day be part of the adjacent site, the Duncombe Barracks site, which I’ve written about before, and which is now council-owned.

Planned road alignment (ref: 19/00246/FULM) (Persimmon Homes)

More on that later perhaps.

. . . . .

Other recommendations appear to have been ignored, on heights, and distances, on the southern boundary. But I won’t attempt to cover that here. I don’t like writing about this, it’s all quite depressing. I hope that York City fans find the revised plans better than the previous ones. That’s all I can say on the subject just now. No doubt there will be more in the local media on this in due course. In the meantime have a look at the planning portal for the documents mentioned above and any others that appear after the Christmas and New Year break.

Thanks for your virtual coffees in support of York Stories.

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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.

The post Pondering upon some very poor paving in Parliament Street appeared first on York Stories.

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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