Here domes and statues, spires and cranes cluster
Beside grain-scattered streets, barge-crowded water,
‘Here’ by Philip Larkin, poet and librarian at the University of Hull
Larkin wasn’t always complimentary about his adopted home, calling it ‘fish smelling’ and ‘a dump’:
I wish I could think of just one nice thing to tell you about Hull – oh yes, well, it’s very nice and flat for cycling.
And the city has had something of a poor reputation in England in recent years, but that seems to be changing. A city voted the ‘worst place to live in the UK’ in 2005 became the country’s City of Culture in 2017 and last year its city centre was named one of the coolest places to live by the Sunday Times. From worst to coolest; that’s quite a turnaround!
Of course like any city it has its rougher areas. And while shop closures are an issue on many of our high streets it seemed to me that Hull (full name Kingston upon Hull, by the way) has more than its fair share. But it has a number of excellent free museums, a marina area with old warehouses transformed into restaurants and bars, and a strong sense of heritage. It is also developing a vibrant film-making industry, dubbing itself as Hullywood, as film makers take advantage of its small but largely intact old town.
I’ll write more about my brief visit to Hull last week in due course (I’m backed up with trip notes from Sri Lanka, Budapest, Liverpool and now Hull!) Meanwhile though here are a few black and white edits of shots that I thought would lend themselves to that medium, for this week’s theme-free Monochrome Madness.
My feature photo is of the Minster, which unfortunately was closed to the public all week because of the filming taking place. It, like all my other images, was originally shot in colour and edited with Nik Silver Efex Pro.
Hull People’s Memorial, Paragon Street, dedicated to the victims of World War Two blitz bombing raids (Hull was the second most heavily bombed city in the UK after London)
The Boer War Memorial, Paragon Square
Prince Street, one of the most attractive and desirable streets in the Old Town
Detail of a building in Lowgate, in the Old Town
Britannia and Lion statue on the roof of the Guildhall
Part of the Queen Victoria Monument and the Maritime Museum in Victoria Square
Detail of the pedestal of the Queen Victoria statue in Victoria Square
Monument to King William III, often referred to as ‘King Billy’, in the Market Place
Statue of the poet Andrew Marvell (who lived in Hull as a child and was educated at Hull Grammar School) in front of the Minster
Statue of William Wilberforce outside the house where he was born, now the Wilberforce House Museum devoted to the story of his life and an often harrowing history of slavery
A Spring Song by Edith Mabel Gabriel in the Ferens Art Gallery
I visited Hull in May 2026
