Collier Street – gone but not forgotten

DISAPPEARED: Whittock and Leng’s view of the area around 1855

The Way it Was

In partnership with Hull History Centre

By Neil Chadwick, librarian and archivist

Many of us will remember Collier Street. It was where we hopped off the bus, or where we caught the bus home.

Collier Street is now gone, replaced by the St Stephen’s shopping centre and the new bus interchange. Gone but not forgotten, this is a look back at Collier Street through time.

Origins

Collier Street, originally Collier’s Street, takes its name from Joseph Collier who held property there. The earliest reference to Joseph Collier and Collier Street is mentioned in the Hull Advertiser on 25th April 1828 when Joseph Collier is a witness respecting the value and occupation of the street.

Despite being in the centre of Hull today, the land on which was Collier Street was for centuries situated beyond the medieval town of Hull. By the late 18th century, the town was encroaching towards what became Collier Street, though its limit at this time was West Street.

Early Collier Street residents would have looked west and seen open space, fields, together with a few clustered buildings which then lay beyond the limit of the urban town. Just beyond, Pest-house Lane ran north to south. Pest-house Lane is now Park Street but was also known as Cutthroat Lane owing to its reputation back then.

The view south-west, one would have been met with large, and rather grand residences that developed along Anlaby Road. Paragon Station was yet to be built, whilst Ferensway was still a century away from been constructed. At the end of Collier Street was a large open drain which received the contents of several privies (toilets). And even by the 1840s, Collier Street was still very much at the edge of town, though urbanisation westward was notably increasing.

HISTORICAL RECORDS: A letter from property owners of Collier Street and Moxon Street

Cholera outbreak

The outbreak of cholera in July 1849 saw 1,860 succumb to the disease, mainly from Hull’s working-class population. The greatest mortality came from those homes in the lower lying parts of the town, and where insanitary conditions were at their worse.

Noted already, Collier Street had an open sewer at its end which received the contents of several privies in the immediate vicinity of Collier Street School.

The first case in Collier Street struck when Mrs Hey is believed to have contracted cholera. Dr James Alderson reported that Hull’s north-western suburbs, which included Collier Street were badly infected. In nearby Mill Street for example, many cholera cases were reported.

Railway

The early residents of Collier Street may have looked west into what was then open space and green fields beyond, but they soon became hemmed in on all sides. In 1847 a new station opened (Paragon) which butted up against Collier Street’s southern edge.

The railway provided employment opportunities, including those who lived on Collier Street. The 1861 census for example recorded several rail coal porters living in Collier Street.

Visit of Queen Victoria

Despite Collier Street’s conditions, its residents in 1853 were within a stone’s throw of perhaps the most famous 19th century event to hit Hull – the visit of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and the future king, Edward VII who used the station hotel between 13 and 14 October during their stay.

Huge crowds gathered for the visit and to the residents of Collier Street this would have not gone unnoticed. They would have been amongst the thousands who turned out to see the royal party, though places like Collier Street would have been off the beaten track for the royal entourage.

ON THE CORNER: Moxon Street and Collier Street

White Lion

Perhaps the most well-connected name to Collier’s Street’s past is the White Lion public house. The White Lion, formerly the Bricklayer’s Arms stood on Collier Street since the 1830s.

In 1835 John Bass, a builder and victualler had opened the Bricklayer’s Arms at No.41 Collier Street. In 1875 its name changed to the White Lion and had been rebuilt by this point. Following the development of the corporation bus station from the early 1930s, the White Lion was demolished.

The replacement White Lion was built in 1934 by the newly created Lombard Street. The White Lion was demolished in 2004 to make way for the new interchange and St Stephens development.

SLUM CONDITIONS: James Place, Collier Street

The Emmett family

One family resident on Collier Street was the Emmett family. Martin Emmett was born 16 July 1878 in Hull. He married Harriet Kennedy at Sculcoates Register Office in 1900. Their eldest child, Martin, was born that same year. James followed c.1902, Rebecca c.1905 and Richard c.1909. We know from the 1911 census that one child had died, presumably during infancy.

In 1911 they were living at No 4 James Place, Collier Street. James Place was accessed by a small passageway. It was dark, and with it damp. The lack of sewers and drainage made conditions difficult.

Here, residents would gather, children played, while clothes were washed and hung out to dry. A single standpipe on Collier Street would have supplied water to the residents, but usually just for a few hours each day. The walls were whitewashed to make it look brighter. Just two rooms provided space for the whole family to live.

Martin was a nightsoil man. This involved emptying the court privies (toilets) that were shared by households. There was no drainage and no running water. The buckets filled up quickly and you can imagine the smell that came with it!

In 1914 it was reported in the Hull Daily Mail that during an altercation about beer money, Martin Emmett attempted to strike Harriet with a fender. Harriet picked up a poker and hit him in the head. Martin was taken to the Royal Infirmary on Prospect Street where it was found necessary to insert a stitch.

Their son, Martin, found himself in trouble at least once that we know of. In September 1912, aged just 11, Martin was charged with stealing 21 shillings and two gold rings from a purse in a shop on Norfolk Street. Challenged, Martin returned the purse. However, it was realised that its contents had gone. The contents were hidden on ground in Collier Street, but never found. Martin received six strokes of the birch and remanded with a view to sending him to an Industrial School.

While the first residents of Collier Street moved in from c.1828, its last residents were still there a century later. The corporation’s Housing and Town Planning Committee repeatedly reported back on the state of Collier Street’s housing. Nos. 8-13, St. Thomas’ Place and No. 54 Collier Street was still home to seventeen people, including five children in 1927-28. These properties were reported as ‘being damp, without proper accommodation for food storage, without proper sanitary accommodation and a state so dangerous or injurious to health’.

By 1939, Martin and Harriet had moved to Greenwood Avenue, built between the wars. They lived at No 404. The Emmett’s now had an inside toilet, bathroom, running water directly into the property, together with front and rear gardens. This was a world away from the cramped, overcrowded and poorly built housing they had previously been used to.

Second World War

The first recorded air raid incident within Hull’s boundary was at 11.13pm on June 19th, 1940. Around an hour later incendiaries showered East Hull, but little damage was done, compared to what was to come.

Collier Street, now home to Hull’s Corporation Bus Depot and the ABC cinema, got off lightly compared to the rest of Hull. The closest Collier Street came to being hit was when the Corporation Transport Garage on Short Street was destroyed in July 1941.

BUS STOP: The 78 to Holderness Road in the corporation depot, Collier Street

Bus station and depot

The development of Ferensway and what was then the new corporation bus station and depot now dominated Collier Street and the immediate streets. Collier Street was a hive of activity with the departure and terminating of Hull’s bus services. Tens of thousands of people every day would catch and get off the buses on Collier Street.

For those who required change for the journey, a visit to the ‘blue box’ was an opportunity to buy a chocolate bar, newspaper, or some chewing gum, and is etched in the memories for those of us old enough to remember.

ABC cinema

Whilst Ferensway and the bus station was under construction, so too was another iconic landmark – The ABC cinema. Standing on what would have been Collier Street, the ABC originally opened as the Regal in early 1934. In 1937 it became the ABC.

The Beatles and Rolling Stones played there in 1963 and 1964, and in 1976 its main auditorium was rebuilt as five smaller cinemas. It closed in late June 1989 and was demolished in 2004 to make way for the new St. Stephens development and interchange which occupies part of the site of Collier Street today.

St Stephen’s development

Whilst Hull’s bus station was an iconic landmark, it had become clear that it had seen better days. As part of the newly proposed St Stephen’s shopping development, a new interchange was also proposed, replacing the aging bus station, which was almost 70 years old.

In September 2004 the bus station closed. Work soon began to demolish the old station, together with the former ABC cinema.

The interchange opened in September 2007 and together with Paragon Station it is the city’s central transport hub, with over 2.6 million passengers passing through this and Paragon Station between 2023/24.

Any remnants of Collier Street have long since disappeared, including its name, now replaced by Margaret Moxon Way.