Kingston Upon Hull - Youtube Style

Kingston Upon Hull

Youtube Style

Youtube rocks, I love to watch others videos, particularly quality ones like this.

An excellent production giving a great representation of the city I live in. Out of all the videos produced about Hull I think this one gives a wonderfully fair all round view, including all the worthy areas of interest. Although a little dated the video has allowed for the passage of time and thoughtfully included digital imagery of future developments.

Gwenap, Princes Avenue, Hull

"Sex in the City"!

Gwenap an institution, an icon in Hull, perched at the top of Princes Avenue, adjacent to the junction of Spring Bank.

A place that has 'always' been there as far back as I can remember, just a little shop in the background of my youth until I reached adulthood.

Our social circles at the time would talk teasingly about Gwenap and what they sold! I discovered that Gwenap was a high class knicker shop selling kinky trinkets and naughty underwear. Over the years the shop displayed large provocative banners across the entrance. Some very blatant and all to see very clearly whilst waiting in cars for the lights to change onto Princes Avenue. They are still doing so today, just like the picture above alternative words used in the past such as:- "Knickers to the lot of you", "Bent Politicians welcome here"!

In the eighties apart from Midland Street sex shop, Gwenap appearred to be the only other shop selling anything 'sexual'. Several times over the years I noticed the windows were broken and boarded. Perhaps angry feminists on the rampage felt Gwenap was inappropriate for the times. In all the years living in this area, I can only claim to have shopped there once. I bought chocolate nipples, hilarious at the time! Something like these!

Gwenap can claim they are the longest established retailer of underwear, pleasurewear and adult items in the country. They have their own website, presumably in a way of replacement for the oh so famous Gwenap Flyer, Hull's own adult contact mag many moons ago.

Today sex shops seem to come and go, the largest to my knowledge is on Mount Pleasant, sort of supermarket set up, car parking and 2 floors of goodies.

The laws of the land and the economic climate keep changing effecting every shop in different ways, Gwenap appear to be no exception, I was rather distressed to see the current banners in the window. What does this mean?? Is Gwenap closing for good? I would be surely sad if they do, not because I shop there but because Gwenap is part of Hull's heritage, has survived many social setbacks over the years, and is still here to tell the tale.

Da Gianni - A Great Place to Dine in Hull

.....a culinary pleasure in Italian all round dining

Da Gianni - 48 Princes Avenue,

Kingston-Upon-Hull HU5 3RX

I had not really noticed this place before, tucked away on Princes Avenue. Hannah, our good friend and babysitter had mentioned Da Gianni in the past but I had not really paid much attention (shame on me!).

By pure coincidence, the Saturday evening we had arranged for Hannah to babysit, we spent that morning with two of the restaurants' employees....who just happened to be parents of one of Raffi's nursery school friends, lovely Melanie. We had chatted in the morning about the restaurant and I thought it would be perfect to take Eric there for a meal. We both adore Italian food and this place was not to far from home and fortunately they had a table available for us.

My first impression was WOWWW, really, the sight that greeted me can only be described as ten foot leaping flames either side of the entrance door. Spectacular and certainly a "head turner" for the numerous people frequenting this cosmopolitan area of Hull. Always known for its cafe bar culture, many pubs and general rowdiness and increasing at an alarming rate. The crowds were overspilling onto the pavements giving an almost Mediterranean feel (apart from the weather that is!!). Great for the regular diners and drinkers but I guess not so great for the locals living close by.

Da Gianni have got it just right. They ARE imitating the Mediterranean outdoor eating, cafe bar culture, and successfully beating the weather with huge magnificent outdoor heaters. Absolutely perfect for free advertising as people have to look..well done Da Gianni.

Once inside, ten minutes earlier than our booking time of nine oclock, it turned out to be no problem for the staff and sat down immediately at a spacious table near the bar. The restaurant operated 2 sittings, one at seven and one at nine. The seven o'clock diners were just finishing, there was a warm level of noise with piped music and gentle chatter.

By nine thirty the place was virtually full of noisy yelling people. It was a nice atmosphere but not really good for intimate conversation.

The service excellent, as was the food, certainly worthy of A class Council rating, not B class as quoted on the door!

The waiters, very attentive, all male, but not Italian!

The outdoor area with its leaping flames was truly amazing to see from the roadside. It was even better experienced close up. We stood outside and people watched whilst our food was being prepared, enjoying the warmth from the massive heaters. You could have imagined very clearly somewhere with sunnier climes, the only difference was that all the girls in their summer frocks were catching a major chill from the British weather in the pub outside next door!

Nice one Da Gianni what a great way to make the heads turn.

Now to the food, very quickly our plentiful food arrived, piping hot and looked extremely appetising. Although I did think the green salad was rather unimaginative along side such splendid dishes of Prawns, Mussels, Pate, Pizza and Lasagna. This was merely a minor point... the superb taste of all the dishes far outweighed this small niggle.

We drank red wine and vodka and our bill was under £50.00, very reasonable we thought.

I was pleasantly surprised at their professional website, their food certainly lives up to their quality advertising on and off the web.

http://www.dagianni.co.uk/

I would certainly recommend Da Gianni restaurant and I have heard the take away two doors down is just as good.

Enjoy your meal!