Creative Writing - Cottingham Road

Cottingham Road is going to be the hub of your student life. Whether it be the journey to and from your accommodation, your social life or the university, you are at some point going to walk down here, unless of course you decide not to attend any of your classes!

It was first mentioned in the city’s history in 1764 when the road was built as a by-way and toll road, linking the village of Cottingham (now amongst England’s largest villages) and the growing community parish of Newland. Between the two, it was said that there were only fields, something quite unimaginable now! It was known as rich pasture ground, famous for its production of milk and butter to supply Hull’s markets.

The city’s most exclusive address, Newland Park, followed in 1877. Houses on this street may fall a little out of your budget – the most expensive feature plush croquet lawns, twenty-seater cinemas and more bedrooms than even a student party would need!  The road has also played host to a college of education, women’s hospital, children’s homes for the families of sailors and even a tram depot in its time. Evidence of some of these remain: trainee teacher accommodation is now unrecognisable glass-balconied, modern apartment blocks and the former children’s homes may be your home! Newland Homes and former tram depot are now known as the ‘University Quarter’ accommodation.

World War II was not kind to the street – many houses were extensively bombed. You can see there is still a huge bump in the road just near the entrance to Newland Park, the damage a hangover from the war.

Taking a walk down Cottingham Road is spectacular during any season. Trees lining the pavements on both sides form a green cathedral during the Spring and summer months. In autumn, green is replaced by red, orange and yellow before leaves drop, forming crunchy piles of goodness to walk through and kick in the air during the winter months. When you reach the university, the beauty continues.

Stunning, well-tended lawns and flower beds stand in front of a number of stone, ivy-covered buildings which wouldn’t look out of place in a famous wizarding story.  This is not the case with all the buildings on campus – others look like they were ordered from the ‘brutalist’ section of the architecture catalogue. Not to be missed is the view from the seventh floor of the Brynmor Jones library – one of Hull’s best-kept secrets.

The road reflects the city itself, in terms of its character. It is bustling with people throughout the day (and the night), multi-cultural in its offerings and typically understated.  You will not find anyone here shouting from the rooftops about its greatness. It is quite possible you could live all your life in this one street if you would so choose, for it has everything you need to survive your time at the university. From the all-too-familiar red and yellow arches of McDonalds at its Cottingham end through to the distinctive frontage of the Haworth Arms at the Beverley Road end, all sections of society are catered for.

If you are looking for cheap beer, unusual cultural events, a vast array of food from around the world in the form of takeaways, churches to appeal to your spiritual side, you will find it. There is housing of every type on show from the uniform drabness of a row of terraces on the Quadrant, grandiose listed buildings belonging to the rich and famous, semi-detached houses of the professional classes and even accommodation right on the doorstep of the university, catering, of course, for students.  Who else needs to get up at 8.45am for a nine o’clock start? 

Can you believe that Unicom, a local accommodation provider found at the bottom of the street, offers ‘Tesco gift vouchers, a free VIP Piper card, 4K TVs, Apple TV and a fridge full of beer’?! Everything the modern-day student could possibly want!

As you walk along, you cannot help but be assailed by the culture Hull has to offer. Our year in the spotlight as City of Culture has been and gone, but guess what? It was here well before 2017 and the story didn’t end there. If art and history are your cup of tea, then you’ll find it right where your lectures are. Large-scale cast-iron and steel sculptures by the Icelandic artist Steininn Thovarinsdottir are scattered around the university campus. 

Numerous toads, richly decorated to commemorate former Hull University librarian and famous grumpy poet, Philip Larkin can also be found on campus and Newland Park, where Larkin was once resident.  He didn’t always love living in Hull though - “What a hole, what witless, crapulous people.” What did he know?

 You can form your own opinion after your university years. It has a quirkiness which can be irresistible and not found anywhere else. In Larkin’s words, "Hull has its own sudden elegancies. People are slow to leave it, quick to return. And there are others who come, as they think, for a year or two, and stay a lifetime, sensing that they have found a city that is in the world yet sufficiently on the edge of it to have a different resonance."

P.S. The best takeaway is Jericho Café. You can thank me later.