These days, when anyone thinks of a pub at the corner of Beverley Road and Cottingham Road, The Haworth would spring straight to mind.
But, until just over two decades a, another venue sat directly opposite that was also a popular spot in its time. The Turnpike, and the Main Event bar – previously The Lodge – had a big screen and more than 20 additional TV monitors, making it a good place to watch sport.
Despite some major investment, it was eventually demolished in 2004 and replaced by the Lidl supermarket which opened the following year and remains there to this day – though there was some opposition to the store’s arrival to begin with.
At the time, Lidl operated just one store in the Hull area but the initial Beverley Road plans were blocked by the council’s planning committee as the designs were said to “not fit with what we are trying to achieve in our efforts to improve the Beverley Road conservation area” with one councillor describing the German retailer’s plans as being “another giant shed”.
However, fresh designs were later submitted and approved featuring coloured brickwork and a prominent tower, marking a radical departure from the more basic look of the chain’s other UK stores, in order to fit in with the local aesthetic.
In the site’s final year as a pub, Hull Daily Mail photographers visited to capture revellers enjoying themselves on nights out. Take a look through the photos, taken in 2003, below …