Walk On By

Tucked away in West Hull just off Ella Street is a path linking up with Goddard Avenue to the north. There's nothing spectacular about this cut-through that's used by pedestrians and cyclists and its name, Jack Kaye Walk, may not mean too much to those that use it. 

Look a little further and you'll discover a clue to this mysterious Jack Kaye. A plaque tells us that he was an "epicurean grocer" and that he traded in the Avenues area "for 365 days a year from his shop here 1947-1998".

Advert dating from the early 80s

As a student living on Westbourne Avenue in the early 1980s I well remember that small Mace store on the corner of Ella Street and Salisbury Street. At a time when few shops had Sunday opening it was indeed to place to pop for any last minute items you'd overlooked at Jacksons on Princes Avenue or Chanterlands Avenue. The small shop front belied the veritable Aladdin's cave of grocery products that Kaye and his team purveyed. Each customer was greeted with a cheery "good morning madam", or whatever, by the white-coated grocer. Such personal service was a rarity then, and I dare say, little in evidence in that part of Hull nowadays.

Photo of Jack Kaye from a copy of the Hull Advertiser

For any former Avenue's residents here's a rare chance to hear Jack Kaye himself when Radio 1 visited Hull on 1 April 1991. This is an extract from Gary Davies's show, billed as Gary's Easter Egg-in, accompanied by Kim Wilde.    

Jack Kaye retired in 1998 and the corner shop has now since been flattened as part of a housing development. The plaque in his memory was erected in 2012 by the Avenues and Pearson Park Residents' Association.

My thanks go to my friend Stella Flynn, and on this occasion my Hull correspondent, for taking the time to photograph the area.