The major improvements that swept through much of the southern part of the City in the late seventies and eighties didn't leave the northern side of the centre untouched. Pedestrianisation improved large parts of it. And the building of Freetown Way cleared much of the through traffic out of the area.

Not all the changes were unambiguously for the better. One side of the junction shown at the very north-west corner of this map is now occupied by the very attractive offices of the Hull Daily Mail. Yet that used to be the site of the Zoological, viewed by many as the best pub in the city.

Still, you can't have everything: and it's not as if there's nowhere else to get a pint. Nowadays you can find everything from the very traditional wood and the circular bar of the Dram Shop to the highly staged (but effective) atmosphere of O'Neills. In between you find traditional town pubs like the Rugby Tavern: and here, too, you can find the odd but rather wonderful Institute