A ROW of "temporary" shops in Ferensway are finally being demolished after 65 years.
Bulldozers and diggers have now moved in to tear down the shops built just after the war.
The ramshackle set of buildings were all vacated last year, having once housed takeaways, music shops and carpet stores.
It was also the home of Hull Council of Disabled People, which has now moved down the road.
The death knell for the properties sounded when St Stephen's shopping centre was built in 2007.
Preparatory work has been carried out by site owner Hull City Council since the start of the year with the demolition work beginning in earnest this week.
NPS Humber Ltd is carrying out the demolition work, which should be completed in the next couple of weeks.
A council spokesman said: "We are demolishing the old units as planned to open up a prime site in the city which we hope will help attract a developer.
"A fence will be put up around the site until a use is agreed."
In the past couple of weeks, an outline planning application to build an apartment block with 100 flats on the site has been submitted to the council's planning department.
The council spokesman said: "We can confirm that we have had a planning application for the site on which a decision will be made in due course."
The council hopes the demolition will open up the site for development and regeneration opportunities.
There was anger among traders when they were told the units in Ferensway would be demolished just weeks after St Stephen's opened in September 2007, having put up with months of disruption during the development.
The businesses battled road closures, falling sales and even had to lay off staff due to construction work on the major development opposite their stores.
Traders had been clinging on in the hope that, once open, the £200m development would attract much-needed new trade to the area.
The row of shops had been leased out by the council and were built as "temporary" structures in 1947 .
Councillor Stephen Bayes, portfolio holder for economic regeneration, previously welcomed the demolition work.
He said: "The plan is to demolish the shops and clear the site so we can trigger some interest.
"We will have to see who comes forward and we will work in partnership with any developer.
"We are not going to spend lots of money tarting up the site, we just want to make sure it is secure.
"Selling the land would make us some money as it is prime land near St Stephen's shopping centre and close to the train station.
"But we will not sell it unless we are happy with the development.
"We allocated money last year for strategic demolition and I am pleased to see this going ahead."
