Whitefriargate[note 1] is a pedestrianised street in the Old Town area of Kingston upon Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.

Whitefriargate has 33 listed buildings according to Historic England, and was notable for the Beverley Gate at the west end of the street, which was the place of execution of Robert Constable in 1537.

Over a hundred years later in 1642, the gate was closed to King Charles I by John Hotham on the order of Parliament, which provided a catalyst for the First English Civil War.

[9][10] In April 1642, Sir John Hotham closed the Beverley Gate at the west end of Whitefriargate to King Charles I.

[11][16] Around the same time that the gate was taken down, the south city wall, which ran parallel to Whitefriargate, was removed too (c. 1774–1781).During the late 18th century, the prosperity of Hull was on the increase, and this allowed the street to be developed.

[19] Trinity House rebuilt, or erected new buildings, to provide income for the association, including The Neptune Inn, which was completed in 1797.

[20][21][22] Before many of the buildings on the street were converted into shops, they housed a myriad of civil projects such as a workhouse, almshouses, and a merchant seaman's hospital by 1781.

[23] In 1856, a pharmacist opened a shop on Whitefriargate which grew to become Smith & Nephew, an international company trading in medicinal products.

[29] In 1899, the road was installed with a tramway, which had a special provision in the plans detailing that only one tram could traverse the section over Whitefriargate and Silver Street.

[33] Larkin was fascinated by his (largely) female staff who would return from lunchtime shopping trips on Whitefriargate, and so visited himself describing the "cheap clothes set out in simple sizes plainly...".

[37] Whitefriargate is bordered to the west by Carr Lane and the Princes Quay shopping centre at Queen Victoria Square.

However, the build was beset by problems of wage and labour, coupled with uncertainty as by that time, the French Revolutionary Wars were ongoing.

[45] The Neptune Inn was supposed to be a grand coaching house with its position picked deliberately, and a central archway with an over-arched Venetian window above.

[22][52] The former Marks & Spencer building which Philip Larkin wrote about, has a 1931 frontage by Jones & Rigby in a Greek Revival design.