111 Places in York that you shouldn't miss

111 Places in York That You Shouldn’t Miss

Chris Titley and Richard McDougallis

emons: Verlag

Imprint

© Emons Verlag GmbH // 2016

All rights reserved

Text: Chris Titley

All photos © Richard McDougall, except:

Falcons at York Minster, p. 83, photo by Doug Crawford;

Ice Cream Boat, p. 123, photos by Peter Hatcher;

St Wilfrid’s Rectory Garden, p.197, photo by David Chadwick

© Cover icon: shutterstock.com/JaneRix

Design: Emons Verlag

Maps based on data by Openstreetmap, © Openstreet Map-participants, ODbL

ISBN 978-3-96041-029-4

eBook of the original print edition published by Emons Verlag

Did you enjoy it? Do you want more? Join us in uncovering new places around the world on: www.111places.com

Table of contents

Foreword

1_1331 Cinema |

The secret attic picturehouse

2_According to McGee |

Art gallery that offers big names and new ideas

3_Acomb |

Once a farming village, now a bustling township

4_All Saints Church’s Stained Glass |

A remarkable window into the past

5_Ancient Society of York Florists |

The oldest horticultural society in the world

6_The Antiques Centre |

Three floors of bygones, a collector’s delight

7_Assembly Rooms |

Where the glamorous Georgians hung out

8_Astronomical Clock |

Time to remember our brave airmen

9_The Banana Warehouse |

From fruit to furniture

10_Banks Musicroom |

Britain’s oldest music shop

11_Bar Convent |

A hiding place for Catholic nuns in troubled times

12_Barley Hall |

The medieval house only rediscovered in 1984

13_The Basement |

Live entertainment that’s up close and personal

14_Bedern Hall |

Former home of the singing vicars

15_Bettys Mirror |

A wartime memorial like no other

16_Bile Beans Advert |

How a painted wall advert became a loved work of art

17_Bishy Road |

Street of the year

18_The Black Swan |

Witches, secret passages, and a folk club

19_The Blue Bell |

Gem of a boozer, but you didn’t hear that from us

20_The Blue Bicycle |

The restaurant that kick-started a foodie revolution

21_Blueberry at Silver Street |

Unique, affordable crafts and the warmest welcome

22_Bootham Bar |

Fitted with a doorknocker for Scottish visitors

23_Bowler Vintage |

Catering to fans of the fifties

24_Charles I’s Coat of Arms |

A royal spelling mistake

25_Chocolate Orange Sculpture |

The city’s sweet spot

26_City Archives |

York’s history, as it happened

27_Cold War Bunker |

A fascinating legacy from frightening times

28_Constantine’s Statue |

Paying tribute to the real father of Christmas

29_Cycle the Solar System |

Ride to the sun and back

30_Dame Judi Dench Walk |

Riverside walk dedicated to Oscar-winning actor

31_Dean’s Park |

Hidden gardens home to many layers of history

32_Dick Turpin’s Grave |

A highwayman whose travels did not stop at death

33_The Dutch House |

York’s oldest brick-built house

34_Duttons for Buttons |

An old-fashioned haberdashers in a 1422 house

35_The Electric Theatre |

York’s first purpose-built cinema

36_Fairfax House |

Home furnishings like you’ve never seen

37_Falcons at York Minster |

Birds of prey watch over the city

38_First Great Train Robbery |

One of 10,000 stories at the NRM

39_Foss Barrier |

A giant piece of engineering designed to keep York dry

40_Frankel Statue |

Legendary equine hero of a horseracing town

41_Gatehouse Coffee |

Take tea on the ramparts

42_Ghost Bus Tours |

All aboard with York’s undead

43_Goddards |

Arts, crafts, and a lovely garden

44_Golden Ball |

York’s community pub

45_GR8escape York |

Can you get out in under an hour?

46_Grape Lane |

This narrow street had a much ruder name

47_Gray’s Court |

The oldest continuously occupied house in the country

48_Guy Fawkes Inn |

Birthplace of Britain’s most infamous terrorist?

49_The Habit |

Musicians’ bar with hidden roof terrace

50_The Hairy Fig |

Small shop crammed with artisanal food

51_Herbert House |

Birthplace of King Charles I’s last companion

52_Hiscox on Hungate |

£19-million glass HQ located in former slum

53_Hob Moor |

Skylarks still nest in this inner-city oasis

54_Holgate Windmill |

Buy flour from restored 1770 mill

55_Holy Trinity Church |

A retreat behind a busy shopping street

56_Hull Road Service Station |

Fill ’er up, Scotty

57_Ice Cream Boat |

A tasty treat by – and on – the river

58_The Inkwell |

Selling cool stuff to nice people

59_Jack Lyons Concert Hall |

Home to the region’s largest concert season

60_Jacob’s Well |

The incredible shrinking house

61_Janette Ray Books |

Rarities speak volumes about city’s literary heritage

62_Joseph Rowntree Theatre |

Small theatre, big shows

63_Kentmere House Gallery |

A home for contemporary art – inside a home

64_Little Admiral Clock |

He survived weather and war

65_Los Moros |

North-African street food to savour

66_Love Cheese |

Delicious – and served with cheesy jokes

67_Margaret Clitherow Shrine |

A memorial to a martyr (in the wrong place)

68_Mecca Bingo |

Where the Beatles played and John Barry learned

69_Merchant Taylors’ Hall |

Home of two spotty camels

70_Millennium Bridge |

Modern art spans the riverbanks

71_Millers Yard |

York’s centre for positive living

72_Minifigs & Bricks |

The world’s smallest Lego shop

73_Minster Stoneyard |

Carving out a future for city cathedral

74_Monk Bar Model Shop |

Trains, planes, and automobiles in miniature

75_Mosaic Map |

Pioneering geological map remade in stone

76_Napoleon at the Hall |

Why is he living with the Merchant Adventurers?

77_New Drop |

Site of many executions outside Castle Museum

78_Observatory |

Home to Thomas Cooke’s telescope

79_Our Lady’s Row |

Rubber stamp shop now occupies oldest city houses

80_Pavement Vaults |

New beer, barbecue, and smokehouse

81_Poppleton Railway Nursery |

Britain’s last surviving railway nursery

82_Purpleman |

Who is the man in mauve?

83_Queen Victoria’s Statue |

Neglected, she is in one of York’s best parks

84_Reading Café |

Read, drink, and be merry

85_The Red House |

Where the original Dr Slop lived

86_The Red Tower |

Home to an ancient murder mystery

87_Richard III Experience |

York loved this controversial monarch

88_Roman Bath Inn |

Step into the bath – then have a pint

89_Shared Earth |

Corner shop making a difference

90_Sign of the Bible |

Marks one of the earliest printers – and a haunted house

91_Snickelways |

Dare you explore York’s dark and narrow passages?

92_St Nicks |

Rubbish tip turned nature sanctuary

93_St Peter’s School |

The only place they never burn Guy Fawkes

94_St Wilfrid’s Rectory Garden |

Secret garden unveiled

95_Stained Glass Centre |

Bringing a beautiful art form into the 21st century

96_Stone Cats |

They climb across York – can you find them all?

97_Tower Street |

Where the Luddites were hanged

98_Treasurer’s House |

In the shadow of the Minster, the ghostly Romans walk

99_Via Vecchia |

Bakery where you have to get in quick

100_W. H. Auden’s House |

Birthplace of one of Britain’s greatest poets

101_Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate |

Shortest street, longest name

102_William Etty Statue |

Painter of nudes, preserver of York

103_York Army Museum |

From cavalry horse to Sherman tank

104_York Beer and Wine Shop |

An Aladdin’s cave of delicious booty

105_York Brewery |

Bringing beer back to York

106_York Cemetery |

Beautiful garden of death is hidden haven

107_York Medical Society |

1590 building housed health pioneers

108_York Station Zero Post |

The point where ten railway lines begin

109_Yorkshire Museum of Farming |

Also home to a recreated Viking village

110_Your Bike Shed |

Where cycling and cafe culture meet

111_Zoo Skate Park |

Thrills and skills underneath a supermarket

Gallery

Maps

Foreword

York: the chocolate box city. Home to cobbled streets populated by costumed historical characters stationed outside every reassuringly twee tearoom…

This vision of York remains stubbornly popular – but it’s as narrow as the city’s slenderest snickelway.

There is history here of course, centuries of the stuff. John Kirk’s Victorian street still delights, nearly 80 years after it first opened in the Castle Museum. Yet dig a little deeper and you can find livelier, edgier, more bizarre tales of bygone times, from York’s version of the Hell-Fire Club to the Cold War bunker built to save the chosen few from nuclear annihilation.

Meanwhile York is shaking off its living museum label and is busy building a future to live up to its past. That can be seen everywhere from the glassy modernist Hiscox HQ to the experimental art and music in the Basement Bar.

Old haunts are being repurposed: a cafe above York’s only remaining barbican, a cinema in a pub, a library created inside a park-keeper’s lodge. Millions of pounds have been invested in buzzy new places to eat and drink.

Amid all this, the essential eccentricity of this overgrown town remains intact. It is the sort of place where people have no qualms in opening the world’s smallest Lego shop, or welding a van to a tugboat to create a floating ice cream parlour. Who wouldn’t want to visit a shop that sells only cheese, or another named after a Bob Dylan lyric?

This guide is not about York’s most famous landmarks but its quirky corners, and most important, its people, past and present. It has been a pleasure and an education seeking them out.

– Chris Titley

View full image

1_1331 Cinema

The secret attic picturehouse

York has one modern multiplex – and another in the pipeline. But sometimes you want to see a movie in more convivial surroundings than an out-of-town warehouse, and enjoy refreshments more appetising than a bucket of popcorn. That’s where Thirteen Thirty One comes in. Situated on narrow, cobbled Grape Lane, it is primarily a bar and restaurant. With its secret beer garden – a great place to chill on a balmy summer night – and varied eating and drinking spots on different levels, it offers options for both the people-watchers and the tryst-hatchers.

But unlike any other bar in York, it also comes with its own cinema. The man who founded Thirteen Thirty One, Sam Robinson, is a cinephile. He dreamed of making movies since he was a boy – and that dream came true when he co-produced Whoops!, a horror-comedy about a woman who becomes a serial killer by mistake. Named by the head of the Raindance Film Festival as her favourite British film of the last decade the York-made movie became a cult hit. And, naturally enough, it has been screened at Thirteen Thirty One.

Info

Address 13 Grape Lane, York YO1 7HU, +44 (0)1904 661130, www.1331-york.co.uk, info13@1331-york.co.uk | Public Transport 7-minute walk from Bootham Row car park; 3-minute walk from York Minster. Closest bus stop: St Leonard’s Place | Hours Bar: 8am–1am; Restaurant: Mon–Fri 5pm–10pm, Sat & Sun 11am–10pm| Tip If you want to eat elsewhere and just come for the drinks and screenings, try York’s top vegan restaurant, El Piano, next door.

Brandy Brown’s Cinema is found in the attic of the bar. Boasting 18 fully reclining leather armchairs, and a number of beanbags at the front for latecomers, it is a place to watch movies in unique comfort. And instead of that tub of popcorn, there is a movie menu including sausages and mash and beer-battered fish goujons.

Thirteen Thirty One is one of the favourite locations of the Aesthetica Short Film Festival, which brings about 300 mini-movies from around the world to various city venues every November. Master filmmakers give talks and workshops, and the festival is now held in such esteem that every movie screened is eligible to enter the BAFTA, British Short Film and Animation Awards.

However, if you want Brandy Brown’s cinema to yourself, you can hire it out, with a free glass of bubbly thrown in for each viewer.

Nearby

Barley Hall (0.019 mi)

Grape Lane (0.019 mi)

The Antiques Centre (0.031 mi)

Sign of the Bible (0.031 mi)

To the online map

To the beginning of the chapter

View full image

2_According to McGee

Art gallery that offers big names and new ideas

Back

It began life as the ArtSpace. But that was too abstract a name for such an interesting and personal take on the art world. In 2010, the gallery was renamed According to McGee, which reflects the unique perspective of its owners, former secondary-school teachers Greg and Ails McGee. Since then, the gallery and the McGees have flourished. They have showcased contemporary art in all its forms, championed artists from close to home and across the world, and been active participants in shaping a cultural shift which is moving York from conservative to cutting edge.

Found opposite Clifford’s Tower, the remains of a castle from William the Conqueror’s time, this modernist gallery could not offer more of a contrast. There’s always something new and interesting to see.

Info

Address 8 Tower St, York YO1 9SA, +44 (0)1904 671709, info@accordingtomcgee.com, www.accordingtomcgee.com | Public Transport 2-minute walk from Castle car park. Closest bus stop: Tower Street | Hours Mon–Fri 11am–5pm, Sat 10am–5pm| Tip Art lovers will also enjoy a trip to Chris Ceaser Photography (89 Micklegate), where Chris showcases his stunning landscape photos in the gallery.

Horace Panter, co-founder of iconic British ska band the Specials, chose to show his cassette paintings here. In 2015, former England cricket hero Ian Botham opened Jim Wheat’s exhibition of dollar-sign paintings. Not only did the event prompt a debate about the meaning of money, it also raised money for the gallery’s charity New Visuality, which supports young and disadvantaged artists. Jim said the art world can be intimidating, but working alongside Greg and the family, you feel part of it.

That was soon followed by the creation and display of a series of posters prompted by a city Twitterstorm. UNESCO awarded York City of Media Arts status in 2014, and while Greg McGee is a supporter, the decision provoked as much scepticism as celebration on Twitter. So Tweets reflecting all shades of opinion were turned into graphic posters and displayed at the gallery: fleeting social-media moments, captured and made collectible.

Described by Glamour magazine as an exciting independent white cube gallery, According to McGee is always worth a visit. And that’s according to artists from far and near.

Nearby

York Army Museum (0.031 mi)

Tower Street (0.05 mi)

Fairfax House (0.081 mi)

New Drop (0.112 mi)

To the online map

To the beginning of the chapter

View full image

3_Acomb

Once a farming village, now a bustling township

Back

Acomb won’t win awards for being the prettiest corner of York – but then that’s a big ask. It is, however, one of the city’s liveliest communities, with a fierce sense of independence. Travel along Front Street and Acomb Green and you get a sense of the village that once was. There’s even an old stone cattle trough, although a cow hasn’t been near it for a generation or two.

Acomb is now officially a township – more of a full-fledged town, in reality – with a shopping centre featuring many family-run stores alongside the multiples. Some city centre residents head there to shop, feeling it offers better bargains than the stores on expensive streets like Stonegate and Coney Street.

Info

Address Front Street, Acomb, York YO24 | Public Transport Closest bus stop: Front Street | Tip West Bank Park, on the Acomb/Holgate border, is an oasis from the bustle.

And you can make a day of it, with lunch at the cafe Tea on the Green and an evening beer or two at the Sun Inn, which offers sports bars, quiet rooms, and benches overlooking the green, depending on your mood and the time of year.

As the rail industry, which supported Acomb’s growth, declined, residents