Going to York-recommendations?

[friendofdorothy]

bump. Haven't been to York since the 1970s, but will be soon.

Where do people recomend thses days? Is the Jorvik museum still good?

 

[eoin_k]

The Golden Ball York //

 

[Guineveretoo]

I was in York recently. What sort of things do you want to know about?

 

[mrs quoad]

We live in york

What are you after?

 

[mrs quoad]

The Jorvik is gr8, and was rebuilt after the floods. But it's only 40-60mins for the full automated tour, and the queues can be gruesome. Particularly if you catch the wrong end of a school trip. The tickets are awsum value if you live here (they last a year), but a bit more borderline if you're doing a one off. IMO. (It's possible to double / triple this up w/ other museums owned by the same people - merchant adventurers and the dig being the prominent ones. The latter two don't have such a great rep amongst york residents and are, I think, more aimed at kids. So. You know. Your call.)

York Museums Trust also own three well decent museums. It's certainly possible to get a card for all three as a york resident, and I think you can get the same (a bit more expensively) as an outsider. The Castle Museum is awesome and big; the Yorkshire Museum is small, with a couple of great displays; and York Art Gallery just won some sort of national award, and is awesome if you like art. And ceramics.

There's the National Railway Museum - fucking tremendous, if you like trains. And York Sightseeing Buses, c.£12 for a 24hr ticket. (One hour to go around york. I've spent 5 hrs on one with a bus obsessed toddler. I wouldn't recommend it.)

Erm. There's also Clifford's Tower. A bit brief and undeveloped, tbh.

Or walking the walls, which is blates worth it, and free. Likewise, Museum Gardens.

Out towards Rowntree Park (along the Ouse) is pretty lovely. If you're after dithering. And the whole centre of york is pretty decent, if you're after a historical town centre (with mostly generic shops).

Probably the only food I'd specifically recommend (outside of big budgets) is Spring Espresso. They've got branches at the top and bottom of town (Fossgate and Lendal) and brew some of the finest coffee known to mankind. (Alongside some hipsterised toast-derived offerings). If you're properly loaded, then there's more choice - the Starr in the City being one obvs & central choice.

 

[mrs quoad]

Oh, there's also Bishopthorpe Road. Which won "best small high street award" or sth five years in a row (or sth). It's not a big detour from the walls, though if you're broadly against hipsterisation, gentrification, and wankers selling fixed gear bikes and miniature pork pies at £22 the dozen then it might not be your thing. (Its not that bad, but it is a tiny bit "overly fashionable boutique independent shops". We nearly bought up there, but would've paid 25% over the odds for a house with subsidence. Just for the postcode. So, you know. Didn't.)

 

[friendofdorothy]

mrs quoad thanks for all the suggestions. We won't be there all that long and our mates have plans for most of the visit - but I hope to have most of a saturday to wonder around the town and hopefully go to a museum. Do you think we would be able to get into the Jorvik Museum on an average saturday?

The Golden Ball York //

looks lovely. I know our hosts are planning a pub crawl for us - I'll ask if they have heard of it.

I was in York recently. What sort of things do you want to know about?

Did you go to Jorvik or any museums? what did you think?

 

[Guineveretoo]

mrs quoad thanks for all the suggestions. We won't be there all that long and our mates have plans for most of the visit - but I hope to have most of a saturday to wonder around the town and hopefully go to a museum. Do you think we would be able to get into the Jorvik Museum on an average saturday?


looks lovely. I know our hosts are planning a pub crawl for us - I'll ask if they have heard of it.

Did you go to Jorvik or any museums? what did you think?

To be honest, we didn't, although we had intended to. The reason being that the centre of York on a Saturday in August was horrendously busy.

I love the Castle Museum though - it's better than the Jorvik museum imho, although that's partly because I used to go there as a child and loved it.

Near the Castle Museum there is the Clifford Tower, and the museum of automata.

And it's got a good cafe.

 

[mrs quoad]

Do you think we would be able to get into the Jorvik Museum on an average saturday

Yes. The only risk is an hour of queuing.

Edit: possibly followed by another 20mins of queuing for the actual ride once inside.

 

[mrs quoad]

Reading my post back, I realise that I fucking love york. Never had the same feelings about Cambridge. But york - fucking awesome place to live.

 

[buscador]

Well apart from the near incessant rain we had a great time in York. Jorvik centre, art gallery, shambles, walls, curry in the viceroy all good. Best of the lot was getting my photo taken with Paddington at the races on Sunday.

We will be making another visit when friendofdorothy has some actually waterproof shoes.

 

[friendofdorothy]

Reading my post back, I realise that I fucking love york. Never had the same feelings about Cambridge. But york - fucking awesome place to live.

I can see why you like it, lovely little city. We had a great time and everyone we met was so friendly.

 

[friendofdorothy]

Well apart from the near incessant rain we had a great time in York. Jorvik centre, art gallery, shambles, walls, curry in the viceroy all good. Best of the lot was getting my photo taken with Paddington at the races on Sunday.

We will be making another visit when friendofdorothy has some actually waterproof shoes.

Races were great! I won enough to subsidise what I spent on beer. Lovely day out. Really liked the Jorvik centre - well worth a visit.

There was a chap in the Shambles market doing something interesting/weird on a small canvas. He had part chewed and spat out news photos of May, Cameron, etc and then applied red and blue paint with a St Georges clown wig, to make a very rough sort of union flag. He was talking about setting it on fire - I got out quickly in case he did.

 

[ed marimba]

Avoid using the public toilets except for ultra-emergencies. Mind you, I'd say the same of any town.
Swiss public toilets are the exception albeit off topic

 

[mrs quoad]

Avoid using the public toilets except for ultra-emergencies. Mind you, I'd say the same of any town.
Swiss public toilets are the exception albeit off topic

All the locals go to the top floor of m&s.

All of them. It gets a bit nuts up there, tbh. One bloke squeezing out a substantial effort at rush hour can cause backlogs right to the escalators. So to speak.

 

[Sprocket.]

If visiting on a Sunday there is a fair chance you will bump into Ed Alleyne Johnson busking and flogging a few CDs.
Very fitting in the atmospheric feel that York has on a frosty Sunday.

 

[Sprocket.]

We shop quite a lot in York, much more preferable than driving south to bleeding Meadowhell.
Only forty minutes up the A19 to York centre.
Also go to gigs at the Barbican.
Nice.

 

[ed marimba]

All the locals go to the top floor of m&s.

All of them. It gets a bit nuts up there, tbh. One bloke squeezing out a substantial effort at rush hour can cause backlogs right to the escalators. So to speak.

Locals are called locals for a reason

 

[oryx]

All the locals go to the top floor of m&s.

Until maybe a couple of years ago there was a public toilet over the road from M & S, the much-maligned 'Splash Palace'. It was demolished despite only being a couple of decades old, if that.

I've never been to the Barbican despite going to pub gigs quite a bit (and have even been to Fibbers!). There were no places to see bands when I was growing up there apart from the odd gig at the University - you had to go to Leeds or Bradford.

I remember when the Barbican had a swimming pool - opened in 1976, demolished about 2005.

I think a lack of future-proofing may be a theme here...

 

[mrs quoad]

I think a lack of future-proofing may be a theme here...

I grew up in Guildford.

Guildford wanks on endlessly about its 1068 / Norman Castle; yet all it has to offer is unaffordable housing, a train line to London, the highest condensation of solicitors outside of Bagshot, and ready access to Bahnhof Strasse.

York has been fucking nailing it for about 4 millennia, and remains just about the finest place to live in Europe (if not the universe) on every sensible measure known to humankind. On top of being the capital of Yorkshire.

I reckon - wrt futureproofing, and despite swimming pools - it’ll be ok.

(I also (sort of) look forward to the total collapse of Guildford, preferably televised and amidst cannibalism and flames. But perhaps that’s another thread.)

 

[telbert]

We will be travelling up to York next Friday for the weekend and I intend to immerse myself fully in all things Yorkish. Rapidly becoming my favourite place on the planet.

 

[mrs quoad]

We will be travelling up to York next Friday for the weekend and I intend to immerse myself fully in all things Yorkish. Rapidly becoming my favourite place on the planet.

The Christmas market is up. Which is acceptable, if you’re after slightly up-themselves non-high street Christmas things, chilli jam, four kinds of £3.50 sausage roll, or a £90 chipboard sheep-like foot stool.

 

[telbert]

The Christmas market is up. Which is acceptable, if you’re after slightly up-themselves non-high street Christmas things, chilli jam, four kinds of £3.50 sausage roll, or a £90 chipboard sheep-like foot stool.

I do like a wander around the Christmas market but I'm more looking forward to the decent food and drink in the pubs and restaurants to be honest.
Another pint of Timothy Taylors Landlord I hear you say?
Oh go on then, it would be rude not to.

 

[mrs quoad]

I do like a wander around the Christmas market but I'm more looking forward to the decent food and drink in the pubs and restaurants to be honest.
Another pint of Timothy Taylors Landlord I hear you say?
Oh go on then, it would be rude not to.

As you might’ve discovered, wrt food, fossgate is... a friend. Depending on what you’re looking for, tbh.

It’s got a runnel of a really decent small Italian (cibo del paradiso, not expensive, lunchtime deals); an excellent Thai (khao san Road, so successful they now have three restaurants in york (the other two do Thai tapas?!), quite expensive), and a properly decent Polish place (Barbakan, great big polish means for £7-9, prices can be more expensive for evening meals. Ridiculous polish cake selection).

There’s also the Cochon aveugle opposite, if you’re looking to spend £150 on a ten course tasting menu lol. And... melton’s Too? If that’s still there. Which we thought was crap and confused, the one time we went there, but seems to have a really good reputation amongst locals. And really isn’t expensive. Iirc.

 

[mrs quoad]

And it’s just down from the coffee run. At the top of fossgate.

Ignore everything there except Spring Espresso, IMO, which is literally the only coffee shop I frequent in town. (Apart from their other branch, up Lendal / at the other end of town).

 

[mrs quoad]

I see Melton’s Too has been rechristened the Walmgate Ale House; same ownership (apparently), but far better reviews!

 

[telbert]

Last time we were up we had some ridiculously good food in a restaurant at the back of the market(?), old place set over 3 floors I think. Can't remember the name but between us we had steaks, roast beef and lamb and I had faggots and they were all lovely.Im gonna make time to try Barbakan and possibly Rustique again.

 

[telbert]

Gert and Henry's. Had to Google it.

 

[editor]

Some pics from my visit to York earlier this year

York photos: architecture, city walls, river scenes, night views and the Monochrome Set

 

[Maggot]

Sweet Meiga Do you still live in York?