New food hall planned for York – inside Stonebow House

York is to have a brand new food hall.

Boasting a mix of local producers and restaurants, it is due to open in the newly refurbished Stonebow House.

The concept has been dreamed up by national group Try Market Halls. It has set up a York subsidiary to bring the food hall concept to Stonebow.

A spokesman for the company said:

Try Market Halls have applied for a premises licence on the Stonebow premises in York.

This will be for a food hall providing several kitchens with operators from the lively independent restaurant scene in York.

Further information will be announced in due course.

In an age when spiralling costs and business rates make it tough for independent food businesses to thrive, this new trend means foodie businesses don’t have to ‘go it alone’.

And for diners, it’s like crowd sourcing your lunch!

Open till 1.30am

The food hall aims to be fully licensed. Try Market Halls has applied to City of York Council for permission to serve alcohol from 7am to 1am daily.

It would open for a further half hour, till 1.30am.

The food hall would be positioned at one end of the ground floor of Stonebow House.

It has already been announced that an upmarket gym will take up the rest of the ground floor.

Try Market Halls is expanding the idea of food halls at different locations. These include Liverpool, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

It is opening three in London this year. According to Eater London, these will open in Victoria as well as the former BHS building in Oxford Street.

And the biggest of the lot will by in Fulham – complete with ten kitchens and a bar.

‘Most exciting ever’

The Stonebow food hall will continue the revolution in dining choice in York.

These days Shambles Market is turning into an outdoor food hall, complete with converted horseboxes serving treats in ‘the Paddock’ and a food court with the top-rated restaurant in York.

And when Spark:York opens next month it will have plenty of dining options for hungry locals and visitors.

The CEO of Try Market Halls, former property investory Andy Lewis-Pratt, told Eater London the idea behind his food halls was dining hubs that “work for the community”

The one in the West End of London, for example, will feature a “mix of local producers, retailers, restaurants, street food vendors, four bars, event spaces and a demo kitchen”.

In another article, Andy said: “Over the last 12 months, we have been visiting various sites around the world to ensure our food halls are the best and most exciting the country has ever seen.”

Stonebow House, York’s best example of brutalist Sixties architecture, is being turned from a concrete clad office and retail block into swanky apartments.

Given a new glass-dominated exterior by property developers Oakgate, it will also have two levels of retail and leisure space.