‘Staggering!’ All these York shops have become bars or restaurants in just eight years

Forty two shops in central York have been turned into cafes, restaurants or bars in just eight years, a new study by YorkMix has found.

A further ten could also be set to change following recent planning decisions, as pressure mounts on retailers.

The study shows the full extent of a trend that has caused concern for many in York for some time, and has prompted fresh calls for action from the city’s retail forum boss.

This interactive map shows the scale of the trend in the city-centre. Each of the 42 red markers on our map shows where a shop has been replaced by a café, bar or restaurant in the past eight years.

The ten green markers show where conversions could be imminent.

The full list is at the foot of this article.

Quite shocking

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Swipe to see the change… What was Portfolio Studios on Micklegate became Brewdog. Photographs © Google Street View

In some streets, the change has been considerable. There have been five such conversions in Micklegate, four in Low Petergate and three each in Fossgate and Walmgate.

Goodramgate has had two, with planning permission granted for a further two.

We collated these figures by studying eight years of City of York Council planning decisions.

The numbers don’t include sites where cafés have replaced non-retail businesses, such as Spring Espresso replacing the old Yorkshire Post office in Fossgate, nor areas outside the city centre such as Acomb and Haxby, where the trend has been evident, but to a lesser extent.

Phil Pinder, chair of York Retail Forum, said: “I guessed it would be high, but it’s quite shocking it is that high. It’s staggering really.”

A great story to tell

A taskforce was set up last month to attract more retailers to York city centre.

“We need to be proactively targeting retailers, in a targeted way, to bring them in,” said Phil.

“We have a great story to tell in York. We have a great city and great things to sell to retailers in terms of our unique footfall.

“York’s footfall is much better than somewhere like Leeds because it’s different people coming all the time.”

Andrew Sharp, head of business at Make It York, told YorkMix his organisation had produced a retail brochure setting out reasons to choose York, and had used it to target retailers.

He said they had also worked closely with Indie York to promote independent businesses, with the BID to improve the appearance of empty buildings and with agents and landlords.

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Church Street, as Ponden Mill transforms into Yo! Sushi. Photographs © Google Street View

Restaurant chains

Mr Pinder welcomed the city council’s recent decision to refuse a licence for Revolucion de Cuba, who wanted to open a huge bar in much of the old BHS site in Coney Street and New Street. He said “hopefully that’s the first of many”.

He said difficulties affecting mid-market restaurant chains could lead to more empty units in York, but said it was difficult to turn restaurant premises back into shops.

Strada in Low Petergate recently closed, and national chains such as Byron, Jamie’s Italian and Prezzo, all of which have branches in York, have reported difficulties.

The trend is not wholly new, of course, and Make It York says the rate of closure was steeper between 2000 and 2005, when examples included Costa moving into the corner of Market Street and Feasegate (formerly The Link) and Meltons Too (now Walmgate Ale House) replacing Ellerker’s in Walmgate.

Changes in the opposite direction have been extremely rare (Old Orleans became Tesco, and Starbucks on the corner of Stonegate and Low Petergate became Jo Malone).

Long term trend

Historical figures held by City of York Council show the wider conversion trend since the start of this century. In early 2000, the whole of York had 1,876 businesses classed as “shops, banks, post offices etc” and 151 “restaurants, cafes etc”.

By the end of 2017, the first figure had dropped to 1,832 while the second figure had increased by 57 per cent, to 237.

For many years, York’s Local Plan Policy S3a had to be taken into account in planning matters. It said no more than 35% of the frontages on any street in the main shopping area should be for non-retail use.

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Coney Street, with Jane Norman turning into Bill’s. Photographs © Google Street View

But that figure has been exceeded in several streets, including Low Petergate and most notably in Feasegate, where only two retail shops remain.

That old policy is now being superseded by the city’s emerging Local Plan, which proposes a more liberal approach, accepting of a mixture of retail and food uses side by side in the city-centre and supporting other uses.

Consumer demand is rapidly changing

Mr Sharp, from Make It York, said: “York has successfully attracted a variety of new eateries and restaurants.

“Many of the city’s businesses benefit from having a lively and vibrant city centre and the café and restaurant culture is an important element of this.

“Consumer demand is rapidly changing around retail too. Customers don’t just visit to buy but for the whole leisure experience of dining, stopping for coffee and shopping.

“By attracting new eateries, York is providing an experience people are looking for. What we want to stress, however, is that we believe York has a very strong retail offer and new shops are opening up in the city all the time, with more in the pipeline.”

A spokeswoman for Make It York said: “York continues to have a vibrant retail core and to attract new retailers.

“While there have been closures, recent additions have included Jessops, Sweaty Betty, Crew, Seasalt, Marchbrae, Abraham Moon and others.”

She added: “There is a higher percentage of leisure units than the national average (36% v 25%) but this serves a big tourism economy so is what you’d expect and, as importantly, there is also a higher proportion of comparison goods (non-food retail), at 34% v 29%. The difference is made up from having fewer convenience and service units (hairdressers etc) than the average.”