Take tea on the ramparts
It is a wonder that Walmgate Bar is still here. Located at one of York’s busiest road junctions, it has taken a fair amount of pummelling from traffic, particularly lorries whose drivers missed or ignored the height restrictions and ploughed directly into the stone gateway. The authorities finally took action and forced vehicles to drive around the ancient monument. But by then enough damage had been done to require major remedial work at the bar. Engineers even had to jack up the old stones to allow for replacement of two of the supporting column capitals and for the weight to be redistributed.
After a year of restoration work, Walmgate Bar was unwrapped from its scaffolding in 2015, cleaner and stronger than at any time in its 800-year history. And its makeover came with a bonus feature: a cafe with views like no other. Gatehouse Coffee operates within the bar, offering espresso drinks, pastries, snacks, and seasonal soups. Better still, you can take tea on the rooftop, thanks to a decked viewing platform added during the renovations. It is a great place for people-watching – spend enough time on Walmgate, and the whole city passes by.
Info
Address Walmgate Bar, York YO10 2UB, +44 (0)1904 464050, facebook.com/gatehousecoffee | Public Transport 6-minute walk from Peel Street car park. Closest bus stops: Walmgate and Lawrence Street | Tip Nearby is Bowes Morrell House, a timber-framed building dating from the turn of the 15th century, and now home to the Council for British Archaeology.
The cafe is the latest reinvention of a building which has enjoyed myriad uses down the centuries. Its primary role was, of course, to defend the city from invaders, and the bar was badly damaged during the 1644 Siege of York. Both its barbican – the only one surviving on a town gate in England – and portcullis are testament to those dangerous times.
Walmgate Bar was also once a family home, originally the living quarters of the medieval watch keeper. By the 19th century it wasn’t a salubrious address, as Walmgate had become a notorious slum – the sort of street where men and women were “obstructing the footpath and indulging in the most obscene and filthy language,” according to an 1870 correspondent.
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