An Aladdin’s cave of delicious booty
Long before boutique bottle shops became a thing, York Beer and Wine Shop was born. And the taste buds of a generation of residents have reason to be eternally grateful. It was 1985 when two devotees of real ale decided to take a punt on opening a shop devoted to the bottled wares of Britain’s burgeoning number of small and independent breweries. Before then, the home drinker could choose only what the supermarkets and chain off-licences served up, a very limited selection which erred on the side of the cautiously bland.
By contrast, York Beer and Wine Shop is an Aladdin’s Cave of ale. Shelf after shelf of hand-crafted beers, from Yorkshire, England, and around the world, deliver a never-ending array of delights. Elsewhere you’ll find wine from small family vineyards, and a cheese counter offering an array of flavours from the subtly smoky to the supremely stinky.
Info
Address 28 Sandringham Street, Fishergate, York YO1O 4BA, +44 (0)1904 647136, www.yorkbeerandwineshop.co.uk, ybws1985@yahoo.co.uk | Public Transport 8-minute walk from St George’s car park. Closest bus stop: Fishergate | Hours Tue–Fri 11am–10pm, Sat 10am–10pm, Sun & Mon 6pm–10pm| Tip After sorting out your beer supplies, head over to Alligator Wholefoods on Fishergate, which has been supplying York with organic produce since 1972.
The two friends who launched this enterprise, Jim Helsby and Eric Boyd, worked together in the pathology laboratory at York District Hospital. The shop, however, was undoubtedly their biggest experiment. Thanks to their passion and persistence, it proved to be a successful one.
Uniquely, it doesn’t sell beer only in bottles. You can take away the draft stuff too, pulled direct from the shop’s own bar into four-pint jugs. This trade has diminished as the number of great real-ale pubs has increased, but it is still a wonderful extra. Importantly, much of the stock has always been sourced by the owners travelling across the country, visiting breweries and dairies and returning to York with their booty.
Now run by Jim alone, the York Beer and Wine Shop has competition from several specialist off-licences, as well as supermarkets that offer a far greater variety. But still nothing quite compares to visiting this shop, tucked away on a surburban side street, and finding out what amazing new discoveries Jim is sharing with the city.
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