Bishopthorpe Road

From the Streets 1: Bishopthorpe Road

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10 ideas - the most common and the most striking - to come up from the Bishopthorpe Road streets.
10 ideas – the most common and the most striking – to emerge from the conversations that took place on our Bishopthorpe stall.

We ran our first My Future York stall on Bishopthorpe Road last weekend (24th September, 2-4pm). We had sustained conversations with eleven people/families and more fleeting interactions with 15 or so more. Here are 10 ideas for 2026, they are a mixture of the most common and the most striking and unusual:

1) Bishopthorpe Road to be pedestrianized or become a shared space (so cars have to give priority to pedestrians). We were standing on the Bishopthorpe Road pavement and battling to speak over traffic noise so maybe this idea coming forward repeatedly wasn’t surprising, but it is an idea that had also already surfaced through the written Days in My Life.
2) Safer cycling again a popular idea. Specific ideas were proposed such as designated cycling paths and – when spaces were shared – cyclists needing to give way to pedestrians.
3) Reduce Air Pollution One contributor thought a way forward to reduce air pollution would be for the council to invest in electric car recharging stations. Others were worried this wouldn’t address congestion and emphasized public transport and cycling.
4) Ban all stag and hen dos from 2017. The question of anti-social behaviour on weekend evenings came up repeatedly last week (as it has in the written stories). Some blamed drink. Others didn’t blame drink as such but said there needed to be more regulation of behaviour. Stories were told of seeing men peeing in broad daylight; having to explain rude slogans on t-shirts to 8 year olds and a man exposing himself to a woman and her daughter. ideas including some kind of PG rating on t-shirts etc until after 8pm. One idea was more police in town on a weekend. One radical idea was to ban all stag and hen dos. Another was how to create a cultural change so you could get as drunk as you like but certain types of behaviour would start to feel unacceptable.
5) Allotments. That all new city centre / York Central housing developments should have allotments built in.
6) Swimming was a popular topic. A swimming pool back in town was hoped for, as was outside swimming, perhaps as we were near the site of the old outdoor pool in Rowntrees Park. Feels like a York Lido Society needs to be formed…
7) Bring back the Arts Centre. The Arts Barge was celebrated but the old Arts Centre near Ouse Bridge mourned.
8) Nuture the city centre. Monk’s Cross and Clifton Moor were generally seen as mistakes that failed to look after the city centre and ensure the city centre as a living place for local people rather than just a place for visitors.
9) More places for 12-18 year olds to hang out – possibly a community centre in Rowntrees Park (which in our imaginary 2026 no long closes at dusk) and which might show films and have on various courses and events.
10) ‘More for us that live here’ / Recognize that lots of things happen in York because we have tourists. This is the dilemma that runs through a lot of discussion of the city centre. That the city centre – because of the out of town shopping centre and/or anti-social behaviour – is becoming a place of less appeal to locals, especially with local areas such as Bishopthorpe Road developing into their own micro-centre. Yet at the same time many we spoke to recognized that much of the cultural infrastructure – whether arts or restaurants – is enabled by the fact York has visitors. An issue worth further debate…

We’ll be on Acomb Front Street this afternoon between 2-4pm. Let’s see how this list compares…

If you’re interested we can also share a transcript of the unprocessed data. Just get in touch.

Day in My Life 2016+2026: Local responses to climate change

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'2026: Back to my bike, parked opposite the affordable housing on the former car-park. A community initiative initiated by the Bishy Road Traders Association once the free local circular route electric bus service was brought in and the use of park and ride from outside the area became compulsory to improve air quality. There’s so much less parking in the area as car use and ownership reduces. Cycle across the Millennium Bridge to collect a grandchild (last of 7) from kindergarten. Notice that the river is quite low in spite of the flash flooding in June.'
‘2026: Back to my bike, parked opposite the affordable housing on the former car-park. A community initiative initiated by the Bishy Road Traders Association once the free local circular route electric bus service was brought in and the use of park and ride from outside the area became compulsory to improve air quality. There’s so much less parking in the area as car use and ownership reduces. Cycle across the Millennium Bridge to collect a grandchild (last of 7) from kindergarten. Notice that the river is quite low in spite of the flash flooding in June.’

Contributed by John

A Day in Early July 2016:

Wake up 7am, downstairs to make tea for self and Carol, return to bed. Check emails on tablet. Shower, dress, prepare breakfast. Pleasant morning so we eat in the summerhouse. Newspaper delivered and we do the crossword.

Meeting in town, 10am, with a solicitor about property owned by a charity of which I’m a trustee. Cycle there via, mostly, back-streets using 4 cut-throughs for bikes and pedestrians only. Most dangerous section Castle Mills Bridge – fast traffic and no bike lane. No bike parking at the office I’m visiting so I lean bike on a planter. Face to face meeting. Takes longer but more productive than email or Skype.

Cycle back through city centre stopping to visit stationers for printer ink. Bike racks on Parliament Street full so I hitch bike to railings. Cycle to Bishopthorpe Road shops using 3 bike/pedestrian short-cuts. Sufficient bike parking but the usual unseemly scrummage from the cars trying to park in the Bishy Road car park.

Puchase all my current needs from Bishy Road shops: ironmonger, deli, bike shop, butcher, greengrocer, baker, convenience stores. Chat to several friends and acquaintances. Cycle home. Streets round here can hardly take any more car parking.

Read newspaper, check emails. Collect milk from doorstep.

12.30 by bike to collect grandchild from kindergarten beyond Millennium Bridge. On way call in at GP practice to collect new supply of hearing aid batteries (free). Collect grandchild and his bike and cycle home via Rowntree Park and back roads.

Lunch then entertain grandchild by reading stories from books, a little light gardening and watering together, then “football”. Grandchild collected at 3.45 by parent who works part time. Recover from grandchild by finishing newspaper then catch up with various paperwork.

Invited to nearby home of other child/grandchildren for early tea/dinner. Homemade pizza – delicious ! Leave as grandchildren taken off to bed. Cycle along riverside, Skeldergate, North Street and Lendal Bridge to pub for poetry open mic night at 7. Good age range – teens to over 70s. Pint of York Brewery Guzzler.

Cycle home, no bike short-cuts but pass York Brewery and enjoy the smell of brewing within the city walls. Appreciate the wide cycle lane on Blossom Street as cars park and swing their doors open outside the take-aways. Home, listen to news. Bed by 11.
Contemplate how much has changed, or stayed unchanged, in York over last 40 years.

A Day in Early July 2026

Up about 5am, sleeping downstairs because it’s cooler. Tea in bed – check messages and download newspaper as the print edition ceased a few years ago. It’s light out and already warming up to another too hot day in a too hot summer, a too hot year. Shower, dress. Have breakfast in summerhouse while it’s still cool. Garden still green thanks to torrential rain and thunderstorms in June. Do crossword online.

About 7 Carol and I walk into town to see solicitor about updating our Will. We find face to face still best. Find the walk up Micklegate on the way back a little warm. Use my bike to do the shopping 8ish. Shops and offices tend to open at 6.30am in these hot summers and close by 3 unless they have a long lunch closure and then they open late afternoon and early evening.

The independent shops on Bishopthorpe Road are still all there, solar powered fans keeping things cool. The dry cleaners is now community owned and the former betting shop is the offices for the local community association. Fill in survey about whether the community association should sponsor an early morning milk, eggs etc house to house delivery. They are also arranging special collections for the few types of plastic that the Council still doesn’t collect – plastic bags, film, yogurt pots etc so I call in for a container. Fruit and veg is increasingly local and organic, as is the meat in the butchers. Hardly any traffic, except bikes and buses, so plenty of incentive to stop for a coffee or ice-cream and chat. Remember to buy milk.

Back to my bike, parked opposite the affordable housing on the former car-park. A community initiative initiated by the Bishy Road Traders Association once the free local circular route electric bus service was brought in and the use of park and ride from outside the area became compulsory to improve air quality. There’s so much less parking in the area as car use and ownership reduces.

Around 10.30 I call in at the GP surgery for hearing aid batteries – still free and more efficient. They check my blood pressure at the same time – part of their preventative work, though generally they follow the new less interventionist policies. Cycle across the Millennium Bridge to collect a grandchild (last of 7) from kindergarten. Notice that the river is quite low in spite of the flash flooding in June.

It’s getting really hot now so lunch is inside the house with the solar powered fan on. (Panels installed recently following reintroduction of grants for installation. Then stories from the well-loved books, many of which we’ve had for 40 years, followed by the paddling pool in the shade outside. We fill it from one of the 4 water butts as there is a hosepipe restriction in anticipation of the usual August drought.

Grandchild collected at 1.45 by parent. They, like us, will probably take a siesta. We sleep for a couple of hours and get up again at 4. Read for a while then bike into town to the independent bookshop on High Petergate – the print book refuses to die. So much less traffic in town that some of the bike lanes almost seem unnecessary. Lots more through routes and rat-runs closed to cars. Electric bikes and trikes etc. are allowed to use the bike lanes and have become very popular.

City centre is busy. Many visitors though York itself is much more cosmopolitan than 10 years ago – one of the unexpected results of Brexit. Improvements to the East Coast Main Line, adopted after the abandonment of HS 2 mean that there’s a train up or down to London or Edinburgh every 15 minutes, as well as an improved cross-country and transpennine service. Local services to Harrogate and Scarborough are now half-hourly.

Home to dinner then back by bike to the pub for the poetry open mic at 9, still going after more than 20 years. Guzzler on tap. Home by midnight, passing the York Brewery on the way.

Day in My Life 2016 + 2026: Shared space on Bishopthorpe Road

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Days in My Life, contributed by Caroline Lewis

2026: 'I'll be going to one of my volunteering jobs which is the upkeep of the planting which happened in Bishopthorpe Road when I was still running the shop with funding from winning the Great British High Street. Some time after I sold the shop, an anonymous donation made possible the plan for a "Shared Space" along Bishopthorpe Road shops which now means that traffic goes at walking pace, winding it's way around colourful plant beds. It all needs watering and weeding so any spare time is spent there.'
2026: ‘I’ll be going to one of my volunteering jobs which is the upkeep of the planting which happened in Bishopthorpe Road when I was still running the shop with funding from winning the Great British High Street. Some time after I sold the shop, an anonymous donation made possible the plan for a “Shared Space” along Bishopthorpe Road shops which now means that traffic goes at walking pace, winding it’s way around colourful plant beds. It all needs watering and weeding so any spare time is spent there.’

2016
The older I get, the earlier I seem to wake so I frequently see the dawn these days, often the most beautiful part of the day when all is quiet, the air is fresh and the birds are tweeting.

Somehow though, however early I get up, I always seem to run out of setting up time at the shop I run, a busy deli in Bishopthorpe Road. Today was an exception and I was cracking on with making the fresh salads we do every day well before my assistant arrived. The sun always brings out the salad buyers and the pitta sandwiches to take away so I need to make lots.

Then it’s on with ordering, checking what’s selling and what’s not and chatting stock over with staff. Always having to think of new things to stock that isn’t just a variation of what we already have. Mondays are usually fairly quiet but there is a steady dribble of customers and always nice when new folks come in. Then it’s on with lunch service and lots of sandwiches! I only work mornings at the shop now since an accident in November 2014 but my day doesn’t finish here! I’ve been away for the weekend so have to catch up with books and banking, cuddle the cat, think about my newsletter and write this!

My back is still giving me problems since my accident so I’m planning on lying on the floor for a bit now doing pelvic floor exercises. My life is so exciting!

2026
Though I loved our home where we lived 10 years ago, being so close to the town centre and having the things around us that we liked and needed, we decided to move after I retired. We wanted an eco house, a Passivhaus if possible which is slowly becoming more common. Though jealous of the eco villages which have been built near Amsterdam, nothing like that has happened here. We thought of building our own house for a while but the cost of land has spiralled even higher and put it out of our reach. Anyway, we really liked the idea of living in a community so bought one in a development just on the edge of York. I have an electric pushbike now which makes getting around much easier now that the car has finally died and we have decided not to replace it.

Today I am going to visit some friends on my bike and will then go and make a delivery of cakes to my old shop. I still really like baking and fortunately the new owners were happy to keep taking them. It gives me a bit of income as well. Then I’ll be going to one of my volunteering jobs which is the upkeep of the planting which happened in Bishopthorpe Road when I was still running the shop with funding from winning the Great British High Street. Some time after I sold the shop, an anonymous donation made possible the plan for a “Shared Space” along Bishopthorpe Road shops which now means that traffic goes at walking pace, winding it’s way around colourful plant beds. It all needs watering and weeding so any spare time is spent there.

Then it’s on to meet my partner at the corner cafe on Bishopthorpe Road where Cycle Heaven used to be, which is now a really good wood fired pizza place. A few glasses of wine and a great pizza. Perfect end to the day.