From a Roman gateway to 21st-century entertainment venue, St Helen’s Square is one of the oldest squares in York and still one of its most charming open-air spaces.

St Helen's Square, York, at Christmas

Between the main shopping thoroughfares of Coney Street and Davygate lies St Helen’s Square, an outdoor space whose history runs back to the Romans.

The Georgian era has left its biggest mark on the modern St Helen’s Square – perhaps second only to the street entertainers who ply their trades here.

York has had a licensing system for street entertainers for several years, ensuring that the buskers you hear outside Free Spirit are of the highest quality – whether they’re from Kenya or Selby.

You may also hear York’s Town Crier in this square: one John Redpath led the “oyez” with his tricorn hat and bell until his retirement in 2007 (I don’t know if the post has been re-filled; I can’t remember seeing a crier since – let me know if it has!).

And from the Mansion House the Lord Mayor can watch it all. The official residence of York’s Lord Mayor occupies one corner of the square, above a snickleway that accesses the Guildhall.

Lendal Cellars, an underground pub, is next door, between the Mansion House and the Post Office.

Across the road is Harkers, a friendly pub set in a grand room that used to be the offices of the Yorkshire Insurance Company – later swallowed up in turn by General Accident, Norwich Union and the Aviva financial conglomerate.

St Helen’s Square once played host to two grandiose banks, the Trustee Savings Bank – now Lloyds TSB – and Barclays, now fashion shop Free Spirit. There’s also the church of St Helen Stonegate, which features in C J Sansom’s Tudor whodunit Sovereign.

But the square is dominated by Betty’s, the world-renowned tea rooms. You have to queue for a table in the goldfish-bowl like ground-floor room; you can bypass the queue and avoid having every passer-by staring at you by getting a table in the basement.

It’s still not cheap, mind – how such a business got off the ground in Yorkshire, of all places, is a minor miracle – but still represents a timeless high-class treat.

Continue your York Tour
Go north-west on Lendal towards the Museum Gardens, the Yorkshire Museum and the City Walls
Go north on Blake Street and the Assembly Rooms towards Exhibition Square
Go north-east on Stonegate towards Petergate and the Minster
Go south-east on Davygate towards Parliament Street
Go south on Coney Street