York

Right in the heart of York, you’ll find St Helen’s Square and our York branch of Bettys.

In 1936 Bettys founder, Frederick Belmont, travelled on the maiden voyage of the Queen Mary. He was so enthralled by the splendour of the ship that he commissioned the Queen Marys’ designers and craftsmen to turn a dilapidated furniture store into his most sophisticated branch yet – an elegant café in the land-locked location of St Helen’s Square. Today, as you sit in Bettys surrounded by huge curved windows, elegant wood panelling and ornate mirrors, you can almost imagine yourself aboard a luxury liner.

The art deco elegance of the Queen Mary is particularly evident in our first floor Belmont Room which was based on one of the cruise liner’s state rooms. Throughout the year we host musical evenings and events here.

A few years after Bettys opened its doors in York war broke out, and Bettys – in particular the basement ‘Bettys Bar’ – became a favourite haunt of thousands of airmen stationed around York. ‘Bettys Mirror’, on which many of them engraved their signatures with a diamond pen, remains on display today as a fitting tribute to their bravery.

We also have a second branch of Bettys in York – Little Bettys on medieval Stonegate, just a stone’s throw from York’s famous Minster.