Famous York pub to get a makeover (From York Press)

Ye Olde Starre Inne in Stonegate to get a makeover

9:23am Thursday 19th January 2012 in Pints of View By Gavin Aitchison, gavin.aitchison@thepress.co.uk

ONE of York’s oldest pubs is to undergo a major refurbishment in an attempt to safeguard its future.

Spirit Pub Company, which owns Ye Olde Starre Inne in Stonegate, says “substantial investment” is needed to ensure it remains commercially viable as a pub.

It has submitted plans to City of York Council for a wide-ranging refurbishment at the inn, which dates back to 1644 and is believed to have been used by the roundheads as a makeshift hospital and morgue during the civil war.

Under the proposals, the kitchen will be moved to a former outbuilding, and the current kitchen will be turned into a new seating area; new benches will be placed over the historic box-seats in the front side room, to protect the older seats; the serving hatch will be removed; the large pillar in the middle of the pub narrowed; and the bar itself redesigned.

The company’s planning agent said Ye Olde Starre Inne had long played “an integral role in the social, historic and economic life of York city centre” and said the changes would improve the pub for existing and new customers.

He said the refurbishment would interfere as little as possible with the pub’s “authentic charm”.

The Press understands the Starre will be rebranded as a Taylor Walker pub, following a similar move at The Golden Lion in Church Street, also owned by Spirit Pub Company.

At the same time, The Deramore Arms in Heslington will close on February 13 for three-and-a-half weeks for a substantial refurbishment, before reopening on March 5.

Co-owner Ed Mason said: “The refurb will be sympathetic to the history of the pub.”

Meanwhile, mystery continues to surround Lendal Cellars in St Helen’s Square in York, which has been closed for several weeks. As previously reported in The Press, TV chef Jamie Oliver’s company plans to open a restaurant behind or above the pub, but the Cellars’ owners Greene King declined to comment on the pub’s future or to say why it was closed.