A NEW city centre beer hall and street food kitchen will open in York next week.

Brew York, which opened in Walmgate in 2016, expanded into a neighbouring building earlier this year, and owners have spent the summer converting it into the city’s biggest beer venue.

The new upstairs beer hall will serve 40 beers at a time, and will also include the new Born To Lose Burger Kitchen run by street-food chef Mark Hill, known in York for his Street Cleaver business.

More than 660 people helped crowdfund the brewery's expansion, and will be treated to a private opening on Thursday, ahead of the public opening on Friday, August 24 - which will feature 60 beers, half from Brew York, the rest carefully selected from other breweries. There will also be live music, customers can try ‘hoptails’ - or beer cocktails - and preview the Brew York shop, which will open in coming weeks.

Lee Grabham and Wayne Smith are co-founders of Brew York, and said visitors would be pleased with the new venue.

Wayne said: "It’s going to be really different from anything else in York, and will be fantastic. Because we have direct relationships with lots of other breweries, we will be able to get hold of exclusive and very rare beers that people will really want to try."

Lee said: "We’ve had a fantastic first two years, and now we are building a venue that any city would be proud of. Places like Leeds and Manchester have some incredible venues, and this will be up there with those. To have been able to do this so soon, here in the city centre, is a dream come true."

Mark’s opening menu will have three main burger options: The Bourdain, The Big Cheese and The Reuben, with vegetarian and vegan options also available. Smaller dishes will include kimchi mac cheese, pig’s head crubeen donut, chicken skin tostadas, and a sharing platter of Korean-inspired dishes.

Mark said: "We’ve worked hard to make sure this is the right thing for York as well as for us, and feel York really needs something like this. And we won’t be secretive about what we’re doing. If people want the recipes, they can have them.

"This will be something completely fresh for York. I’ll be using local suppliers and ingredients and people will be able to see everything we’re doing. Venues like this are working all over the world but there hasn’t been one in York yet. But there should be no reason York should be any different to places from LA to Leeds, where you can get a great burger, amazing fresh food and a brilliant local beer."

Admission on Friday and Saturday is by ticket only to manage capacity. Tickets cost £5, which includes a glass and a £3 drink.

To book, go to buytickets.at/brewyork