A REAL-ALE pub is to open a beer garden to liven up part of York Railway Station.

The York Tap opened in November in the northern part of the station which was in decline, said Jamie Hawksworth, director of Pivovar, the pub company which invested £250,000 into the refurbishment of the former tearooms.

He said: “Part of the deal was to make sure the outside was as important as the inside. We have been really keen that we get it right.

“When anyone comes in off any southbound trains from the north that building is the first thing that they will see.”

The beer garden, located at the pub’s entrance on platform three, has been designed by David Turner, a 22-year-old graduate of York St John University who owns Scruffy Dog Design, and who works in the pub as a barman.