A YORK liquor business has banned modern Christmas songs in its city centre shop, because they "sound weird" in the 16th century Tudor building, bosses say.

York Gin's shop, on Pavement, will not be playing festive hits by Maria Carey, Wizzard, Slade, Wham!, Cliff Richard or Shaky.

Bosses also say they are doing it to help staff morale and customer satisfaction.

York Gin director Emma Godivala said: “We do love Christmas, but we want our gin shop to be a cheese-free zone.

“We’ve tested lots of songs to see which sound okay and which sound weird. And there’s a cut-off in the 1960s. Anything after that has been banned.

“Our lovely team are happy with the decision. They say lots of other shop staff are already going stir crazy with the same Christmas hits being played on a loop.

“That said, if Mariah appeared in the shop, we might just overturn the ban for a while and play All I Want For Christmas Is You.”

The York Gin shop has more than 200 songs on its playlist, including all the classic Christmas carols, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and music from Christmas ballets like The Nutcracker.

Shop manager Sandie Tanner-Smith added: “We’re confident we’ll have the happiest staff and customers around. Our playlist is big enough to make sure no-one hears the same Christmas song more than twice in a week. Offering free samples of our award-winning gins always makes for happy customers too!”