Thor's owners buy York cafe bar Dusk

Independent cafe bar Dusk, in New Street, in the heart of the city centre, has been a fixture of York's day and nightlife since 2004, opening as it does Sunday – Saturday 10am – 2am.

Now Richard and Amanda Monaghan, the York couple behind Thor’s have bought the business - their first 'bricks and mortar' venture.

Amanda said: "We started thinking at the beginning of this year that we really love working in the leisure and hospitality industry and that it was time we had our own bricks and mortar bar really, and what better place than in our home city.

"When a bar in York goes on the market there's a ton of interest.

"Dusk was started 18 years ago - it's been on the York scene a really long time, and the great thing about it is it's known as the hospitality bar as it's where all the hospitality teams from across the city go for a drink - all our staff go there so we knew it had that reputation and that it already had a great community around it."

She said the team of 12 employees are staying on and the couple have no immediate plans to change the business.

"We know it's doing well so we don't want to do anything drastic," said Amanda.

"We are leaving things as they are for now, one of our managers from Thor's is already working there and as the months go on there might be renovations.

"We have been in bars a long time, but this is a different beast and we just want to settle into it."

Richard Monaghan behind the bar at Dusk (Image: UGC)

The couple will continue to run Thor's alongside Dusk with the business having had bars in the gardens at Principal York hotel and Parliament Street this summer.

Thor's Sol Ast bar at Principal York

There are also plans for Thor's to return to Principal York in November following on from its successful Christmas festivities when, in 2021, Thor's was part of the celebrations in five major cities, delivering in excess of 170,000 pints of beer, 55,000 cups of hot chocolate and 125,000 cups of mulled wine and cider.

The Thor’s team has worked on thousands of events up and down the country, including many of the UK’s biggest festivals, such as Wilderness, Download, Leeds Festival, and V-Fest.