A York pub is set to re-open this month, with its returning to its former name in the New Year.

Publican Anna Broadhurst will be running the Heworth, which closed recently, but aims to be a community pub with live music.

The 38-year-old is already well-known in the pub trade, having worked at The Vaults for four years, booking the bands and events there, before joining The Gillygate in August, initially doing bar work before quickly becoming its manager.

Anna told the Press: “I put loads of bands on but I got loads of complaint. But the traffic is noisy, the Minster bells are noisy but we also had bogus TripAdvisor reviews from neighbours.”

She continued: “The guys I had worked for were interested in the Heworth. They decided to scrap this place and move on.”

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Anna’s last day at the Gillygate is tomorrow (Tuesday October 11).

“Someone else is taking over on Tuesday. I hear thy want to turn it into a cocktail bar,” she said.

The Gillygate, which is at 46-48 Gillygate, is run by Star Pubs and Bars, whilst the Heworth, at 64 Heworth Green, is run by another major pub company, Stonegate.

The pub, which first opened in 1811, has had an unstable few years recently.

York Press: Anna Broadhurst will be taking over the Heworth

In January 2022, it was put on the market for £110,000 and then last July, closed suddenly as it went into liquidation. It then reopened with new owners and managers earlier this year.

Anna said: “I will be running the Heworth. I also plan to change the name at some point next year. Everyone knows it as the Shoulder of Mutton.”

As the Press has reported, the pub changed its name in 2018 from The Shoulder of Mutton, despite trading as that since the 1950s, as its then management planned to focus on vegan and vegetarian food, as well as taking the pub more into the Weddings Venue market. The move created some uproar and made national headlines at the time.

Now, Anna plans a venue aiming to be what the Gillygate was, or what she wanted it to be.

“We will have it as a pub but have music on during Saturdays and Sundays from 4pm till 6pm. We will have mini-festivals, music festivals. We will also do pub grub. We also have rooms. It will be a pub with music, basically what we wanted to do here but the neighbours destroyed it.”

But what about the neighbours who live by the Heworth?

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“We have heard decent reviews, that neighbours and people who live there will come to the pub, but we will have to compromise if they complain,” Anna added.